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I'm building a project to track one's own Linux device (mainly for Linux phones like PinePhone or Librem5), like OpenLocate. To avoid MITM attacks and other issues; instead of actively sending location information to a server. I want to use the device's mobile network to host a hidden service for device owners to query locations later.

Yet mobile networks are not stable and can be temporarily interrupted by signal losses. How does this effect Tor? Does the tor daemon need to restart every time to reconnect to the Tor network? Are there other possible issues?

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    Just wanted to mention that Orbot supports onion services, so you may want to try running a simple service on an Android phone if you have access to one and see how it reacts on a mobile network. tor.stackexchange.com/questions/6252/…
    – Steve
    Commented May 4, 2020 at 6:00
  • Good idea! I'll try it I suppose Linux and Android uses the same Tor daemon and have no behavior difference?
    – Mary Chang
    Commented May 4, 2020 at 7:54
  • I don't use Orbot so I don't know any specifics, but it does use the same tor daemon/code (just updated to tor 0.4.2.7 in the latest Orbot). I expect onion services should run similar to how they run in the standard daemon on Linux.
    – Steve
    Commented May 4, 2020 at 16:52

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I did the experiment suggested by @Steve in the comments. Spins up a simple http server on my Android phone, setup Orbot to expose it as a hidden service and written a script to periodically send request to the hidden service. Then just use my phone as usual. Browsing, streaming, play games and what not. And I did what I do usually: cycling, go to work, etc..

In the 3 day experiment, all requests are responded. It works perfectly.

But do note that I live in a city and in University dorm. So my results may not apply to yours.

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