How to set browser to I2P

From the official site:

I2P is an anonymous network built on top of the internet. It allows users to create and access content and build online communities on a network that is both distributed and dynamic. It is intended to protect communication and resist monitoring by third parties such as ISPs.

Official guide how to configure web browser you can find in the project documentation. Here I want to present the alternative ways for this.

Desktop

On the most of the desktop browsers, configuration depends on plugin SwitchyOmega. It is available for Firefox, Firefox based browser and for Chrome and Chromium based browsers.

  1. Install SwitchyOmega in your browser. On the project page you can find links to both stores.
  2. When the plugin will be installed, enter its options by clicking its icon and select Options entry from the menu. A new browser tab will open with the plugin options.
  3. From the menu on the left, under Profiles select entry proxy.
  4. The form for entering the proxy server will appear. If you have installed I2P on this same computer and you have the default configuration for the proxy, enter 127.0.0.1 in Server field and 4444 in Port field. It may look that
  5. Click on button Apply changes to save your setting.
  6. From the menu on the left, under Profiles select entry auto switch.
  7. Remove any existing rules and create a new: for Condition Type select option Host wildcard. For the field Condition Details enter *.i2p. For the Profile field select option proxy. Your setting now should look that.
  8. Again click on button Apply changes to save your setting. And close the plugin preferences.
  9. Again, click on the plugin's icon and from the menu select option auto switch.
  10. Try to enter any eepsite :) Now every time when you try to reach any I2P address, the plugin will switch to I2P proxy. When you will browse clearnet, you will be using the direct connection.

Android

It is recommended to use F-Droid repository for download and update all needed applications. This guide is a lot shorter than the desktop version, but depends on specific web browser.

  1. Download application I2P, install, configure and start I2P router. It may take some time (around 4-5 minutes) before HTTP tunnel will be available. In this time you can do second thing.
  2. Download application Privacy Browser, install it and configure as you prefer. Note: in Google Store free version of this browser contains advertisements. Version from the F-Droid doesn't have them.
  3. When your HTTP tunnel in I2P router will be ready, just select option I2P from the Proxy menu in the menu on the right side of the program. If you want to disable proxy, from this same menu select option None.

If you want to use I2P proxy from the other machine (for example, from your server), select option Custom from the Proxy menu and in the program settings (the left menu of the program, entry Settings) enter the address and port for your I2P proxy. For example: http://192.168.0.12:4444.

Back