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 directly-connecting clients; that is, it excludes clients connecting via bridges. These estimates are derived from the number of directory requests counted on directory authorities and mirrors. Relays resolve client IP addresses to country codes, so that graphs are available for most countries. Furthermore, it is possible to display indications of censorship events as obtained from an anomaly-based censorship-detection system (for more details, see this technical report). 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 |
|---|---|---|
| 2017-05-25 | 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.
|
| 2017-05-16 | Ukraine |
Ukraine blocks Russian-operated web services. Relay and bridge users increase over 5×. May be partly attributable to the FreeU Browser , a browser produced and advertised by Mail.ru that includes a tor client.
ticket news article Reddit post relay graph bridge graph news article on FreeU |
| 2017-05-10 | Egypt OR Relays Unknown |
Drop in direct users from Egypt.
tor-talk post graph |
| 2017-05-09 to 2017-05-12 | Macau OR Relays Unknown |
Sudden temporary peak of 3k direct users in Macau.
tor-talk post graph |
| 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.
|
| 2017-04-23 | Taiwan OR Relays Unknown |
Relay users triple and begin to fluctuate in Taiwan.
tor-talk post graph |
| 2017-04-20 | meek obfs4 scramblesuit snowflake |
Release of Tor Browser 7.0a3. Changes the app.update.url. Removes the last remaining scramblesuit bridge. Changes the meek-amazon backend. Adds new default obfs4 bridges cymrubridge31:80 and cymrubridge33:80. Changes the Snowflake bridge from the plain WebSocket snowman to the TLS WebSocket flakey.
blog post issue for Snowflake bridge issue for Snowflake bridge commit for Snowflake bridge |
| 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 |
| 2017-04-17 to 2017-04-23 | Israel OR Relays Unknown |
Another sudden increase of direct users in Israel. Bridge users not affected.
relay graph |
| 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 |
| 2017-04-05 to 2017-04-13 | Israel OR Relays Unknown |
Sudden increase of direct users in Israel. Bridge users not affected.
relay graph |
| 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 |
| 2017-03-01 to 2018-11-12 | United Arab Emirates OR Relays Unknown |
Another increase in relay users, slower and more sustained than the previous one.
graph ticket about end |
| 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 |
| 2017-02-09 to 2017-08-01 | India obfs3 Unknown |
Gradual but large increase of obfs3 users in India, followed by slow decay. Relay users and other transports seemingly not affected.
graph |
| 2017-02-09 to 2017-03-21 | Jordan obfs3 Unknown |
Abrupt increase and decrease in obfs3 users in Jordan. Relay users and other transports seemingly not affected.
graph |
| 2017-02-06 to 2017-08-01 | United Arab Emirates obfs3 Unknown |
Increase in obfs3 users from the UAE, from 5K to 100K. Other transports not affected.
transport graph UAE bridge graph ticket |
| 2017-01-25 to 2017-04-04 | webstats Unknown |
Tor Browser update pings drop temporarily. The beginning of the drop corresponds with the release of Tor Browser 6.5.2, which changed the app.update.url. A similar effect is present in other years.
graph issue |
| 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 issue |
| 2017-01-22 | meek |
1.0-beta release of GAEuploader, a tool that automates the setting up of meek.
mailing list post |
| 2017-01-16 to 2017-04-20 | Cameroon |
Internet shutdown in parts of Cameroon.
article article |
| 2017-01-15 to 2017-03-01 | United Arab Emirates OR Relays Unknown |
Huge spike in relay users (400k+). An anonymous contributor suggests that it may be a botnet, based on the large number of hosts with an open SMB port in the UAE.
graph metrics-team thread Reddit thread comment about botnet |
| 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 |
| 2016-12-15 to present | Congo, The Democratic Republic of the |
The Democratic Republic of the Congo orders a block of social media services.
article relay graph bridge graph |
| 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 |
| 2016-12-12 | Turkey OR |
Turkey blocks direct Tor connections. The order to block had come on 2016-11-04.
ticket tweet article |
| 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 |
| 2016-12-01 | Belarus OR Relays |
Belarus blocks the addresses of public Tor relays, apparently by RST injection. Bridges work, even unobfuscated ones.
ticket article (Russian) OONI blog post |
| 2016-11-30 to 2016-12-02 | Gambia |
Internet shutdown in Gambia.
relay graph OONI report Cloudflare blog post |
| 2016-11-22 | meek |
Decreased the rate limit on the meek-amazon bridge to 2.0 MB/s, from 3.0 MB/s.
|
| 2016-11-20 to 2016-12-22 | Saudi Arabia Bridges Unknown |
Decrease in direct users and increase in bridge users in Saudi Arabia. The increase in bridge users lasts only about one month while the number of direct users remains down.
ticket |
| 2016-11-20 | Saudi Arabia OR Unknown |
Decrease in direct users and increase in bridge users in Saudi Arabia.
ticket |
| 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 |
| 2016-11-04 | Turkey |
Turkey orders a block on VPN services and Tor.
Turkish article English article ticket |
| 2016-11-03 to present | Turkey |
Turkey blocks Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, WhatsApp.
article |
| 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.
|
| 2016-10-25 to present | Egypt OR Relays |
Egypt blocks Tor directory authorities and public relays by TCP RST. Bridges work.
OONI report |
| 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 |
| 2016-10-09 to 2016-10-25 | Israel OR Relays Unknown |
Direct users fluctuate wildly in Israel. Bridge users not affected.
graph |
| 2016-10-08 to 2016-10-09 | Turkey |
Turkey blocks storage services including Dropbox, Google Drive, OneDrive, and GitHub. Most (all?) of the blocks were rescinded the next day.
blocking article unblocking tweet unblocking article |
| 2016-10-08 | Ethiopia |
Ethiopia declares a state of emergency and implements network blocks.
OONI report |
| 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 |
| 2016-10-02 to 2016-10-03 | Egypt OR Relays |
Reports that direct connections from Egypt are blocked; bridges are required. Maybe be the same as the block beginning 2016-10-25.
OONI report |
| 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 |
| 2016-09-04 | Iran OR |
Iran intensifies the blocking begun on 2016-08-20, getting most of the remaining direct users. There is interference in the graphs from the bridge authority changeover on 2016-09-02, but because the changeover would not have affected counts of ''direct'' users, it may be a coincidence.
ticket |
| 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 |
| 2016-08-24 | China OR Unknown |
Large decrease in users in China.
relay bridge |
| 2016-08-20 | Iran OR |
Iran somehow blocks most direct Tor connections. May also affect bridge users, but it's hard to tell because there were few vanilla bridge users anyway.
ticket |
| 2016-08-18 to 2016-08-29 | Mali Unknown |
Sudden increase of direct and bridge users in Mali.
relay graph bridge graph |
| 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 |
| 2016-07-15 | Turkey OR |
Coup attempt in Turkey. A paper (§ 4.1) reports a decline in Tor users.
paper relay graph |
| 2016-07-07 | Zimbabwe |
Four-hour block of WhatsApp in Zimbabwe.
article |
| 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 |
| 2016-06-01 | Kazakhstan OR obfs4 |
Kazakhstan blocks vanilla Tor TLS. Users mostly switch to obfs4.
ticket |
| 2015-12-31 to 2020-06-04 | Mexico |
The Telmex ISP in Mexico blocks seven directory authorities.
mailing list post article |