Users
We estimate the number of users by analyzing the requests induced by clients to relays and bridges.
This graph shows the estimated number of clients connecting via bridges. These numbers are derived from directory requests counted on bridges. Bridges resolve client IP addresses of incoming directory requests to country codes, and they distinguish connecting clients by transport protocol, which may include pluggable transports. Even though bridges don't report a combination of clients by country and transport, it's possible to derive and graph lower and upper bounds from existing usage statistics. For further details check the documentation on Reproducible Metrics.
Related events
The following events have been manually collected in the metrics-timeline Git repository and might be related to the displayed graph.
| Dates | Places/Protocols | Description and Links |
|---|---|---|
| 2017-11-15 | <OR> Relays |
Release of Tor Browser 7.5a8, containing tor 0.3.2.4-alpha, which adds a new directory authority bastet, and changes the IP address of the directory authority Longclaw.
blog post |
| 2017-11-15 | meek |
Outage of meek-amazon bridge.
ticket |
| 2017-11-14 | <OR> Relays |
Release of Tor Browser 7.0.10, containing tor 0.3.1.8, which adds a new directory authority bastet, and changes the IP address of the directory authority Longclaw.
blog post |
| 2017-11-11 to 2017-11-12 |
Outage of the op-hk OnionPerf instance.
op-hk graph |
|
| 2017-11-10 | ipv4 ipv6 |
geoip and geoip6 databases updated to "November 6 2017 Maxmind GeoLite2 Country" (geoip-db-digest E3C910F3B2A6C916C7BE33A943091EF57048B72C, geoip6-db-digest E8BD5B2E6554C27F718F1222667C09680D75F799).
commit |
| 2017-11-01 | meek |
Turned off the old meek-amazon CDN endpoint d2zfqthxsdq309.cloudfront.net.
mailing list post |
| 2017-10-25 | <OR> Relays |
Release of tor 0.2.5.15, 0.2.8.16, 0.2.9.13, 0.3.0.12, and 0.3.1.8, which add a new directory authority bastet, and change the IP address of the directory authority Longclaw.
blog post Bastet blog post bastet ticket Longclaw ticket |
| 2017-10-14 | snowflake |
Activated client IP address statistics on the Snowflake server and standalone proxies.
comment |
| 2017-10-05 | ipv4 ipv6 |
geoip and geoip6 databases updated to "October 4 2017 Maxmind GeoLite2 Country" (geoip-db-digest 3A59213E5CFEE380F544B72DC1105366C6BD1CDE, geoip6-db-digest 1B8C975E5C62CF0FB5B4E598AE27B7189952BB09).
commit |
| 2017-10-04 | fte |
Permanent hardware failure of default FTE bridge 128.105.214.161:8080.
comment |
| 2017-09-15 to 2017-10-12 |
Outage of the op-hk OnionPerf instance. Reported timeouts on the tor network increased, download speed improved.
mailing list post torperf graph torperf-failures graph op-hk graph |
|
| 2017-09-15 to 2017-09-16 | Bridges |
The bridge authority was down due to an issue with its offline master key.
graph mailing list post |
| 2017-09-14 to 2017-09-16 | Bridges |
Outage of the bridge authority Bifroest.
|
| 2017-09-07 | ipv4 ipv6 |
geoip and geoip6 databases updated to "September 6 2017 Maxmind GeoLite2 Country" (geoip-db-digest 0CE9EA8882EDED265451C36B49AE7BBB06A11C16, geoip6-db-digest C4573496EBD1CC335843067107DA49E482568FF6).
commit |
| 2017-09-02 to 2017-09-21 | obfs4 Unknown |
About a 35% increase in obfs4 users before returning to normal. Happened in many countries. Other transports do not have it.
graph |
| 2017-09-01 to 2017-09-20 | obfs4 |
A flood of over 4,000 obfs4 bridges nicknamed "Machiavelli".
graph of number of bridges tor-relays post metrics-team thread tweet |
| 2017-08-14 to 2017-08-15 | Bridges |
Outage of the bridge authority Bifroest.
mailing list post mailing list post graph |
| 2017-08-14 | ipv6 obfs4 Unknown |
Jump in IPv6 users of the Lisbeth default obfs4 bridge.
comment |
| 2017-08-10 to 2017-08-11 |
Outage of the op-hk OnionPerf instance. Reported timeouts on the tor network increased, download speed improved.
torperf graph torperf-failures graph op-hk graph |
|
| 2017-08-08 | snowflake |
Tor Browser 7.5a4 released, including Snowflake for macOS.
blog post |
| 2017-08-03 | ipv4 ipv6 |
geoip and geoip6 databases updated to "August 3 2017 Maxmind GeoLite2 Country" (geoip-db-digest 75AABD32582AC554AF252DDC7BBBABE7C6F28B28, geoip6-db-digest A52EFFEF8CF6F3CAA8EBD34961361544E959FAE1).
commit |
| 2017-07-31 to 2017-08-28 | Unknown |
Directory authorities using 2× bandwidth.
mailing list post for start mailing list post for end post suggesting link to nl, ro, lt, sc increases |
| 2017-07-29 to 2017-08-17 | meek |
Outage of meek-amazon bridge, caused by an expired certificate.
Relay Search expired certificate new certificate |
| 2017-07-07 | ipv4 ipv6 |
geoip and geoip6 databases updated to "July 4 2017 Maxmind GeoLite2 Country" (geoip-db-digest 3D04F191098640F2E03B4D5F7800088D14B7EC30, geoip6-db-digest A3649B9E909C59942FB3D8F874AB4BEA36E8BEC1).
commit |
| 2017-07-04 to 2017-07-21 | obfs4 |
Outage of default obfs4 bridge frosty.
mailing list post |
| 2017-07-04 to 2017-07-21 | obfs4 |
Outage of default obfs4 bridge dragon.
mailing list post |
| 2017-07-02 |
deb.torproject.org upgrades from tor 0.2.9 to tor 0.3.0
relay versions graph tweet |
|
| 2017-06-26 to 2017-07-02 | obfs4 |
Outage of default obfs4 bridge dragon.
mailing list post |
| 2017-06-26 to 2017-07-03 | obfs4 |
Outage of default obfs4 bridge frosty.
mailing list post |
| 2017-06-20 | meek |
Outage of meek-azure bridge.
start end |
| 2017-06-19 to 2017-06-23 | obfs4 |
Outage of default obfs4 bridge dragon.
mailing list post |
| 2017-06-18 to 2017-06-23 | obfs4 |
Outage of default obfs4 bridge frosty.
mailing list post |
| 2017-06-12 | obfs4 |
Increased the file descriptor limit on default obfs4 bridges ndnop3 and ndnop5 from 4096 to 32768. They had been failing bootstrap attempts from a test location in the U.S. about 40% of the time.
graph showing failed connections |
| 2017-06-09 | ipv4 ipv6 |
geoip and geoip6 databases updated to "June 8 2017 Maxmind GeoLite2 Country" (geoip-db-digest AFD609025B66305AD9FA8E0B15AF4F2BC82271F1, geoip6-db-digest A69FD14ACE46EE695F589ACE0EB7B915285B51B4).
commit |
| 2017-06-07 to 2017-12-14 | Brazil meek Unknown |
Sustained increase of meek users in Brazil, similar to the one that took place between 2016-07-21 and 2017-03-03.
graph |
| 2017-06-07 | ipv6 obfs4 |
Tor Browser 7.0 released. Adds an IPv6 address for default obfs4 bridge Lisbeth. Adds new default obfs4 bridges frosty and dragon.
blog post IPv6 ticket frosty and dragon ticket |
| 2017-05-25 | obfs4 |
Set AssumeReachable 1 on the default obfs4 bridges cymrubridge31 and cymrubridge33 in an attempt to make them publish statistics.
mailing list post |
| 2017-05-23 to 2017-06-13 | obfs4 |
Default obfs4 bridge LeifEricson rejects connections due to a broken firewall forwarding rule. This didn't affect the bridges "real" obfs4 port, but it did affect the port at that time configured in Tor Browser.
|
| 2017-05-08 | ipv4 ipv6 |
geoip and geoip6 databases updated to "May 2 2017 Maxmind GeoLite2 Country" (geoip-db-digest B2E5105287668771E34A66F90B34982D419727EF, geoip6-db-digest 8DA8AC3C8158CBFDF7DB53BBF73338246872371A).
commit |
| 2017-05-06 | snowflake |
Set AssumeReachable 1 on the Snowflake bridge 2B280B23E1107BB62ABFC40DDCC8824814F80A72 in an attempt to make it start publishing statistics.
mailing list post |
| 2017-04-30 | meek |
The meek-amazon bridge upgrades to meek-server 0.27.
|
| 2017-04-20 | meek obfs4 scramblesuit |
Tor Browser 7.0a3 is released. It changes the app.update.url. It removes the last remaining scramblesuit bridge. It changes the meek-amazon backend. It adds the new default obfs4 bridges cymrubridge31:80 and cymrubridge33:80.
blog post |
| 2017-04-19 | meek obfs4 |
Tor Browser 6.5.2 is released. It changes the app.update.url. It changes the meek-amazon backend. It adds the new default obfs4 bridges cymrubridge31:80 and cymrubridge33:80.
blog post comment about app.update.url |
| 2017-04-14 to 2017-08-20 | <OR> |
Directory authority maatuska's bwscanner stops operating, leading to a drop in traffic on some relays.
tor-consensus-health post about start tor-consensus-health post about end tor-dev thread analysis |
| 2017-04-06 | ipv4 ipv6 |
geoip and geoip6 databases updated to "April 4 2017 Maxmind GeoLite2 Country" (geoip-db-digest 0F3D4A456E5078CC9E49398ADCB04C40EA49B793, geoip6-db-digest 04F41F05FA167EF6EEE3FE953404AB0BCCD33008).
commit |
| 2017-03-22 | meek |
Orbot 15.4.0 beta-2 multi is released, containing the new meek-azure CDN configuration.
mailing list post commit |
| 2017-03-08 | ipv4 ipv6 |
geoip and geoip6 databases updated to "March 7 2017 Maxmind GeoLite2 Country" (geoip-db-digest 63921843E3AAA632088D189D877F836A373CD40D, geoip6-db-digest 2B93B9C6679BB09E1746F212A6DCDC6E710F5F52).
commit |
| 2017-03-07 | meek scramblesuit |
Tor Browser 6.5.1 is released, containing the new meek-azure CDN configuration, and removing the last remaining scramblesuit bridge.
blog post meek ticket scramblesuit ticket |
| 2017-03-03 | meek |
Stopped the (unused) meek-azure CDN endpoint meek-reflect.azureedge.net.
mailing list post |
| 2017-03-03 | meek |
Stopped the meek-azure CDN endpoint az786092.vo.msecnd.net.
mailing list post |
| 2017-03-03 | meek |
Stopped the meek-azure CDN endpoint az668014.vo.msecnd.net.
mailing list post |
| 2017-02-12 | ipv4 ipv6 |
geoip and geoip6 databases updated to "February 8 2017 Maxmind GeoLite2 Country" (geoip-db-digest C0C6099CE335916862978F77756C0B42521A74B2, geoip6-db-digest A54B14B9D47584E010F763D3EAE23C4726F4A8D5).
commit |
| 2017-02-10 to present | <OR> exit |
Measurement error from bandwidth authority causes decrease in measured bandwidth in Europe.
mailing list post |
| 2017-01-25 to 2017-04-05 | webstats |
Tor Browser update pings roughly halve. The beginning corresponds with the release of Tor Browser 6.5.2, which changed the app.update.url. The end doesn't correspond to any release.
ticket |
| 2017-01-24 |
Tor Browser 6.5 is released. It changes the app.update.url, which causes an apparent drop in update pings.
blog post graph ticket comment about app.update.url |
|
| 2017-01-24 | snowflake |
Tor Browser 7.0a1 released, including Snowflake for GNU/Linux only.
blog post |
| 2017-01-22 | meek |
1.0-beta release of GAEuploader, a tool that automates the setting up of meek.
mailing list post |
| 2017-01-09 | meek |
Decreased the rate limit on the meek-azure bridge to 2.0 MB/s, from 3.0 MB/s.
|
| 2017-01-04 | ipv4 ipv6 |
geoip and geoip6 databases updated to "January 4 2017 Maxmind GeoLite2 Country" (geoip-db-digest 672C29A4FA9BF81DE97CFE128741445E2BDE8097, geoip6-db-digest 81F380639A8E1000539204949A363FD3BFAFBA74).
commit |
| 2016-12-21 to 2016-12-28 | <OR> Relays Unknown |
Drop in relay users.
metrics-team thread thread continues |
| 2016-12-13 | obfs4 |
Tor Browser 6.5a6 is released. It fixes the app.update.url. It adds (uncomments) the default obfs4 bridge NX01:443. It activates timing obfuscation for certain obfs4 bridges. It changes the port of other obfs4 bridges.
blog post |
| 2016-12-09 | ipv4 ipv6 |
geoip and geoip6 databases updated to "December 7 2016 Maxmind GeoLite2 Country" (geoip-db-digest 1317BB3525E85E01FB34A89E04CE549AC23D07BD, geoip6-db-digest 865048C69BEC02B37268BFBAD66D9729B21CFCF5).
commit |
| 2016-11-22 | meek |
Decreased the rate limit on the meek-amazon bridge to 2.0 MB/s, from 3.0 MB/s.
|
| 2016-11-18 | obfs4 |
Default obfs4 bridge Lisbeth turns on timing obfuscation (iat-mode=1).
ticket |
| 2016-11-16 |
Tor Browser 6.5a4 is released. It changes the app.update.url.
blog post ticket |
|
| 2016-11-15 | meek |
Tor Browser 6.0.6 is released, unbreaking meek on macOS 10.12 (Sierra). (See 2016-09-20 breaking event.)
blog post ticket |
| 2016-11-15 | obfs4 |
Default obfs4 bridges ndnop3 and ndnop5 turn on timing obfuscation (iat-mode).
mailing list post ticket |
| 2016-11-07 | ipv4 ipv6 |
geoip and geoip6 databases updated to "November 3 2016 Maxmind GeoLite2 Country" (geoip-db-digest 363C038D0BE61D6E0A63C43DE8EA70771ED7BEA5, geoip6-db-digest 6110A2B794AFF0180FD096A4759434CABD289C40).
commit |
| 2016-10-30 | meek |
Increased the rate limit on the meek-amazon bridge to 3.0 MB/s, from 1.0 MB/s.
|
| 2016-10-28 | meek |
Decreased the rate limit on the meek-amazon bridge to 1.0 MB/s, from 3.0 MB/s.
|
| 2016-10-19 to 2016-11-10 | meek |
Large decrease in meek users, perhaps caused by problems in Orbot 15.0.2 BETA 1 that were fixed in Orbot 15.2.0 RC8.
ticket initial email followup email Orbot mail |
| 2016-10-05 | ipv4 ipv6 |
geoip and geoip6 databases updated to "October 4 2016 Maxmind GeoLite2 Country" (geoip-db-digest C14DF5AE94101562DEACDD296278B0EFA3EA26E5, geoip6-db-digest A88A828020A558D37F97CF683D4521270F0511A2).
commit |
| 2016-09-28 | meek |
Rate limit on the meek-amazon bridge returns to 3.0 MB/s, having been set to about 1.0 MB/s for some time, cause uncertain.
|
| 2016-09-24 | obfs3 |
Default obfs3 bridge LeifEricson upgrades and begins reporting statistics to the new bridge authority Bifroest. This is the last obfs3 bridge that hadn't upgraded.
|
| 2016-09-24 | obfs4 |
Default obfs4 bridge LeifEricson upgrades and begins reporting statistics to the new bridge authority Bifroest. This is the last obfs4 bridge that hadn't upgraded.
|
| 2016-09-23 to 2016-11-28 | obfs3 |
Outage of default obfs3 bridges "Unnamed" and "Unnamed" (fingerprint AF9F66B7B04F8FF6F32D455F05135250A16543C9). (Start date not known for sure, though it must have been after 2016-09-23; discussed in non-archived tor-team email.)
|
| 2016-09-23 | obfs3 |
Default obfs3 bridges ndnop0 and ndnop2 upgrade and begin reporting statistics to the new bridge authority Bifroest.
post on bridges not reporting statistics |
| 2016-09-23 | obfs3 |
Default obfs3 bridges "Unnamed" and "Unnamed" (fingerprint AF9F66B7B04F8FF6F32D455F05135250A16543C9) upgrade and begin reporting statistics to the new bridge authority Bifroest.
|
| 2016-09-23 | obfs4 |
Default obfs3 bridges ndnop3 and ndnop5 upgrade and begin reporting statistics to the new bridge authority Bifroest.
post on bridges not reporting statistics |
| 2016-09-20 | meek |
macOS 10.12 (Sierra) is released, breaking some programs that are built with Go <1.7, including the meek-client that comes with Tor Browser. (See 2016-11-15 unbreaking event.)
ticket |
| 2016-09-07 | ipv4 ipv6 |
geoip and geoip6 databases updated to "September 6 2016 Maxmind GeoLite2 Country" (geoip-db-digest 72F8AD2CD7C97D173AD53276366EAD32B13E0A50, geoip6-db-digest B6427DEAD2291FBF8311A2233AF4960BF4009713).
commit |
| 2016-09-02 | Bridges |
The former bridge authority Tonga shuts down. Bridges that have not updated to tor 0.2.8.7 or 0.2.9.2-alpha (which include all 5 default obfs3 bridges and 3/16 default obfs4 bridges) stop reporting statistics.
shutdown notice blog post loss of reporting bridges |
| 2016-08-31 | Bridges |
CollecTor begins publishing bridge stats from the new bridge authority Bifroest.
post |
| 2016-08-24 | Bridges |
tor 0.2.8.7 and 0.2.9.2-alpha are released, changing the bridge authority from Tonga to Bifroest.
0.2.8.7 announcement |
| 2016-08-18 | meek |
Changed the meek-amazon CDN price class from "All" to "Use Only US, Canada and Europe."
|
| 2016-08-12 | ipv4 ipv6 |
geoip and geoip6 databases updated to "August 2 2016 Maxmind GeoLite2 Country" (geoip-db-digest 9DD185BEC4F482DDD20A0221B3DD3F40175F0123, geoip6-db-digest B1C1B6BDC9627E3D87530A2C70578AC69C20C5C6).
commit |
| 2016-07-21 to 2017-03-03 | Brazil meek Unknown |
Sustained increase in meek users in Brazil. Locals believe that they are not actual users, rather bots or something like that. End date coincides with shutdown of meek-azure before migration. Would pick up again 2017-06-07.
graph |
| 2016-07-18 | ipv4 ipv6 |
geoip and geoip6 databases updated to "July 6 2016 Maxmind GeoLite2 Country" (geoip-db-digest 19FC902B6A860BA7E4BADCB5404482995F7E0763, geoip6-db-digest 7E717154718F2065240B90F8132F305AF78C9A9D).
commit |
| 2016-06-12 | ipv4 ipv6 |
geoip and geoip6 databases updated to "June 7 2016 Maxmind GeoLite2 Country" (geoip-db-digest DA31976A9C7D48C2C16EA70BCE9006772A0F4A34, geoip6-db-digest FF1DD08CA9EB6528E1A6389E7154BD9586F24370).
commit |