Hello everyone, This is the report from user support team for the month of November. 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 - General user support - Farsi-speaking user support - Russian-speaking 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 ## General user support * 401 tickets in total (↓63 as compared to October) * 265 tickets on Email * 135 tickets on Telegram * 1 ticket on WhatsApp * Our user support channel on Signal was temporarily unavailable in November but it is back online and reachable via text on our Signal number, +17787431312, or Signal username, @torsupport.89 * In the aftermath of the third Tor VPN beta release, we received numerous tickets with the major topics being: - Users enquiring about [WebTunnel support][] for Tor VPN, which is an upcoming feature. - Instructions to install Tor VPN beta. - Instructions to use the ['Kill Switch'][] on Tor VPN. - Users unable to connect to connect Tor VPN due to having [Private DNS][] configured. [WebTunnel support]: https://gitlab.torproject.org/tpo/applications/vpn/-/issues/411 ['Kill Switch']: https://support.torproject.org/tor-vpn/features/kill-switch/ [Private DNS]: https://gitlab.torproject.org/tpo/applications/vpn/-/issues/147 ## Farsi-speaking user support * 30 tickets in total (↓4 as compared to October) * 7 tickets on Email * 23 tickets on Telegram ## Russian-speaking user support * 1034 tickets in total (↓159 as compared to October) * 108 tickets on Email * 1 ticket on Signal * 25 tickets on WhatsApp * 900 tickets on Telegram * With more resources and apps being blocked in Russia - most recently the online game Roblox - the number of Tor users continues to grow. [Restrictions]() on mobile internet are significantly stricter, with periodic activation of a "whitelist" or "allowlist" mode during which only government-approved, Russia-based resources remain accessible for several hours. During those period, users have reported that Tor and our pluggable transports do not work. [Restrictions]: https://forum.torproject.org/t/help-find-working-method-to-circumvent-intern... 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) * 438(↓) RT tickets created * 380(↓) RT tickets resolved Tickets by topics and numbers: 1. 192(↓) tickets: instructions to circumvent censorship for Chinese speaking users. 2. 108(↓) tickets: circumventing censorship in Russian speaking countries. 3. 24(↓) tickets: help with troubleshooting existing Tor Browser install on Desktop (Windows, macOS and Linux). 4. 7(↓) tickets: questions, feedback and help with troubleshooting Tor VPN beta. 5. 7(↑) tickets: circumventing censorship with Tor in Farsi. 6. 7(↑) tickets: reports of fake apps on iOS AppStore masquerading as official Tor Browser and questions about which Tor app to install on iOS (i.e. Onion Browser or Orbot). 6. 5(↑) tickets: reports of websites blocking Tor connections or not performing well in Tor Browser. 7. 4(↑) tickets: help with instructions to download, install or properly uninstalling Tor Browser. 8. 2(-) tickets: question about onion services and how to access them. 9. 2(↑) tickets: instructions to import and export bookmarks on Tor Browser. 10. 1(↓) ticket: help with troubleshooting existing Tor Browser install on Android. 11. 1(-) ticket: users seeing a "proxy refused" error when visiting websites on Tor Browser for Android using Samsung devices. 12. 1(-) ticket: help with instructions to troubleshoot Tails operating system. 13. 1(↑) ticket: instructions to sign up for a account on Tor's GitLab instance. 14. 1(↑) ticket: help with installing little-t tor (the network daemon). 15. 1(↑) ticket: help with getting started with Tor Browser and other general questions about the browser. # Telegram, WhatsApp and Signal user support channels * 1084(↓) tickets resolved Breakdown: * 1058(↓) tickets on Telegram * 1(↓) ticket on Signal * 26(↑) tickets on WhatsApp Tickets by topics and numbers: 1. 926(↓) tickets: circumventing censorship in Russian speaking countries. 2. 32(↓) tickets: instructions to circumvent censorship for Chinese speaking users. 3. 32(↑) tickets: [GetBridgesBot on Telegram freezes][], stops sending bridges and users have to clear chat history. 4. 23(↓) tickets: circumventing censorship with Tor in Farsi. 5. 19(↑) tickets: questions, feedback and help with troubleshooting Tor VPN beta. 6. 14(↑) tickets: help with troubleshooting existing Tor Browser install on Desktop (Windows, macOS and Linux). 7. 13(-) tickets: helping users on iOS, using Onion Browser or Orbot, to use censorship circumvention methods. 8. 12(↑) tickets: instructions on how to get Tor Browser binaries from GetTor. 9. 3(↓) tickets: help with troubleshooting Tor Browser Desktop on Windows, macOS and Linux. 10. 3(↓) tickets: help with instructions to troubleshoot Tails operating system. 11. 3(↑) tickets: help with configuring bridges to use with little-t tor (the network daemon). 12. 2(-) tickets: help with instructions to use bridges with Orbot on Android. 13. 2(↑) tickets: questions about onion services and how to access them. 14. 1(↑) ticket: instructions to import and export bookmarks on Tor Browser. 15. 1(↓) ticket: users seeing a "proxy refused" error when visiting websites on Tor Browser for Android using Samsung devices. 16. 1(↓) ticket: help with installing Tor Browser on Desktop on Linux. 17. 1(↓) ticket: instructions to download Tor Browser 13.5 legacy for legacy operating systems. 18. 1(↓) ticket: instructions to use WebTunnel bridges with Tor Browser. 19. 1(-) ticket: help with instructions to verify Tor Browser GPG signature. 20. 1(-) ticket: help with using Snowflake with Tor to circumvent censorship. 21. 1(↑) ticket: reports of websites blocking Tor connections or not performing well in Tor Browser. [GetBridgesBot on Telegram freezes]: https://gitlab.torproject.org/tpo/anti-censorship/rdsys/-/issues/286 # Topics from the Tor Forum 1. Accessing Tor Browser's configuration files on [Flatpak Tor Browser][] on Linux. 2. Discussion on Firefox's [Tab view][] not available on Tor Browser. [Flatpak Tor Browser]: https://forum.torproject.org/t/path-to-torrc-file-using-flatpak-tor-browser/... [Tab view]: https://forum.torproject.org/t/firefox-view-tab-view/20790 # Highlights from Google Play Store * Tor Browser for Android (TBA) had a Google Play rating of 4.395 (↓0.005) stars in November, which is lower as compared to in October. * Tor Browser for Android (TBA) got 691 (↓49) new reviews. The total count of reviews for the app stands at 66,284. * Tor Browser for Android Alpha (TBA Alpha) app had a rating of 4.182 (↓0.01) in November which is lower as compared to in October. * In November, Tor Browser for Android Alpha (TBA Alpha) got 29 (↑7) new reviews. The total count of reviews for the app stands at 8,708. * Tor VPN beta was installed almost 30000 times by the end of November. The top 5 countries by the number of installations being (in descending order): United States, India, Iran, Russia and France. * For Tor Browser, the main issues highlighted by the users in their comments and reviews were: - internet censorship in Russia and users looking for ways to bypass it. - Tor Browser for Android being slow to browse. - Tor failing in the background with a "Proxy server refused connection" error while browsing. Thanks! -- ebanam