We raised $132 750 from 2 799 donors. That's an amazing 40% more than last year and 30% of our yearly budget. These excellent numbers mean more sustainability for Tails and ultimately better tools for you and all our users.
We know from previous surveys and usability research that these are 2 critical aspects to improve the usability of Tails, especially for less technical users and people experiencing heavy online censorship, for example in Asia.
Your donations will help us implement as many of these improvements as possible during 2021. You can already have a look at the new designs in our blueprints on the [[!tails_blueprint Persistent-Storage-redesign desc="Persistent Storage"]] and the [[!tails_blueprint network_connection desc="connection to Tor"]].
We always test the usability of major features with users before releasing them. It was particularly exciting this time because we tested our design remotely using <a href="https://simplysecure.org/blog/formative-testing">paper prototyping</a> with people in Greece, Mexico, Italy, Uganda, Germany, Ireland, and Malaysia!
**We simplified the verification procedure on our download page** by [[replacing the *Tails Verification* extension|verification_extension_deprecation]] with similar JavaScript code that runs [[directly on the download page|install/download]].
For you, this means a quicker response time in case of important security vulnerability and more time available for us to work on new features and improvements.
boyska has very strong experience in the technical aspects of operating systems and software development, and also in the social implications of technology, Free Software, and privacy.
