Hello everyone, Following is the report from user support team for the month of June. 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 Last month, in light of the conflict[1], we received a lot of tickets from users trying to connect to Tor from Iran. Due to the severe censorship imposed on the internet and at times, total internet disruptions (i.e Iran blocking international connections), users haven't been able to connect to the internet reliably and, consequently, to the Tor network. Throughout this time, we have been gathering feedback and information from users who were able to contact us on our user support channels. At the moment, highly depending on factors like the region the user is connecting from and internet service provider (ISP), users in Iran might be able to connect to Tor with Snowflake and other pluggable transports. Haidi worked on localized user support for Farsi-speaking users which included but was not limited to helping users to troubleshoot, gather feedback and help with instructions to use censorship circumvention methods in Tor Browser Desktop and Android and other Tor powered apps (like Orbot and Onion Browser). Due to the urgent situation caused by the conflict; Haidi, ebanam and Gus made it a top priority to help users in Iran get connected. * 195 tickets in total (↑159 as compared to May) * 157 tickets on Telegram * 38 tickets on Email ## Russian-speaking user support In June, we observed the first instances of WebTunnel bridge blocking on a few ISPs in Russia[2]. This new wave of blocking is likely the main factor behind the increased number of support tickets from Russia in June and reflects a broader tightening of censorship in the country[3]. Nina worked on reviewing, answering and processing feedback from Google Play Store comments and localized user support for Russian-speaking users which included but was not limited to helping users with instructions to use censorship circumvention methods in Tor Browser Desktop and Android and other Tor powered apps (like Orbot, Onion Browser, Tails), troubleshoot and gather user feedback. * 1335 tickets in total (↑197 as compared to May) * 1146 tickets on Telegram * 188 tickets on Email * 1 ticket on WhatsApp ## General user support ebanam worked on Tor Browser user support related tasks prior to and after Tor Browser releases; updated user-facing documentation in the Tor Browser User Manual and the Support Portal and helping users in regions where Tor is censored which included but was not limited to helping users with instructions to use censorship circumvention methods that work best, troubleshoot, censorship analysis and gathering user feedback. For the past few months, we have been receiving relatively higher number of tickets from users trying to connect to Tor from China, given that most of obfs4 bridges shared by rdsys have not been working. Users trying to unblock Tor from China, will have to use bridges with WebTunnel pluggable transport. For instructions on fetching WebTunnel bridges and using them with Tor Browser, refer to the "How to circumvent the Great Firewall and connect to Tor from China?" article on the Support Portal.[4] With WebTunnel bridges working much more reliably in regions where Tor is being censored, like in Russia and China, we have received feedback from users using Tails to provide support for WebTunnel bridges[5]. In June, we received a couple of tickets about this. In June, Nina and ebanam investigated why Tor Browser for Android users are having issues related to the browsing speed[6] and we're planning to investigate more of this issue in July. * 701 tickets in total (↓7 as compared to May) * 404 tickets on Email * 266 tickets on Telegram * 17 tickets on WhatsApp * 14 tickets on Signal 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) * 762(↓) RT tickets created * 693(↓) RT tickets resolved Tickets by topics and numbers: 1. 318(↓) tickets: instructions to circumvent censorship for Chinese speaking users. 2. 188(↓) tickets: circumventing censorship in Russian speaking countries. 3. 70(↓) tickets: help with troubleshooting existing Tor Browser install on Desktop (Windows, macOS and Linux). 4. 37(↑) tickets: circumventing censorship with Tor in Farsi. 5. 4(↓) tickets: reports of websites blocking Tor connections or not performing well in Tor Browser. 6. 3(↓) tickets: help with troubleshooting existing Tor Browser install on Android. 7. 3(↑) tickets: help with the correct Tor app to install on iOS (Onion Browser). 8. 3(↑) tickets: queries from Tor relay operators. 9. 2(↑) tickets: questions about Letterboxing in Tor Browser. 10. 2(↑) tickets: help with installing Tor Browser on Desktop on Linux. 11. 2(↑) tickets: queries and feedback about the changes to Security Levels in latest versions of Tor Browser.[7] 12. 2(↑) tickets: questions about "Dark Mode" in Tor Browser.[8] 13. 1(↑) ticket: report of Tor Browser being slow.[9] # Telegram, WhatsApp and Signal user support channels * 1779(↑) tickets resolved Breakdown: * 1746(↑) tickets on Telegram * 18(↑) tickets on WhatsApp * 15(↓) tickets on Signal Tickets by topics and numbers: 1. 1238(↑) tickets: circumventing censorship in Russian speaking countries. 2. 157(↑) tickets: circumventing censorship with Tor in Farsi. 3. 63(↑) tickets: instructions to circumvent censorship for Chinese speaking users. 4. 37(↑) tickets: helping users on iOS, using Onion Browser or Orbot, to use censorship circumvention methods. 5. 14(↑) tickets: help with instructions to use bridges with Orbot. 6. 10(↓) tickets: help with troubleshooting Tor Browser Android. 7. 10(↓) tickets: instructions on how to get Tor Browser binaries from GetTor. 8. 8(↓) tickets: help with troubleshooting Tor Browser Desktop on Windows, macOS and Linux. 9. 5(↑) ticket: help with using Snowflake with Tor to circumvent censorship. 10. 4(↓) tickets: help with instructions to use bridges with Tails. 11. 3(-) tickets: questions about onion services and how to access them. 12. 3(↑) tickets: help with instructions to use pluggable transports with little-t tor. 13. 2(↓) tickets: users seeing a "proxy refused" error when visiting websites on Tor Browser for Android using Samsung devices. 14. 2(↑) tickets: instructions to verify Tor Browser's GPG signature. 15. 1(↑) ticket: instructions to download Tor Browser 13.5 legacy for legacy operating systems. # Topics from the Tor Forum * Static Captcha when fetching bridges from within Tor Browser.[10] * Censorship of Tor in Russia.[11] # Highlights from Google Play Store * Tor Browser for Android had a Google Play rating of 4.386 (↓0.021) stars in June, lower as compared to in May. * In June, Tor Browser for Android (TBA) got 725 (↑100) new reviews. With the total count of reviews for the app standing at 63,311. * Tor Browser for Android Alpha (TBA - Alpha) app had a rating of 4.184 (↓0.029) stars in June, lower as compared to in May. * In June, Tor Browser for Android (TBA - Alpha) got 26 (↓19) new reviews. With the total count of reviews for the app standing at 8,599. Like last month, the major complaints we got about Tor Browser for Android were related to browsing speed. Thanks! -- ebanam [1]: https://github.com/net4people/bbs/issues/484 [2]: https://gitlab.torproject.org/tpo/anti-censorship/censorship-analysis/-/issu... [3]: https://gitlab.torproject.org/tpo/anti-censorship/censorship-analysis/-/issu... [4]: https://support.torproject.org/censorship/connecting-from-china/ [5]: https://gitlab.tails.boum.org/tails/tails/-/issues/20267 [6]: https://gitlab.torproject.org/tpo/applications/tor-browser/-/issues/43841 [7]: https://forum.torproject.org/t/feedback-proposal-for-securitylevel-module-fo... [8]: https://gitlab.torproject.org/tpo/applications/tor-browser/-/issues/40337 [9]: https://gitlab.torproject.org/tpo/applications/tor-browser/-/issues/43841 [10]: https://forum.torproject.org/t/captcha-when-fetching-bridges-in-tor-browser/... [11]: https://forum.torproject.org/t/so-russia-began-blocking-webtunnel-bridges-wh...