Troubleshooting network issues

If you're stuck on Bisq's initial loading screen for a while and then you are shown a screen about Tor it is probably because you ISP or network provider is actively blocking Tor.

Tor is actively working against these ISPs that block it by providing bridges. These bridges help you hop into the tor network through a not so known node. You can either know someone who runs a bridge and ask them for the details or you can go to https://bridges.torproject.org/bridges to get your own.

They look like this, and should be inserted in Bisq's Tor screen:

Note that the picture is only illustrative, the Bridges shown will vary on your IP range and a series of other factors (see more about how the Tor Project team optimises the list of bridges for maximum uncensorability here).

Other Known connection issues

Forks of Bitcoin (the codebase) in the same computer

Some forks of the Bitcoin repository (i.e. Litecoin, Dogecoin and more) are known to affect Bisq's connectivity setup. These forks are recognized by Bisq as a local Bitcoin node and Bisq attempts to connect to them to find Bisq related transactions. That will never work, as Litecoin blockchain have no Bisq related transactions :)

To solve this issue, switch altcoin nodes off, turn Bisq on and let it load completely. Then, turn the altcoin nodes back on.

Tor Bridges that don't work

Some network administrators try really hard to block any Tor activity in their network (Universities in particular) and go as far as blocking specific types of SSL traffic & handshakes.

When that happens you can use a VPN to connect your computer to their network and then have Bisq use Tor from within the VPN tunnel to connect to the Bitcoin network.