Hello everyone, Following is the report from user support team for the month of July. Note: (↑), (↓) and (-) are indicating if the number of tickets we received for these topics have been increasing, decreasing or have been the same from the previous month respectively. - Summary of updates from user support - Farsi-speaking user support - Russian-speaking user support - General user support - Frontdesk (email user support channel) - Telegram, WhatsApp and Signal user support channels - Topics from the Tor Forum - Highlights from Google Play Store # Summary of updates from user support ## Farsi-speaking user support * 83 tickets in total (↓112 as compared to June) * 73 tickets on Telegram * 10 tickets on Email We published a guide on the Tor Forum for users trying to connect to Tor from Iran.[0] ## Russian-speaking user support * 2255 tickets in total (↑920 as compared to June) * 1914 tickets on Telegram * 336 tickets on Email * 3 tickets on WhatsApp * 2 tickets on Signal Since Nina began localized user support for Russian speaking users back in December 2021, July has been the month in which we have received and answered an unprecedented number of tickets. This exceeds the tickets that we received during key censorship events as when Tor was blocked in Russia (December 2021), the Internet shutdown in Kazakhstan (January 2022), and the Russia-Ukraine invasion (February 2022). We have never recorded so many tickets from users from a single region before. July followed the trend of recent months, but with the addition of blocking WebTunnel bridges by domain in Russia that has started in June. With WebTunnel bridges now available from our Telegram bridge distributor, we published a guide[1] on the Tor Forum with some instructions for users. The guide is localized in Russian as well as in Farsi. ## General user support * 721 tickets in total (↑20 as compared to June) * 551 tickets on Email * 155 tickets on Telegram * 7 tickets on WhatsApp * 8 tickets on Signal We published documentation about User-Agent and operating system spoofing in the Tor Browser User Manual.[2] That's it for the summary, following is a more detailed report about the tickets our user support team worked on last month. # Frontdesk (email user support channel) * 806(↑) RT tickets created * 903(↑) RT tickets resolved Tickets by topics and numbers: 1. 410(↑) tickets: instructions to circumvent censorship for Chinese speaking users. 2. 336(↑) tickets: circumventing censorship in Russian speaking countries. 3. 81(↑) tickets: help with troubleshooting existing Tor Browser install on Desktop (Windows, macOS and Linux). 4. 10(↓) tickets: circumventing censorship with Tor in Farsi. 5. 9(↑) tickets: reports of websites blocking Tor connections or not performing well in Tor Browser. 6. 5(↑) tickets: help with troubleshooting existing Tor Browser install on Android. 7. 5(↑) tickets: help with installing Tor Browser on Desktop on Linux. 8. 3(↑) tickets: reports of fake apps on iOS AppStore masquerading as official Tor Browser. 9. 2(↑) tickets: help with instructions to use bridges with Orbot. 10. 2(-) tickets: queries from Tor relay operators. 11. 2(↑) tickets: help with instructions to use bridges with Tails. 12. 1(↓) ticket: question about "Dark Mode" in Tor Browser.[3] 13. 1(↑) ticket: users seeing a "proxy refused" error when visiting websites on Tor Browser for Android.[4] 14. 1(↑) ticket: how operating system spoofing works on Tor Browser.[2] 15. 1(↑) ticket: question about Snowflake - how it works and how to use Snowflake in Tor Browser. 16. 1(↑) ticket: question about onion services and how to access them. # Telegram, WhatsApp and Signal user support channels * 2265(↑) tickets resolved Breakdown: * 2244(↑) tickets on Telegram * 11(↓) tickets on WhatsApp * 10(↓) tickets on Signal Tickets by topics and numbers: 1. 1919(↑) tickets: circumventing censorship in Russian speaking countries. 2. 73(↓) tickets: circumventing censorship with Tor in Farsi. 3. 43(↓) tickets: instructions to circumvent censorship for Chinese speaking users. 4. 17(↑) tickets: help with troubleshooting Tor Browser Desktop on Windows, macOS and Linux. 5. 14(↑) tickets: instructions on how to get Tor Browser binaries from GetTor. 6. 13(↓) tickets: helping users on iOS, using Onion Browser or Orbot, to use censorship circumvention methods. 7. 5(↑) tickets: questions about onion services and how to access them. 8. 4(↓) tickets: help with troubleshooting Tor Browser Android. 9. 4(-) tickets: help with instructions to use bridges with Tails. 10. 3(↑) tickets: help with instructions to use bridges with Orbot on Android. 11. 3(↑) ticket: instructions to download Tor Browser 13.5 legacy for legacy operating systems. 12. 3(↑) tickets: instructions to use WebTunnel bridges with Tor Browser. 13. 2(↓) tickets: help with using Snowflake with Tor to circumvent censorship. 14. 2(↓) tickets: help with instructions to use pluggable transports with little-t tor. 15. 2(-) tickets: users seeing a "proxy refused" error when visiting websites on Tor Browser for Android using Samsung devices. 16. 2(-) tickets: instructions to verify Tor Browser's GPG signature. 17. 2(↑) tickets: Tor Browser for Arm Linux.[5] 18. 1(↑) ticket: report of websites blocking Tor connections or not performing well in Tor Browser. # Topics from the Tor Forum * Iran: Internet disruptions and circumventing censorship with Tor.[0] * The Telegram bot @GetBridgesBot now supports WebTunnel bridges.[1] * Tails 6.18 with support for WebTunnel bridges! [6] # Highlights from Google Play Store * Tor Browser for Android had a Google Play rating of 4.383 (↓0.003) stars in July, lower as compared to in June. * In July, Tor Browser for Android (TBA) got 776 (↑51) new reviews. The total count of reviews for the app stands at 63,863. * Tor Browser for Android Alpha (TBA - Alpha) app had a rating of 4.178 (↓0.006) stars in July, lower as compared to in June. * In July, Tor Browser for Android (TBA - Alpha) got 32 (↑6) new reviews. The total count of reviews for the app stands at 8,622. Like last month, the major complaints we got about Tor Browser for Android were related to it's browsing speed. Additionally, in July, we received multiple comments from users in Russia who were experiencing issues with connecting to Tor. Thanks! -- ebanam [0]: https://forum.torproject.org/t/iran-internet-disruptions-and-circumventing-c... [1]: https://forum.torproject.org/t/the-telegram-bot-getbridgesbot-now-supports-w... [2]: https://tb-manual.torproject.org/anti-fingerprinting/#operating-system-spoof... [3]: https://gitlab.torproject.org/tpo/applications/tor-browser/-/issues/40337 [4]: https://gitlab.torproject.org/tpo/applications/tor-browser/-/issues/42714 [5]: https://gitlab.torproject.org/tpo/applications/tor-browser-build/-/issues/12... [6]: https://forum.torproject.org/t/new-release-tails-6-18/20067