# \[tor-project\] User support report for November 2025

**URL:** https://forum.torproject.org/t/tor-project-user-support-report-for-november-2025/20922
**Category:** tor-project
**Tags:** snowflake, tor-browser, tails
**Created:** [December 10, 2025, 6:06pm UTC](https://forum.torproject.org/t/tor-project-user-support-report-for-november-2025/20922 "2025-12-10T18:06:57Z")
**Posts on this page:** 1
**Page:** 1

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### Author: ![ebanam](https://forum.torproject.org/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/e/eada6e/32.png) [@ebanam](https://forum.torproject.org/u/ebanam)
#### Post date: [December 10, 2025, 6:06pm UTC](https://forum.torproject.org/t/tor-project-user-support-report-for-november-2025/20922/1 "2025-12-10T18:06:57Z")

</div>

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  
&nbsp;&nbsp;- General user support  
&nbsp;&nbsp;- Farsi-speaking user support  
&nbsp;&nbsp;- 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](https://gitlab.torproject.org/tpo/applications/vpn/-/issues/411)  
['Kill Switch']: [Kill Switch - Features - Tor VPN — Tor](https://support.torproject.org/tor-vpn/features/kill-switch/)  
[Private DNS]: [Can't use private DNS with Tor VPN (#147) · Issues · The Tor Project / Applications / vpn · GitLab](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]: [Help find working method to circumvent Internet shutdown method in Russia!](https://forum.torproject.org/t/help-find-working-method-to-circumvent-internet-shutdown-method-in-russia/20600)

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]: [GetBridgesBot freezes and stops sending bridges (#286) · Issues · The Tor Project / Anti-censorship / rdsys · GitLab](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]: [Path to "torrc" file? Using Flatpak Tor Browser](https://forum.torproject.org/t/path-to-torrc-file-using-flatpak-tor-browser/20825)  
[Tab view]: [Firefox View / 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
