Witnesses on the Helium network are Hotspots that have seen (or witnessed) a Proof-of-Coverage packet from a Hotspot. This single-stage Proof-of-Coverage challenge is also known as a "Beacon".

Witness lists used to be used to construct multi-hop challenges, but since the network moved to use single-hop challenges (or beacons), it is no longer used and only exists for informational purposes only.

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Beacons happen automatically, and Hotspots witness automatically. Successful Witnessing, Challenging, and Beaconing relies on a stable and fast internet connection. This means relayed Hotspots will often fail these tasks. More below.

Witness List in Explorer and Helium App

The list you find in explorer.helium.com and the Helium app are a historical, cumulative set of Hotspots that have witnessed your Hotspot emit a Beacon. This list is based on 5 previous days of Proof-of-Coverage receipts.

Here is an example:

January 1	January 2	January 3	January 4	January 5
13	4	5	10	10

Total: 42 Witnesses

The following day, the witnesses from January 1 is rolled over and a new day's worth of data is added.

January 2	January 3	January 4	January 5	January 6
4	5	10	10	8

Total: 37 Witnesses

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Witnesses are historical and informational only. It is not indicative of future earnings.

Witness List Resets

Any time a Hotspot updates its location, antenna, or elevation, the list automatically resets. This does not affect earnings.

Relayed Hotspots and the importance of opening ports

Relayed Hotspots do not just affect the Hotspot owner, but can affect its neighbors and the network.

Relayed Hotspot as a Challenger

When a Hotspot that is relayed issues a challenge, the receipt (or acknowledgement of the challenge) by the challengee and witnessing Hotspots may not arrive in time to be accepted. Why? Because the receipt has to traverse various other Hotspot connections in order to arrive at the relayed challenger.

Any witnesses that heard the beacon will have issues submitting their receipts to the challenger in a timely manner.

The Challenger does not earn HNT, Challengee (Beaconer) does not earn HNT, witnesses do not earn HNT.

Thanks to @oktyvm for these awesome graphics!

Relayed Hotspot as a Challengee (Beaconer)

A Challenger that sends a request to the Challengee expects an acknowledgement or a receipt by the Challangee within a certain period of time. If the Challengee is relayed, the initial request can take too long to arrive at the relayed Hotspot, and the request becomes stale and invalid.

The Challenger does not earn HNT, Challengee (Beaconer) does not earn HNT.

Thanks to @oktyvm for these awesome graphics!

Relayed Hotspot as a Witness

Hotspots that witness Beacons have to submit their receipt to the Challenger in a timely manner in order to earn HNT. If the witnessing Hotspot is relayed, then they are unlikely to submit their receipt in time.

Thanks to @oktyvm for these awesome graphics!

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To figure out if your Hotspot is relayed, check explorer, the app, or the API itself. Go to api.helium.io/v1/hotspots/:hotspot_address, and look at "listen_addrs". If there is a /p2p/ connection there, the Hotspot is relayed.

Visit the Network Troubleshooting guide for more information.

FAQ

My Hotspot went from x witnesses to y! What's wrong? I didn't do anything!

This is normal! The witnesses in the list is a historical summary of who has witnessed a beacon recently. This number can vary day to day and only Hotspots that sent receipts back to the challenger in a timely manner is included.

My witnesses dropped to zero! Will this affect my earnings?

Witnesses reset when a Hotspot updates its location, antenna dBi, or elevation. There is nothing to be concerned about and this will not affect your earnings. Keep in mind that as the network grows, the rewards going to each Hotspot goes lower day over day.