Trellis for Iran
When They Cut the Internet, We Keep You Connected
زن ، زندگی ، آزادی
On January 8, 2026, Iran imposed its most severe internet blackout in history. 92 million people cut off. VPNs blocked. Starlink jammed. Thousands killed while the world couldn't see. Trellis is built to make sure this never succeeds again.
What Happened in Iran
The 2025-2026 Iranian protests became the largest uprising since the 1979 revolution. The regime's response was the most brutal crackdown in the Islamic Republic's history.
Protests Erupt in Tehran
Shopkeepers in Tehran's Grand Bazaar shut their shops as the rial collapses to record lows. The protests spread rapidly, fueled by economic collapse after the June 2025 Twelve-Day War with Israel, UN sanctions, and decades of repression.
Internet Throttling Begins
Authorities begin targeted suppression — disrupting connections between 4-10 PM to coincide with protest hours. VPN connections destabilized. Mobile networks in protest areas disabled. Iran deploys its most sophisticated censorship yet: degrading function instead of cutting access.
Protests Reach All 31 Provinces
Students, bazaar merchants, workers, and urban middle class join. Slogans shift from economic demands to calls for the fall of the Islamic Republic. Government orders closures across 21 provinces. Students at Shahid Beheshti University declare the regime has held their future hostage for 47 years.
Total Internet Blackout & Massacre
At 8:30 PM Tehran time, all internet services are cut. Phone lines severed. Even the National Information Network disconnected internally. Starlink jammed with military-grade equipment. Security forces launch coordinated crackdown with live ammunition. At least 217 killed in Tehran alone on this day. Observers describe it as the deadliest period of repression since 1979.
Darkness
With the internet down, the world goes blind to events inside Iran. Reports emerge only through satellite fragments and delayed leaks. Estimates of 2,000 to 20,000 killed. Families forced to pay for the bullets that killed their loved ones. Secret executions of detained protesters in Tehran, Isfahan, Shiraz, and Mashhad. The regime imports 800 foreign militia members.
Partial Restoration & Resistance
Internet partially restored after 20 days, but severe restrictions remain. Iran moves toward permanent "whitelisting" — only security-cleared users get international access. Dancing at funerals of massacre victims becomes a new form of resistance. The fight continues.
“Every time we have an internet shutdown in Iran, usually we don't go back to normal.”— Amir Rashidi, cybersecurity expert & director of digital rights, interviewed by CNN
The Internet Shutdown Is Now a Weapon
Iran has perfected digital repression. Each shutdown is more sophisticated than the last. VPNs alone are no longer enough.
2019: Full Shutdown
Regime simply unplugged the internet. 6-day blackout. Hundreds killed while offline. VPNs worked before and after the shutdown — but not during.
2022: Nightly Curfews
Mobile shutdowns timed to protest hours. Instagram and Telegram permanently blocked. VPNs partially effective but increasingly detected.
2026: Protocol Sabotage
Most sophisticated shutdown in history. Not just cut off — encryption protocols sabotaged. VPNs authenticate then fail silently. Starlink jammed. Even domestic intranet severed. Total digital isolation for 92 million people.
“Iran no longer treats the internet as binary. It treats it as adjustable terrain. Latency rises during protests. Encryption fails during funerals. Control becomes continuous.”— Middle East Forum analysis, January 2026
Built for Exactly This Scenario
Trellis was created by an Iranian-American developer who grew up watching these shutdowns happen. Every feature is designed for the Iranian context.
Mesh Networking
When the internet is off, your phone becomes a relay. BLE and WiFi Aware create a mesh network between nearby devices. Messages hop phone to phone. No towers. No ISPs. No government kill switch. This is the technology that defeats the blackout.
Satellite Fallback
When mesh can't reach the outside world, Trellis routes through satellite. Android 15+ SatelliteManager API. Compatible with smuggled Starlink terminals. Multiple satellite channels so jamming one doesn't kill all.
Traffic Obfuscation
VPN traffic disguised as normal HTTPS or video streaming. Iran-specific: Shadowsocks protocol optimized for Iranian DPI. Domain fronting. Even if some internet is available, your VPN traffic looks like normal web browsing.
Stealth Mode
App disguises as a calculator, weather app, or notes. Fully functional decoy. Secret gesture opens Trellis. If IRGC checks your phone at a checkpoint, they see a calculator. Running processes show innocent names.
Duress PIN
If forced to unlock your phone, enter the duress PIN. It opens a convincing fake interface — normal apps, empty chat, no contacts. Real data, encryption keys, and messages permanently destroyed in under 3 seconds. Appears to comply while protecting everything and everyone.
Anti-Forensics
Defeats Cellebrite and GrayKey extraction tools used by IRGC. RAM-only data. 3-pass deletion. Hardware keystore encryption. Even if your device is seized, they cannot recover your contacts, messages, or group memberships.
Dead Contact Protocol
If you don't check in within a configurable time period, your trusted contacts are automatically notified. Data is wiped. This protects detained activists and alerts their network that something has happened — even through the blackout via mesh relay.
Free for Iranians
Geofencing auto-detects Iranian users and grants full premium features for free. No Stripe needed. No credit card. Cryptocurrency and mesh-earned credits for any optional features. No Iranian is left unprotected because of sanctions.
How Trellis Reaches Iran
Getting the app into the hands of 92 million people behind a digital iron curtain requires creative distribution.
Sideloading & APK Distribution
Google Play is blocked in Iran. APKs distributed through trusted channels: Telegram groups (before shutdown), diaspora networks, USB drives, Bluetooth sharing. File size optimized for low-bandwidth transfer.
Diaspora Bridge Network
Iranian-Americans and diaspora communities run Trellis desktop nodes as relay bridges. These connect to mesh networks inside Iran through any surviving internet fragments, satellite links, or border-proximity connections.
Mesh Seeding
A single Trellis device in a neighborhood creates a mesh node. As others install, the mesh grows. During protests, thousands of nearby phones form a resilient network that routes around every government chokepoint.
Satellite Gateway
Trellis devices near smuggled Starlink terminals or satellite phones become gateways. One satellite connection serves an entire mesh cluster. Messages from deep inside the mesh reach the outside world through a single orbital hop.
Pre-Positioned Infrastructure
DigitalOcean nodes in nearby countries (Turkey, UAE, Armenia, Iraq) serve as VPN exit points and relay infrastructure. Deployed and configured before the next shutdown begins. Ready for the moment the internet flickers.
What Works When Nothing Works
When Internet Is Throttled
7 VPN protocols with automatic failover. Shadowsocks optimized for Iranian DPI. V2Ray with WebSocket transport. Traffic looks like HTTPS video streaming. Intelligent protocol selection based on which protocols are currently being blocked.
When Internet Is Cut
BLE mesh networking (10-100m range, low power). WiFi Aware direct connections (50-100m, WiFi speeds). Messages hop device to device across the mesh. No towers, no ISPs, no centralized infrastructure to cut.
When Starlink Is Jammed
Multiple satellite channels: Android SatelliteManager, external devices (Garmin inReach, ZOLEO), satellite emergency SOS. Different frequencies, different orbits. Jamming one doesn't block all.
When Your Phone Is Seized
Duress PIN destroys all real data in <3 seconds. Anti-forensic protection defeats Cellebrite. RAM-only operation leaves no trace. Stealth mode shows a calculator. Even the app's existence is invisible.
Why I Built This
I am an Iranian-American. I watched the 2022 Woman, Life, Freedom protests from across the ocean, helpless as the internet went dark and the killing began. I watched it happen again in January 2026 — worse than ever. 6,900 confirmed dead. Families paying for bullets. Secret executions in prisons.— Founder, Trellis · Boulder, Colorado
The world's existing tools failed. VPNs were blocked. Starlink was jammed. 92 million people went silent. The regime counted on that silence.
Trellis exists because the next time they cut the internet, the mesh keeps going. Phone to phone. Block to block. City to city. No kill switch can stop a network that doesn't need infrastructure. This is the tool I wish existed for my people.
Help Build the Network
Trellis is in active development. Join the waitlist, share with Iranian communities, or contribute to the mesh network that will keep Iran connected.
Farsi (RTL) fully supported · Free for all Iranian users · 84 patents pending