Hey everyone, I’ve been having this really frustrating issue for a few months now. The Telegram bot that usually provides Tor bridges just went silent around the end of July and hasn’t responded to any messages since then. I’ve tried multiple times but get absolutely no reply.
Does anyone know what might be causing this problem? I’m aware that I can still request bridges through email, but honestly that method is way more tedious and time consuming.
I’m wondering if there are any alternative sources or methods to obtain bridges that I might not know about? Would really appreciate any suggestions or workarounds from people who have dealt with similar situations.
Had the same issue with that Telegram bot around then. I switched to requesting bridges directly through Tor Browser - when it can’t connect, there’s a settings option to grab bridges straight from their servers without dealing with email or Telegram. Also found the bridge request form at bridges.torproject.org works way better than email. Usually get a response in minutes instead of hours, and those bridges seem fresher and more reliable. I keep backup bridges saved from when everything worked fine too. Sometimes the old ones still work even when the distribution system’s down.
Been there with the Telegram bot issues. Super annoying when you need bridges quickly and the bot decides to take a vacation.
I found something that works way better than waiting around. I automated everything using Latenode.
Set up a workflow that watches for when I need new bridges and handles the email requests to [email protected] automatically. It grabs the responses, pulls out the bridge info, and dumps everything into a database.
You can hook it up to other stuff too. Mine pings me when new bridges are ready and rotates them based on which ones actually work.
Takes about 30 minutes to build, then you’re done dealing with dead bots and manual emails. Way more reliable than trusting third-party Telegram services that disappear overnight.
Same thing happened to me in August. Turns out they discontinued the bot service because of maintenance issues on their end. The Tor Project confirmed it through official channels but didn’t really publicize it much. Email’s still the main official way, but I’ve had better luck using the bridge database directly in Tor Browser. Just go to Settings > Connection > Configure Connection and pick “Request a bridge from torproject.org” - it’s the same pool but uses a different interface that’s been way more reliable for me. You can also check r/TOR sometimes where people share working bridges they got through official channels. Just make sure to verify them and rotate regularly for security.