I know the purpose of TOR is to make you anonymous, if used correctly. I like TOR routing because no single server knows my identity and my internet activity. Unlike a VPN. Should I use Orbot to protect my online activity from my ISP and my IP address from servers I connect to? Unlike a VPN, Tor doesn’t know my identity and my activity at the same time. I know the purpose of TOR is to reduce browser fingerprinting as well, which is lost when I use Orbot, since my identity is already given away when I connect to email accounts. And I know my phone will be very slow, but at least Orbot is more trustworthy than using a VPN.
Using Tor can indeed provide a higher level of anonymity compared to VPNs, as your traffic is routed through multiple servers. However, I personally don’t like the idea of browsing the web via the Tor network without using the Tor browser. Both using Tor and a reliable and private VPN provider like Mullvad or IVPN can hide your web traffic from your ISP and hide your real IP address to the servers you connect to.
If your main concern is anonymity, and you want to have maximum privacy, using the Tor browser with bridges is great. Also, I wouldn’t recommend accessing sensitive accounts via the Tor network, as it could potentially reveal your identity.
What’s your personal threat model? And what level of privacy or anonymity you desire? By understanding your goals, you can make better decisions on tools and practices.
You are correct that Orbot mitigates the risk of the intermediate servers snooping on your browsing activity. It is also free, while most trustworthy VPNs cost money. However, Orbot is also much slower and often blocked. I also struggle to think of a threat model where you are concerned about a VPN provider snooping on you, but are not concerned about browser fingerprinting and your traffic being correlated using your IP address. Yes, Tor does mitigate this by blending you into a crowd (much like VPNs) but as soon as you long into an account (which you almost certainly will since all your traffic is being routed through Tor, as opposed to just your activity within the Tor Browser) that account is tied to that IP and browser fingerprint and your traffic can be correlated by an adversary with the resources for it.
Basically, I would only go for it if either (a) you really don’t care about the loss of convenience of Orbot compared to VPNs, (b) there are no VPN providers you trust, or (C) you can’t afford a good VPN provider (though there are a few free and trustworthy providers to consider, like ProtonVPN’s free tier).
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If you used a VPN and logged into an account, via some mobile app (ex. email), isn’t your VPN identity also compromised now? The companies know, “this VPN IP address belongs to this email user?”
Looks like Orbot/VPN really only protects you from your ISP watching your web traffic.
What are some other trustworthy free VPN’s to consider, like you mentioned. You listed Proton VPN, which is very good. I know RiseUp VPN is also there.
Hey,
I use mullvad in combination with nextdns and am very satisfied.
The IP of the vpn is known when you login to an app or service but you are not the only one using that ip there are other people with the ip.
I change servers regularly , so I get a different ip.
If you look at what privacy features are built into mullvad and how they handle their customer data. you are pretty anonymous though.
You can pay with crypto, standard payment methods, gift card, send money by mail. Did you make a mistake somewhere with your payments.
Then just have another account number generated and you can work anonymously again.
Everything depends of course on your threat model.
I work with mullvad but there are other anonymous vpn services that are recommended.
Good luck 
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