Easter Bunny Tracker - News
Welcome to the news feed for track.easterbunny.cc, where you can stay updated with the latest information from the team running track.easterbunny.cc.
You can also stay updated by following our Twitter, @bunny_tracking.
track.easterbunny.cc Version 7 is now open sourced!
Posted: April 25, 2024
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Hello all! I wanted to quickly announce that Version 7 of track.easterbunny.cc has now been open-sourced. You can check out the source code on GitLab.
Thank you for your continued support of the tracker over these last 5 years. It's been an honor to create this tracker and now I can't wait to see what you make with the tracker's source code!
The tracker has been closed for the final time.
Posted: April 5, 2024
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For the final time, the tracker has been closed and reset to the "countdown" screen. However, there is no longer a countdown, just a message saying that the tracker has been shut down.
Work will now begin on preparing the v7 codebase to be open-sourced. If everything goes to plan, the source code should be released in early May.
Thank you once again for all the support over these last 5 years. It has been an absolute honor and a privilege to run this tracker.
Thank you for an amazing Easter 2024!
Posted: March 31, 2024
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Easter 2024 - the sixth and final year of operations for track.easterbunny.cc. Leaving behind the production issues of last year with some awesome new features and the last run on the horizon, I was genuinely curious where the tracker would land for hits.
From the get-go, everything was looking extremely promising - with a growth rate soaring towards 70% compared to 2023, and hits steadily above our 2022 numbers from our record run then. As the day went on, this continued to be the case. Peak came and you came out in droves - pushing the tracker to an eye-searing 287 hits per minute twice and generally holding 200+ hits/minute for almost 3 hours. When all was said and done, the tracker landed with a final hit count of...
track.easterbunny.cc upgraded to Version 7.1.6
Posted: March 27, 2024
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Hello! Although we're super close to liftoff, today a bugfix has been pushed to the tracker to increment it to Version 7.1.6. The bug fix list is below:
track.easterbunny.cc upgraded to Version 7.1.4/7.1.5
Posted: March 7, 2024
Updated: March 18, 2024
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Hello all! track.easterbunny.cc Version 7.1.4 has been released today with a couple of bug fixes and refinements to the tracker. No changelog for this release since the changes aren't super noteworthy. This will probably be the last proper bug fix release for the tracker, any further fixes will be under Version 7.1.4.
We're continuing to make final preparations for the tracker with just 22 days until liftoff as of right now. Our priority is to ensure the infrastructure and tracker are both stable to avoid the issues the tracker was running into last year, and to ensure all of you can have an amazing experience for the final year of the tracker.
As a reminder, pre-tracking begins on March 30, 2024 at 2 AM EDT! Hope to see you there!
Update (March 18, 2024): A few bug fixes have been made to the tracker - as such, the version has been incremented to 7.1.5. This will be the final release of the tracker before tracking begins.
track.easterbunny.cc upgraded to Version 7.1.3
Posted: February 22, 2024
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Hello all! track.easterbunny.cc Version 7.1.3 has been released with lots of bug fixes that were found during additional testing of the tracker. Let's get right into the changelog.
track.easterbunny.cc upgraded to Version 7.1.2
Posted: February 1, 2024
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Hello all! Back at it again with another upgrade to track.easterbunny.cc - this time it's Version 7.1.2. It's a small release with a couple of changes to fine-tine the tracking experience. Here's the full changelog.
track.easterbunny.cc upgraded to Version 7.1.1
Posted: January 22, 2024
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Hello all and happy 2024! track.easterbunny.cc Version 7.1.1 is out today with some various bug fixes. Here's the full changelog.
track.easterbunny.cc upgraded to Version 7.1.0
Posted: December 19, 2023
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Hello all! We're excited to announce track.easterbunny.cc Version 7.1, which brings some nifty improvements and bug fixes to the tracker. Let's get straight into the changelog for this release!
New settings section - Stop Info
With the introduction of new settings related to stop pronunciation, we've introduced a new section to settings that controls everything in the Stop Info (or ESD to those who have dealt with the tracker code) window. With this, the two settings to enable weather summary/local stop arrival time in the stop info window have moved to this new section.
New settings to control stop pronunciation
We've introduced two new settings to control your stop pronunciation experience - playback speed and changing the locale of the pronunciation. You can now adjust the playback speed of the pronunciation from 0.5x to 2x speed depending on your liking. And if you enjoy hearing a different English locale of the stop pronunciation, you can adjust that as well.
Improvements to stop pronunciation
In Version 7.1, we've made some improvements to stop pronunciation to ensure that the TTS voice is properly pausing at commas and not getting cut off too early at the end of the voiceover.
And lots of smaller improvements!
As is standard for any release, there's been a bunch of bug fixes and smaller improvements. In no particular order for v7.1...
Welcome to track.easterbunny.cc Version 7!
Posted: December 10, 2023
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Welcome to track.easterbunny.cc Version 7 - the 6th and final version of track.easterbunny.cc. We're going out with a bang this year with some much-requested features to make the final year of tracking as great as it can be.
Without further ado, let's jump right into the changelog.
Multi-metrics is here (finally!)
Since the inception of track.easterbunny.cc in 2019, you've been limited to seeing one metric at a time on the tracker. But after half a decade and countless requests, your wishes are coming true. You can now see multiple metrics during tracking.
To enable this feature, you'll want to head into settings, and under the metrics tab you'll now find the metric option has checkboxes. Check as many metrics as you'd like and they'll show up in the tracker!
Enhanced pre-tracking experience
For our final year, we've expanded our partnership with Easter Island so you can view baskets wrapped and loaded metrics during pre-tracking! This is a super exciting feature and we can't wait for the early-birds who join us during pre-tracking to see this feature in action.
Additional metrics
There's one additional metric coming to the tracker this year to bring the total metric count to six. We've added an overall progress metric so you can keep tabs on the overall progress of the Easter Bunny's journey from a baskets delivered and distance traveled standpoint.
This is definitely a slow-updating metric, but nonetheless a great one to see how the Easter Bunny is progressing through the 25 hour journey around the globe!
Pronunciation in stop information window
Ever wondered how cities across the globe are actually pronounced? Wonder no more! This year we've added a pronunciation button to the stop data window so you can hear exactly how to pronounce city & region names. Just click it and you'll hear the pronunciation!
This feature is available in 7 locales (all in English) using the AWS Polly TTS engine. Some stop pronunciations might not be exactly correct, but in a future update of the tracker we'll indicate when this is the case.
Nonetheless, we hope you enjoy this feature and we're very excited to have it!
Stop accuracy improvements
As is the case every year, we make stop accuracy improvements so that the tracker is as accurate as possible. This year we've made some nice changes across the globe to fill in a few gaps in areas that didn't previously have a stop.
And as previously mentioned, an ISS stop will be happening this year in the tracker. Look forward to it!
And lots of minor improvements!
As is the case every year, we make lots of smaller improvements to make a more well-rounded tracker. In no particular order for this year...
@bunny_updates Twitter Account will not operate for Easter 2024
Posted: October 17, 2023
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It's with unfortunate news to announce that the @bunny_updates Twitter (X) account will not operate for Easter 2024.
Given the recent changes with the Twitter API (rate limits, deprecation of v1.1 APIs), it would take significant effort to prepare the bots codebase to test & make it work with the API. Given the limited time to prepare the v7 codebase and that the tracker is shutting down after Easter 2024, it doesn't make logical sense to put such effort into the Twitter Bot.
Nonetheless, the @bunny_tracking account will continue to post updates every 15-30 minutes during the course of Easter 2024, so that's your best place to get updates on Twitter. And as always, you can visit the tracker to see exactly what's going on with the Easter Bunny's whereabouts.
Thank you for supporting the @bunny_updates account over the last few years!
track.easterbunny.cc Version 6 code has been released!
Posted: July 14, 2023
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The day has finally arrived! I'm proud to announce that track.easterbunny.cc Version 6 code has been released, and our open-source repositories have now been updated.
You can view the updated source code here: https://gitlab.com/track-easterbunny-cc/tebcc.
For all those who want to build a tracker off of TEBCC's core technology, v6 represents a major upgrade compared to v5. The code is actually readable and structured, and overall things are much simpler to understand. We hope you enjoy working with this new codebase.
As a reminder, the tracker is licensed under GNU GPL v3 - if you make changes to the tracker and release your modified changes, you'll have to open-source your modified tracker as well. The GPL license ensures that the tracker, and any improvements made to it can stay open-source forever.
Enjoy the new open-source code!
Preparations are beginning for track.easterbunny.cc Version 7!
Posted: June 28, 2023
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It's with great pleasure that I announce the 5th and final major version of track.easterbunny.cc - Version 7 for 2024.
Version 7 of the track.easterbunny.cc brings some nice-to-have features into the tracker to further enhance the tracking experience. It represents the final vision of track.easterbunny.cc and the Easter Bunny Tracker that I've always wanted to make since 2019.
Without further ado, let's get into the planned changes for this year!
Multi-metrics support - finally!
On both mobile and desktop devices, you'll finally be able to view multiple metrics at once. This means you can easily keep an eye on all your favorite metrics without flipping between them!
This feature will be activated through settings by changing the metric visible setting into checkboxes from radio buttons. From there, you can select as many metrics as you want to be visible.
Baskets prepared metric during pre-tracking
For our final year of pre-tracking, we're going out with a bang making the experience more interactive. Throughout pre-tracking, you'll be able to see the number of baskets prepared & loaded as the Easter Bunny's helpers get everything ready for liftoff.
You'll be able to see these metrics on both desktop and mobile devices.
Spoken pronunciation in the stop information window
Have you ever been exploring the map and come across a stop that you've wanted to know how it's pronounced? With track.easterbunny.cc Version 7, you'll now easily be able to listen to the pronunciation of a city name!
At the top of the stop information window, you'll find a speaker icon that allows you to play the pronunciation for each city on both mobile and desktop devices.
Right now we're planning for all voices to be in US English and TTS generated, however, depending on the complexity of this feature we may be able to get voices in UK, Australian, and Canadian English and have it automatically switch depending on your device's locale.
The Easter Bunny goes to space in the final release!
A long time ago, we had planned for the Easter Bunny to show a stop on the ISS, but unfortunately this feature never manifested. Nonetheless, for the final TEBCC release we'll be adding this feature! More information about it will come in a developer update, but this is your confirmation that it'll happen!
Unconfirmed features
For Version 7, there's two unconfirmed features at this time. They may get implemented depending on time constraints and the difficulty of them development-wise.
First, we're thinking of potentially adding some new metrics this year. Our first idea is an overall progress metric so you can get a birds-eye view of how the Easter Bunny's journey is going so far.
Second, we're thinking about improving map movements especially in large cities. This would depict the Easter Bunny slowing down when reaching/leaving large cities, on top of the current arrival system that we have.
More information and updates on the status of these features will come at a later time!
Other small features & improvements
With every TEBCC release there'll be some smaller improvements to refine the tracking experience. In no particular order for this year:
An announcement on the future of track.easterbuny.cc
Posted: May 28, 2023
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This is a post I always knew I would have to write at some point, and today is that day.
Back in 2019 when I started making track.easterbunny.cc, I had no clue what it would turn into today. TEBCC has ballooned into a project that has far exceeded my expectations of what it could do, and honestly, what I thought I could even make.
From a very basic tracker with just a few thousand visitors in 2019, to one of the most complex trackers on the internet five runs later getting tens of thousands of hits year after year - it's truly been an honor to make and build this tracker that's received around half a million hits during its lifetime. I have learned so much from running this tracker, but in the process, been honored by the outpouring of support, enthusiasm, and impact the tracker has had on so many people across the world. Thank you to everyone who visited TEBCC at some point between 2019 and now, it really means the world to me.
Nonetheless, running and managing TEBCC is a time and financial burden, especially as a solo developer. Especially as I move into a new phase of life, I cannot make the guarantee that I will be able to run the tracker at the same level that I do now.
I contemplated my options for running the tracker into the future - paths including lowering costs, turning off Twitter updates, and leaving the tracker in a state of maintenance without new features, all of which would lower the operational and financial overheads that the tracker has.
However, doing such goes against why I made track.easterbunny.cc in the first place - to create one of the best Easter Bunny tracker experiences on the internet. It feels wrong to leave the tracker to die a slow death, eventually to be succeeded by another website and for me to pull the plug somewhere down the road.
With this in mind, I have made the decision that track.easterbunny.cc will no longer run after Easter 2024. Easter 2024 will be the 6th and final run of track.easterbuny.cc.
Shutting down the tracker in 2024 was what I determined to be in the tracker's best interests and within reason of what I can commit to for the tracker's future. I want this amazing tracker to end on a high note, not a low note of a slow death. I know that I can commit to providing the best tracking experience for one more year, and that's exactly what's gonna happen.
So, where does this leave the tracker?
For 2024, Version 7 will be released which focuses on some improvements I wanted to make but didn't have time to do in the React refactor. It'll be the final vision of what I wanted TEBCC to be, and I hope you're excited to see what changes come along. There's no set list of features right now, this will be determined and announced at a later date.
The 2024 run of the tracker will be like any other run in the last 5 years. However, once tracking is completed and the map screen resets after a few days, there will no longer be a countdown, rather, a message indicating the tracker has shut down.
I know this news will come as a shock - especially with the knowledge that there is no alternate tracker out there with a similarly complex tracking experience. But in life, the greatest things always come to an end at some point. We shouldn't take them for granted - this tracker included. But once the tracker shuts down, I hope you can look back at some of the fond memories of using this website.
As has been the case in previous years, I'm working to get the tracker open-sourced for Version 7. The legacy of TEBCC will live on through the codebase, allowing anyone who's technically inclined to fire up their own tracker and build on top of the innovations this tracker has made.
Thank you once again for supporting track.easterbunny.cc through the years.
All the best,
Owen
The countdown is on for 2024!
Posted: April 15, 2023
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A day late, but the countdown is on for 2024 with 350 days to go. See you then for v7 of the tracker!
2023 production failures post-mortem is now available
Posted: April 10, 2023
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Hello all - the post-mortem for the 2023 run of the tracker is now available. This is a detailed description of the issues in production that led to the tracker failures. This is a lengthy report with a lot of technical terms, but hopefully you can learn something from our failures about what happened this year.
The report also outlines what we'll be doing for 2024 so ensure these issues are much less likely to occur in production.
2023 Post-Mortem Report (PDF)
Thank you for Easter 2023!
Posted: April 9, 2023
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Easter 2023 - our fifth year of operations. This year was going to be a huge year, with the first running of our React based tracker based on a whole new UI. We had also wondered with 4 years of growth behind us, would we keep on growing?
While things looked promising in the early hours of tracking, unfortunately, we suffered from technical issues that meant the tracker failed to load about 25% of the time until about 5 PM ET on Easter Eve, with residual issues after this time.
Despite the technical issues, you all came out once again in droves during peak hours, pushing the tracker beyond 100 hits a minute for almost 4 hours, peaking at 194 hits per minute. Once all was said and done, we landed with a final hit count of…
track.easterbunny.cc upgraded to Version 6.1.5
Posted: April 4, 2023
Updated: April 5, 2023
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A couple days ago, we said the famous words "this will likely be the last release of the tracker". That was a lie. track.easterbunny.cc Version 6.1.5 is here with a few bug fixes just to make the tracking experience as perfect as possible. Here's the full changelog!
track.easterbunny.cc upgraded to Version 6.1.4
Posted: April 2, 2023
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Hello all! track.easterbunny.cc Version 6.1.4 has been released today with some major performance updates. During late-stage tracker testing, we discovered that the tracker had a couple areas where things were performing slower compared to v5.6, so this patch gets all that sorted out. It's important to note these performance changes won't affect things with the countdown but are more geared towards when tracking starts. Without further ado, let's get into the changelog.
Safari now supports the fullscreen button!
Posted: March 28, 2023
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Some exciting news for you today! Yesterday, Apple released Safari 16.4 alongside iPadOS 16.4 and macOS Ventura 13.3, which finally enables support for the native fullscreen API that our fullscreen button uses.
This means if you upgrade to the latest OS/Safari versions, the fullscreen button will appear on the bottom left of the tracker. It's super exciting to finally have support for fullscreen and we hope you use it.
Just a few quick notes with this feature. First, this will not work on iOS 16.4 unfortunately as Apple continues to not allow browser fullscreen on iPhones. Second, on iPad you will notice that the last stop/next stop box gets somewhat obstructed by the close fullscreen button. If this is annoying, you can head to the tracker tab of settings and enable nudging down the top boxes which does exactly that! Third and last, this feature is only available on Safari on iPadOS 16.4 and not on any other browsers.
Give this feature a try! And we hope you're ready for tracking starting in just 10 days.
track.easterbunny.cc upgraded to Version 6.1.3
Posted: March 24, 2023
Updated: March 28, 2023
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Hello all! track.easterbunny.cc has been upgraded to Version 6.1.3 with some bug fixes as we continue to count the days down to liftoff. Without further ado, let's get straight into the changelog.
track.easterbunny.cc upgraded to Version 6.1.2
Posted: March 18, 2023
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Hello everyone! track.easterbunny.cc Version 6.1.2 has been released as we continue to refine the tracker before liftoff. This release features one new feature and plenty of bug fixes. Here's what's new!
Nudge top boxes in fullscreen
In preparation for the release of iPadOS 16.4 (which unlocks the fullscreen ability in the tracker), we've introduced a feature to help get the most out of this experience. When in fullscreen on iPadOS 16.4, there is a button to exit fullscreen which blocks some of the top boxes. We've added a new setting in the tracker tab which allows you to nudge down the top boxes so the exit fullscreen button doesn't block the buttons. This is an optional feature and is off by default. Similar to the Chrome map fix setting, it'll only show up on iPadOS 16.4 browsers.
Bug fixes & other improvements:
As always we've been busy making lots of small changes and improvements. Here's the full list of these fixes.
track.easterbunny.cc upgraded to Version 6.1.1
Posted: March 10, 2023
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Hello all! track.easterbunny.cc Version 6.1.1 is here with lots of bug fixes and minor improvements to the tracker as we near closer and closer to tracking. Here's what's new.
track.easterbunny.cc upgraded to Version 6.1
Posted: March 3, 2023
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Hello everyone! Today I'm happy to announce that track.easterbunny.cc has been upgraded to Version 6.1 with lots of exciting changes. These changes (and bug fixes as always) will help make the tracker the best that it can be. Let's jump into the changes!
New localization tab in settings
Version 6.1 contains lots of changes that relate to localizing the tracker to your specific liking. As such, we've introduced a sixth tab in settings that helps you localize the trackers settings to your liking. As a result of this change, the tracker units setting has moved over to this tab, and can no longer be found in the settings tab. But, let's get into what's in this tab!
Support for changing time units in the tracker
Browsers are notoriously bad at detecting which clock style your device is in. As such, we've now introduced the ability to manually change whether times in the tracker are presented in 12 or 24-hour formats! Similar to the tracker units setting, there's an automatic selection by default, which defaults to the preferred clock style of your locale. There's two manual settings that come after that, 12-hour and 24-hour. These changes apply to the times listed in the stop information modal, and when hovering over basket icons on desktop devices.
Precise location support!
This has been a feature that I've long wanted to introduce and it's finally here! We've always used an approximate way of determining where you are to figure out when the Easter Bunny arrives and how far the Easter Bunny is from you using your IP address. We did this because otherwise the tracker would have to request your location on load, and that's a little suspicious to do! Most of the time, this estimate is decently accurate and pinpoints your general whereabouts. However, we've also known on mobile data that sometimes the location is wrong, and for some ISPs your estimated location just isn't quite right.
That's where precise location comes in. In the localization tab, you can now tell the tracker to query your current location for arrival estimates and a precise distance from you metric. Doing so also unlocks some added benefits in the tracker! Namely, the estimated arrival time will become loads more accurate, updating in quarter hour intervals throughout tracking. When the Easter Bunny is around the corner, you'll get estimates at 45, 30, 20, 10 and less than 10 minutes before arrival. And when the Easter Bunny is nearby, you'll be able to see down-to-the-stop when the Easter Bunny arrives, up to 10 stops before arrival (of course this is your warning to get tucked in bed so the Easter Bunny can deliver your baskets!). With this update, if you're using approximate location, the distance from you metric now updates in 10 mile or kilometer intervals, and you'll need to enable precise location to unlock its full accuracy.
As always, there's a couple notes for this update. Precise location doesn't require a GPS-capable device, you'll be able to use it on Wi-Fi devices as well. Additionally, the tracker won't try to get your precise location after you query it, so it's up to you to click on Precise location again to update your location if you're on the move. Lastly, to conserve resources (as we need to make reverse geocode calls to provide feedback that we found your location correctly), you'll be limited to updating your precise location at most every 30 minutes.
We're pretty excited for this feature to finally hit the tracker, and we can't wait for you to explore it. You can activate it now in the countdown page before tracking begins!
Improved local timezone formatting
Due to the switch from Moment.js to Luxon (and therefore relying on your browser's locale data), we found an issue with the local arrival time where timezone abbreviations weren't always showing. This is no longer the case!
For about ~50-60% of stops, you should be able to see an abbreviation. For about ~20-30% of stops, you'll see a GMT/UTC offset. There's some stops that will show their timezone as it's intended to be formatted locally, so don't fret if you see odd characters in that field.
Nonetheless, this hopefully brings this feature closer to how it operated in v5.6 of the tracker.
Bug fixes!
As with every release of the tracker, we're always working hard on bug fixes. Here's all the bugs that have been fixed in the tracker for this release:
track.easterbunny.cc upgraded to Version 6.0.1
Posted: February 25, 2023
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Hello! I'm happy to announce track.easterbunny.cc Version 6.0.1 has been released, which consists of bug fixes to make the tracking experience more reliable. Without further ado, here's the full list of changes.
Welcome to track.easterbunny.cc Version 6!
Posted: February 20, 2023
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Welcome to track.easterbunny.cc Version 6 - it's finally here! After a hiatus of releasing new features last year, we're back for 2023 with a completely rebuilt tracker with a completely new design, new features, and lots of bug fixes. Let's get straight into the changelog!
A brand new tracker from the ground up!
For the last 4 years, our tracker ran on a mix of Material Design Bootstrap 4, jQuery, and lots of spaghetti code. For 2023, we've completely refactored the tracker into React with Material Design Bootstrap 5.
This refactor sets the path for a much more maintainable tracker going forward, and will allow us to introduce lots of new features in the coming years.
You'll notice that the design of the tracker is much more modern with rounded corners, more readable text, smoother animations, and small UI tweaks across the tracker to optimize for the user experience. At the same time, we've kept the design language that our tracker has had for five years now, just 3 boxes at the top. We can't wait for you to experience this new redesign!
You'll also notice that our supporting pages (such as the FAQ & news page) are still using Material Design Bootstrap 4. This was an intentional choice, and we plan on switching them over to React as part of Version 7 coming in 2024.
The Easter Bunny arrives at stops!
In what is probably the coolest feature this year, we're now depicting the Easter Bunny arriving at stops! When the Easter Bunny reaches a stop, the map will zoom in, the icon will change to one depicting the Easter Bunny dropping off baskets, zoom out, and repeat this for every stop. This feature works similarly to what Google's Santa Tracker does with a couple changes.
In order to preserve our legendary stop accuracy, the Easter Bunny stops in a city for about 5-30 seconds (depending on how big the city is and how long there are between stops), then moves on to the next stop. This lower stoppage time (compared to Google who does 60 seconds for all stops) meant we were able to keep every stop from last year, and also means a faster paced tracker!
There's a few important notes with this feature. With the introduction of stop arrivals, the map will automatically zoom into and out to whatever your default zoom level setting is, so it's crucial you set this up correctly if you enjoy a more zoomed in (or zoomed out) map. You can find the configuration for this in the Map section of settings.
If you don't like the map zooming in and out, that's fine! We've also added a setting that allows you to disable the zoom animation entirely. Disabling the animation also means the map won't zoom in/out automatically, so you can choose a zoom manually (either by the buttons or with your mouse wheel).
Vastly improved pre-tracking!
For the past few years, pre-tracking has had updates every 5 minutes from Easter Island, with faster updates in the final 15 minutes before tracking begins. We're proud to say that we're improving this experience by having updates every 2.5 minutes! These faster updates mean that you'll be able to get a closer peek at the preparations undertaken on Easter Island before the Easter Bunny lifts off.
Much improved settings experience!
We've made loads of improvements to the settings experience this year, making it easier to customize tracker settings to your likings.
First and foremost is the general layout of the settings window - it's now wider on desktop devices, and the tabs for each section on mobile devices are smaller, so it's easier to scroll down to the actual settings!
We've overhauled the tracker smoothness settings, allowing you to hover over each setting to see how fast metrics will update. We've also increased the default smoothness setting to 5 FPS for the map and 10 FPS for the tracker (if you were using default settings last year, you'll be migrated to using the smoother default smoothness). And lastly, we now feature 5 smoothness levels for your choosing.
The default zoom level setting now features a slider bar so that it's way easier to change your default zoom level. We also include handy text to tell you what the zoom level will be when the Easter Bunny arrives at stops.
This year, we added a help menu to settings in case you have some questions with the tracker. There's quick links to where you can find support (along with a link to Known Issues), some tips on how to best stream the tracker, and diagnostic information in case you ask us for support.
We've made some updates to our default settings - the stream optimized settings now reflect what settings most streams used in 2022, there's new low performance defaults for older devices, and you'll also be able to set the tracker settings to make the tracker look like it was back in 2019.
And last but not least, the entire settings window is using the new design framework we're using, and it looks SO MUCH better compared to the settings window of prior years.
Native fullscreen button!
Have you ever wanted the tracker to go fullscreen but just couldn't find where the fullscreen button is in your browser? Or maybe it still showed the URL bar? We've got a solution for you.
On the stack of buttons in the bottom left of the tracker, you'll see a new button this year - a handy dandy button to make the tracker go fullscreen without tabs, URL bars, anything, it's truly fullscreen! And once you're done immersing yourself in Easter Bunny Tracking the way it was meant to be, you can click that button again to exit fullscreen mode.
Unfortunately, not all browsers support our code directly controlling fullscreen, so this feature is only available on compatible browsers (Chrome, Firefox, Opera, Microsoft Edge, and a few others). Most notably, Safari and all iOS/iPadOS devices are missing, due to complications Apple introduces in WebKit that we couldn't get around. We're hoping to expand support in v7 as this feature is in beta right now.
If you don't see the fullscreen icon in your favorite browser - let us know, and we can try to add in support!
(Note: If Safari 16.4 is released before the tracker launches, we will patch in support as Apple is changing how fullscreen is being handled in 16.4!)
Improved stop detection!
Every year we try really hard to keep improving our stop detection. And this year is no different. We've improved coverage in the Eastern US, Australia, Japan, China, and India for this year, in addition to a variety of improvements across the globe. In total, we expect to detect just shy of 1,000 stops this year.
We've also made changes to the intervals that stops happen at. Previously, stops happened precisely on the minute, but this year you'll notice that some arrival times won't occur on the minute. You'll see this change in various places around the globe as we've switched to depicting 90 seconds between stops sometimes.
In the United States, you'll see a new experimental type of stop detection with sub-minute intervals between stops. This is what's powering us to detect even more stops in the United States. We're only trying this feature out in the US (along with a couple other places globally) as we try to find new ways to get the best geographic coverage of any tracker online.
Still no ads in the tracker?
Contrary to previous communications, ads will not be a part of Version 6 of track.easterbunny.cc. Unfortunately, given the limited development time and delays when putting ads in the tracker, we were unable to create the best ad-supported experience that we could. Therefore, ads won't be in the tracker this year.
As a compromise, you may see a banner asking you to donate when you use the tracker. We'd really appreciate it if you could donate to the tracker, if just 1% of our users donated $1, we'd cover all of our costs for tracking and could keep the tracker ad-free (this sounds like a Wikipedia ad, but it's true!).
We're hoping that these banners and an updated donate window can raise awareness about the importance of supporting the tracker so we can keep tracking the Easter Bunny without ads.
The last hurrah for track.orthodoxbunny.cc
Although all these changes are exciting for track.easterbunny.cc, unfortunately, our sister site track.orthodoxbunny.cc will be tracking for the last time this Orthodox Easter.
Low usage combined with high infrastructure demands in the wake of TEBCC runs mean that it no longer makes sense to run the tracker in the future. You can read more information about the shutdown over at track.orthodoxbunny.cc.
Open-source revival!
With all this new code, we're happy to say that we will update our open-source codebases with the new tracker in May 2023. We will also use a less restrictive license this year - information about which one specifically will be announced when the v6 codebase is open-sourced.
We hope that the much cleaner code (seriously, it's a huge improvement) will allow users to take the work we've done and transform it into a lot of cool trackers!
Other changes and fixes:
Of course, we make a lot of little changes from year to year, so here's a full list of these changes:
track.easterbunny.cc Version 6 - Development Update 1
Posted: January 19, 2023
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Welcome to the first development update for track.easterbunny.cc Version 6! As mentioned in our last post, v6 is a complete redo of the tracker and we've already made lots of progress to date. Without further ado, let's get into this development update.
What's complete
In short - about 90% of the new React tracker. This is a huge milestone in just 3-4 weeks since we started development. We're now largely transitioning away from implementing new features and onto QA and bug testing the new tracker, in addition to ensuring the tracker can also support the legacy info pages as they won't be transitioned to React this year. We're hoping we can be exclusively QA testing the new tracker by February 1st and we're on track to hit this mark.
The new React tracker officially has feature-parity with the existing v5.6 tracker and we're past the point of no return in using this tracker for 2023. This is super exciting news and we cannot wait to share with you the new tracker!
What's left to go
In short - still quite a lot! While the tracker may be almost done, there's still quite a lot to do in everything supporting the tracker. There's a lot in the queue here, including getting AdSense up and running, ensuring the Geo API & internal analytics are updated for the new tracker, the Twitter bot being ready to rumble, and the yearly updates of our stop information databases to ensure everything in the tracker is up to date. We're hoping to hit this mark by March 1st for all infrastructure to be ready by then.
There's also converting our weather data provider from Dark Sky to Apple Weather in the coming months due to the Dark Sky API shutting down soon. And given this transition has to occur in multiple projects outside of TEBCC, we're leaving an entire month for this conversion - April 1st is the expected finish date here.
What's new in TEBCC v6
As we look closer to finishing the tracker for this year, I wanted to make a preliminary list of what the changes coming to TEBCC v6 are. While this is not a year for huge feature improvements, there are some nice changes compared to v5.6 that you'll most certainly enjoy.
track.easterbunny.cc Version 6 and beyond!
Posted: December 31, 2022
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Hello! It's Owen here. As I embark on preparations for our fifth run of the tracker, I've got some news about Version 6 of track.easterbunny.cc and the future of the tracker.
Since the first run in 2019, I could've never imagined how far TEBCC would go in 4 short years. From the tracker's modest beginnings with just a few thousand hits in our first year to now two back-to-back runs that've exceeded 100,000 hits, from the bottom of my heart, thank you so much for believing in me, believing in my tracker, and using it during Easter! My mission has always been to develop a feature-rich, world-class Easter Bunny Tracker (that's starting to rival the resident Santa Trackers), and I think it's safe to say that this mission has come to fruition. Running the world's second most popular Easter Bunny Tracker has meant I've been able to learn so much about web development, infrastructure, SEO, social media management and more throughout the last four years. It has truly been an honor to do all this learning in such a unique and awesome way with TEBCC.
But as the fifth year of tracking rolls around, the thing that the tracker is built on is showing its age - the codebase. To be frank, I've learned quite a lot about web development since 2019 which include good and bad practices, and in general new frameworks as well. And while TEBCC has been a great learning platform, it's also rooted in my 2019 knowledge. This means the tracker's core logic sits inside of a script tag in a HTML file that's over 3,000 lines long, long chunks of code are reused multiple times in multiple files, it's just generally quite a mess and adding any feature has a ton of technical baggage attached.
The trackers codebase has gotten to a point where I need to refactor it to continue to provide quality support, updates, and as a foundation for features coming in the future. So for 2023, I'm completely redoing the tracker in React, and rebuilding it from the ground up. I'll also be completely ripping up and redoing a lot of the infrastructure TEBCC lies on as well.
This year will be similar to v5.6 in terms of features (translation: no ground-breaking features), as literally the entire tracker has to be redone in about 3 months time. The current features coming to the tracker are a reskinned yet familiar UI (using Material Bootstrap 5), a single page for countdown, pre-tracking and tracking (finally!), the Easter Bunny stopping at each stop (in a similar fashion to Google), and of course some smaller changes that'll come up during development. The scope of the refactor before April 2023 will be limited to just the tracker - I'm unfortunately a college student with a part-time job so there's only so much I can code, and this is what I believe can be done in the next 3 months. I also have to deal with the impending shutdown of the Dark Sky API in other projects of mine (including TEBCC), so that sadly eats into dev time.
What's exciting are the changes beyond 2023 and into 2024 that refactoring the tracker affords us. After April 2023, I'll get back to work and refactor the rest of the tracker, and then start the fun of new major features! Some ideas on the table are a complete rethinking of the entire tracker UI, adding 3D maps (a highly requested feature since 2019), live Easter Bunny updates throughout tracking, and lots more to come. You'll likely see updates coming out for the tracker through Summer and Fall 2023!
Another important update for this year is that for the first time, the tracker will have to be ad supported. While I would love to keep the tracker ad-free and I am immensely grateful for all who donated to the tracker, unfortunately donations covered less than 5% of operating costs last year. As the tracker surges in popularity, I'm expecting operating costs to exceed $1,000, so ads it is. I'll do my best to keep them as non-intrusive as possible. If you do visit the tracker with an adblocker on, I totally understand (and I hate ads myself), but please consider donating. I am not a mega corporation with unlimited money unfortunately!
One last update on track.orthodoxbunny.cc - it's clear that with my limited bandwidth to work on personal projects as I get older, I need to condense and filter which projects make sense to keep alive. track.orthodoxbunny.cc is sadly one that will have to get the chopping block. TOBCC, while a cool experiment, has not taken off in the same way as TEBCC, only receiving ~1-2% of the traffic that TEBCC does. Given that TOBCC has to have basically a duplicate of TEBCC's infrastructure and be set up in the span of 5-6 days after TEBCC runs, it's a lot of work in a time where I'm already busy with post-TEBCC-run activities. So, 2023 will be TOBCC's last year online and it will run on the v5.6 codebase. An official annonucement will be made on the TOBCC website in March.
Anyway, that's all for now. I'm hoping for the refactored tracker to launch on April 1, 2023. Have a happy new year, let's make 2023 amazing for TEBCC!
The countdown is on for 2023!
Posted: April 26, 2022
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The countdown is on for 2023 - and that means the tracker has returned to the countdown state for next year. Thank you all once again for the wonderful support this year. We've got lots of exciting changes scheduled for 2023, so stay tuned!
Thank you for an amazing Easter 2022!
Posted: April 18, 2022
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Easter 2022 - our fourth year of operations. Last year, we had managed to crest over 100,000 hits, cementing ourselves as the 2nd most popular tracker. But would it happen again? Would we see the same peak as last year?
As 200 people were with us from the transition from the countdown to pre-tracking, and as we estimated about 130% growth over the year, this was no fluke. Then, the peak of traffic came once again. Last year, you all pushed the tracker to a maximum of 200 hits per minute and held it there for an hour and a half.
This year - you pushed the tracker up to 265 hits per minute (an eye-watering 4.42 hits/second). And you kept the tracker over 200 hits a minute for double the duration - three hours.
All of this meant that by the end of tracking, as calculated with our new insights system and through the Geo API, we had a total hit count of...
track.easterbunny.cc upgraded to v5.6.1
Posted: April 11, 2022
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Hello! Today we're announcing track.easterbunny.cc v5.6.1, with some refinements and other improvements right before tracking. Without further ado, here's whats new.
Overhauled horizontal shift system
The system that controls horizontal shifting has been rewritten. It now works anywhere that has a height of 500px or less as determined by your browser, rather just when your orientation changes. It'll also work when you change the height of your window, which it previously didn't. Lastly - it'll also work in portrait mode for very small screens (e.g. 4-inch iOS devices)!
Box reshuffle
We've adjusted the boxes so that when 2 boxes are on screen, next stop and the metrics box are now shown. Although the previous version (last stop + next stop + metrics as small text) did show more information, this will allow better readability of metrics!
And other fun changes...
Any new release isn't without some other changes. Here's the fix list:
track.easterbunny.cc upgraded to v5.6.0
Posted: April 3, 2022
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Hello! Today we're proud to announce v5.6, the 2022 edition of track.easterbunny.cc.
This year focuses on some minor refinements to the tracking experience. So, while this release may not be as feature packed as in 2021, we hope you still enjoy the improvements we've got coming for you!
So, what's new in v5.6?
Smoother tracker experience
We've done some work to make the tracking experience much more smooth in multiple ways. In short, the Easter Bunny icon on the map and metrics update at a faster rate this year, and you can configure this option!
By default, the marker now moves at 2 FPS and metrics update at 10 FPS - with additional options to make the tracker even smoother. On the smoothest option, metrics can update at 25 FPS, and the map can update at 20 FPS!
Plus, we've updated some code to use panning (rather than instantly setting the center).
Arrival flags
A fun little addition, flags are now present on the last stop and next stop boxes, showing the flag of the country that the stop is in. You can turn these off in settings if you'd rather not see them.
Refined stop accuracy
This year, we've once again refined our stop accuracy. You'll see improvements in the first hour or two of tracking, plus improving accuracy in some areas that didn't previously have stops.
We've also done some work to more accurately reflect what the Easter Bunny is doing during pre-tracking with improved communications from Easter Island.
Prominent donation button on the tracker
Track.easterbunny.cc is designed to be ad-free, and this year we'll be keeping it this way. However, with tracker costs expected to run high again, there's a donation button in the tracker.
Donations are being accepted with Ko-fi at the moment (via PayPal). We're working to get Stripe working so you can simply enter a credit card number and the donation is done in Ko-fi!
Donations are also accepted in Bitcoin, Ethereum, and Dogecoin. If you have another coin you want to donate, shoot us a DM on Twitter!
Switching to gender neutral pronouns for the Easter Bunny
Throughout the tracker, you'll notice the Easter Bunny is referred to using gender neutral pronouns. Nobody quite knows the gender of the Easter Bunny, so that's now being reflected in the tracker.
Other fixes and updates
With any release, we make lots of smaller updates to keep the tracker in tip-top shape. Here are those minor fixes:
Welcome to track.easterbunny.cc in 2022!
Posted: March 15, 2022
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Hello! It's been a while since we last talked to you - 11 months precisely. We've got some updates for you on TEBCC v6 (well, the lack thereof), what's coming for 2022, and the future of track.easterbunny.cc.
Where's v6?
track.easterbunny.cc v6 was planned to be a major overhaul of the tracker, allowing for better usability and maintainability over the long run of the tracker. However, refactoring an entire Easter Bunny Tracker while attempting to retain the same feature set and design is a very tricky task that ultimately requires a lot of time that I don't have.
I'm a solo developer who's also a college student, and so I couldn't make the time tradeoff to do this refactor, and to be honest, it got boring after a while! And while our current codebase definitely has its flaws, it's a very complete and stable tracker with a featureset that could easily last for another 2 years.
So, here's the deal. TEBCC v6 will be my excuse to completely rethink and redesign the tracker while also making the tracker modern for years to come. Framework, design language, it's all up in the air intentionally. I want v6 to be the best tracker that I can make. I expect v6 to come out in 2023 or 2024.
Introducing track.easterbunny.cc v5.6
In lieu of v6 of TEBCC, I gladly introduce to you track.easterbunny.cc v5.6.0. This new version of track.easterbunny.cc will add some extra features to the tracker to further refine the experience, while still giving some stuff to look forward to this year. Changes are set to include:
More information about our Orthodox Easter Bunny Tracker
Posted: April 28, 2021
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track.orthodoxbunny.cc is our Orthodox Easter Bunny Tracker! This is a side project we've been working on that mostly uses the same codebase as track.easterbunny.cc. We're experimenting in this area to see how much traction a secondary version of the Easter Bunny Tracker we run could potentially get.
tarck.orthodoxbunny.cc is also the testbed for new monetization methods to try and recoup some tracker costs. As such, you might see ads in the tracker, and links promoting our patreon and ko-fi.
The tracker will go live on May 1, 2021 at 2:00 AM EDT for pre-tracking. Tracking starts on May 1, 2021 at 5:00 AM EDT, and concludes on May 2, 2021 at 6:00 AM EDT.
This new tracker also has a twitter account (@trackorthobunny). We'll be tweeting out hourly updates on this twitter page, and there won't be a separate updates bot like for track.easterbunny.cc.
We hope you can come join this new tracker and give us some feedback!
Thank you for an amazing Easter 2021!
Posted: April 4, 2021
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Easter 2021. The year that we thought the tracker would grow a bit, but not by much. We thought COVID meant that our tracker grew so much last year - we couldn't possibly replicate 800% growth, let alone 200% growth again.
Cue tracking starting. We were not only floored, but speechless at the sheer amount of support we received from the very beginning. In just the first six hours of tracking, we crossed 10,000 hits. Last year, we crossed this milestone nearly 12 hours into tracking.
As the day went on, we were stunned at the growth - with estimates ranging around 300%-400%. By 6:30 PM EDT, the tracker reached the same amount of hits as it did last year. We were speechless - because we knew the peak of the traffic was yet to come.
Then, you all came out in droves. You pushed the tracker to nearly 200 hits a minute by 9 PM EDT, and held it there for about an hour and a half. All your support meant that by the end of tracking, we had a hit count with 6 digits.
track.easterbunny.cc upgraded to v5.5.1
Posted: March 25, 2021
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With just 8 days to go until tracking begins, track.easterbunny.cc has been upgraded to v5.5.1. This should be the final release before tracking, and rolls in a ton of bug fixes and other improvements.
track.easterbunny.cc upgraded to v5.5.0
Posted: March 9, 2021
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track.easterbunny.cc has been upgraded to v5.5.0. Although there's not a huge amount of user-facing changes with this release, we are making big strides on our back-end to ensure a better, more consistent tracking experience. Here's the full changelog.
track.easterbunny.cc upgraded to v5.4.1
Posted: February 14, 2021
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track.easterbunny.cc has been upgraded to Version 5.4.1. This version fixes an issue with improper line heights in the settings window on the countdown page. We didn't see this issue in testing, so we only became aware of this bug when v5.4.0 was launched.
Version 5.5.0 will be out in a few weeks time, as a lot of 5.5.0 work has to due with improving the stop information accuracy.
That's all for now!
Welcome to track.easterbunny.cc Version 5!
Posted: January 30, 2021
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Welcome to track.easterbunny.cc Version 5! Over the summer and winter, we've been refining and upgrading the tracking experience you know and love from 2020.
Last year was a big year for us - we established ourselves as a proper tracker, learned a lot from 2019, made some mistakes, and forgot some stuff. Think of Version 5 as the “this is what Version 4 would be if we weren't limited by time” release.
While other trackers are releasing books (books = improved tracking experience = profit??), we're continuing to focus on what we do best - improving our world-class tracking experience to the next level with. Here's what's new.
Additional Metrics!
You asked for it. We provided. You can see five (5!!) metrics on the Easter Bunny. Baskets delivered, carrots eaten, speed (which is actually accurate unlike other trackers!), distance traveled, and distance from you.
You can switch using a button on the right side of the metrics box, or in settings. You won't be able to see all the metrics are once though, as doing so would reduce tracker readability. We did think about having this option, but as things stand, it'd have to be desktop only (where there's enough room), and would require a decent code rewrite. Definitely a consideration for v6 in 2022.
Regardless, it's awesome! Whether you're a fan of seeing how fast the Easter Bunny hops, wondering how far the Easter Bunny goes (hint - pretty far!), or want to see how many snacks the Easter Bunny has had, we've got you covered.
Mobile Metrics!
You can see metrics on mobile devices! Customizable through settings, it'll live in the next stop box with 1 box visible, or the last stop box with 2 boxes visible. We hope this significantly improves your mobile tracking experience.
Better tracker localization!
As we continue to grow, our tracker is being used in more and more places with different unit, time, and number formats. Now, all times and numbers are localized to your locale in the tracker. We also added support for unit systems (automatically set for your locale), so the unit-sensitive metrics & data in the tracker appear correctly. Of course, you can change this in settings.
This also extends to time & number formats in the tracker, they'll now be synced with your locale.
Better stop detection, again!
We've gone overboard and now have even better stop detection. With 200+ more stops being detected compared to last year, we've doubled (yes, DOUBLED!) our accuracy since 2019.
What does this mean for you? A more detailed view of the Easter Bunny's whereabouts, better arrival time estimates, and stops closer to your location.
We've also enhanced the accuracy of the baskets delivered counter. Sorry about what happened last year Hong Kong. The Easter Bunny does deliver more than 5,000 baskets to Hong Kong.
More information about stops
Ready for all the information about stops? You can enable a setting to see the Easter Bunny's local arrival time in settings. We've cut down on the filler space in the stop information window, and we added navigation arrows in the top right on tablet/desktop to quickly flip through stop information.
We're also conducting a full review of all the data we use for stop information, so there will hopefully be less inaccuracies compared to last year.
Better settings organization
With so many settings to customize (there's 64,800 unique ways track.easterbunny.cc can be customized this year!), we've made major improvements to the settings window. 4 sections are used like last year, but we added icons next to each section so it's easier to know what section you're looking at.
We also cut down on a lot of text in the settings window so things are easier to read and less cluttered.
Configurable default zoom level
Don't like the default zoom level of the tracker when it loads? You can change that now. Zoom level 4 fans rejoice! There's an indicator in settings to let you know what map zoom level is active during tracking, so if you're liking it a lot, you can easily change it.
Fixing gray lines on the map (Chrome only)
You know those annoying gray lines you see on the map in Chrome? There's a setting to help reduce the visibility of those (at the cost of slightly distorted map labels). Definitely enable it if this was bothering you last year!
Improved Easter Bunny estimated arrival time
We changed the .5 hours to the ½ symbol. The hour before arrival, the arrival time text goes to 1 hour, then 45 minutes, then 30 minutes, then indicates the Easter Bunny has arrived in your area (just in case your GeoIP location isn't exactly correct). And with better stop detection mentioned earlier, we'll have more accurate arrival times this year!
Improving Twitter updates
We did a much better job in 2020 at our social media presence than 2019. With more features, we're doing a little changing on the social media side.
In short, we'll offer more consistent updates on bunny_tracking (there were gaps last year), and include the distance traveled metric on bunny_updates.
The windows (modals) aren't centered anymore
200% easier to navigate the settings window. That's all.
Making the optimized live stream settings MUCH better
We listened to your feedback. We watched your streams on YouTube in 2020. The optimized live stream settings is a combination of the features that your audiences like the most, mixed with settings that continue to preserve your privacy. Hybrid map, dark mode, with baskets delivered as the metric.
Goodbye URL arguments
It's been removed in Version 5 to reduce bloat. Having them won't do any harm to the tracker, but it'll do nothing.
And lots of other features, including:
track.easterbunny.cc Version 5 - Development Update 1
Posted: July 1, 2020
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Welcome to the first development update for track.easterbunny.cc Version 5! Even though the Easter Bunny lifts off in about 275 days, we're working super hard on building all the new features coming in Version 5. Here's how everything is going!
Additional metrics - The additional metrics feature is 98% done, aside from minor icon tweaking. You'll be able to select from Baskets Delivered, Carrots Eaten, Speed, and Distance Traveled as the four metrics.
There's a new menu in settings called Metric Settings, which will house the settings that go along with this fancy new feature. This is 100% done as of right now.
We've also built in automatic unit switching for speed & distance traveled. If your device's language is set to US English or British English, we'll show speed & distance traveled in mph/miles respectively. Otherwise, speed & distance will be shown in kph/kilometers respectively. Similar to the tracker appearance setting, you can manually set which unit to use.
We're currently working on porting over settings to the countdown page for additional metrics, which will be done soon.
Mobile metrics - The mobile metrics feature is 95% done. It is currently working on phones, with the ability to switch the metric shown in metric settings. On phones that have tall aspect ratios (thus showing 3 boxes in landscape), we've made it so that the changes you make to the metric box in landscape sync to the metric shown in the next stop box.
Currently we have a feature working to turn off the mobile metrics, but this is undergoing testing and the settings code hasn't been migrated to the countdown page.
Major stop detection improvements - This is about 90% done. We've done huge upgrades on our systems, and we're now able to detect over 800 stops during tracking. During tracking, you'll now see more 60-second updates in highly populated areas, as we find it adds some excitement to tracking.
We're still refining our systems on detecting a few more stops, but for the most part, we've managed to increase stop detection accuracy by another ~40%. This makes us by far the most accurate Easter Bunny Tracker (for some comparison, the next most accurate Easter Bunny Tracker had about 4.5x less stops last year compared to the number of expected stops this year).
Navigation arrows in stop data - This feature is 100% complete. In the stop information window, you'll now see two arrows to the left of where the X button lived last year. Clicking on these arrows will step you back (and forward) one stop in the stop information window, without having to click out of it, then find the previous stop, and click that basket.
When your map is uncentered (or if tracking is complete), upon clicking either the back & forward button (and for every subsequent click after), the map will pan to the location you are looking at.
With this, we've had to change the way modals appear on our website. We use modals for the stop information window, settings window, etc. Instead of modals being centered like it was in Version 4, it now is aligned with the top center of your screen. This was important for the navigation stop arrows - if the modal was centered, the positions of the back/forward arrows would change quite frequently.
A side effect of this change is that on mobile phones (and desktops too), you'll encounter more text wrapping for the city name. We're working to see if we can increase the width of the modal window on larger devices. We're also looking into potential different UI styles to avoid so much text wrapping.
Default zoom level feature - This feature is 99% complete. In the Map settings portion of settings, you'll now find a new area for the default zoom level feature, which has a dropdown allowing you to select the default zoom level of the map. This setting is used to determine what zoom level the map should be during tracking on load, when the map is recentered on the Easter Bunny, and when the transition from pre-tracking to tracking occurs.
You can select a default zoom level from Zoom Level 0 to 14. 15 or higher results in a poor tracking experience, so we don't allow this.
We've also included a handy tool in the default zoom level setting to see your current zoom level. This is useful when you find just the right zoom level, and you want to know exactly what that zoom level is.
The zoom level picker also has defaults for Level 5 on mobile, and Level 6 on desktop. These are dynamic depending on your platform.
We've also ported over the default zoom level feature to the countdown page, but there is a bit of additional testing that needs to occur.
Removing the URL arguments feature - URL arguments has been removed from the tracker, but not the countdown yet, making this feature about 75% complete. We've updated the URL arguments documentation page to indicate that this feature will be removed in Version 5.
URL arguments will continue to work in the tracker, and affect current settings up until the first public release of Version 5 (scheduled for early 2021). After this date, the tracker will ignore URL arguments.
(Chromium-based browsers only) Option to fix gray lines in the map - This feature is 50% complete. Currently the feature is working and does remove the gray lines in the map, but we haven't migrated the settings over to countdown, and need to do some additional testing with resetting settings. We're also continuing to test the browser filters so that this option only appears on affected devices.
This feature should be done by Development Update 2.
Improving Twitter updates - This is about 60% done. The code is there for Twitter update improvements. We've stuck with everything from last year, but we added the distance travelled metric, and the timestamp is now shown in UTC.
There is still testing that needs to be done with the new Twitter bot, and we're working on getting this up and running as soon as possible.
Other minor improvements - While we've been working on Version 5, we've also made some minor changes to add the extra cherry on top to your tracking experience. Here's a list of all the minor changes so far.
* Using moment.js, we now localize the time format to your area. If you're in the US, for instance, the arrival time will look something like June 28, 2020 at 3:00 PM EDT. But, in the UK, the arrival time will look something like 28 June 2020, 15:00 BST.
* The UK now has region-specific flags for Wales, England, Scotland & Northern Ireland.
* Improvements have been made to localize number formatting for baskets delivered, distance traveled, and speed.
* In the US, you'll see Distance traveled, but everywhere else Distance travelled.
* We've integrated the Local Storage unavailable warning into the tracker, rather than linking to an external page. You'll also see instructions for how to turn on local storage depending on your browser.
* A new warning in Tracker Settings will appear if an arrival estimate for the Easter Bunny cannot be calculated. We also fixed a bug where the description for this feature wasn't set correctly if the tracker was loaded after the EB arrived in your area, and there's a new description for this feature when tracking is complete.
* We fixed (mostly) a known bug from Version 3 & Version 4 where Safari on iOS would leave a blank space at the bottom of the page after rotating from horizontal to vertical. We've implemented some code to trick Safari into showing the bottom bar again. This is working on iOS 13.5.1, and does not affect the tracker when using fullscreen mode.
In addition to the features mentioned above, there's still lots to work on! Here's how things are panning out in the short term.
Orthodox Version of track.easterbunny.cc - In the original post about Version 5, I mentioned that the Orthodox tracker will be hosted on orthodox.track.easterbunny.cc. I've now decided that the tracker will be hosted on track.orthodoxbunny.cc. TOBCC, as we're coining it, is currently being set up with Version 4.5.4 of TEBCC. The site will hopefully be up in 2-3 weeks, with some special FAQs & news articles relating to TOBCC.
TOBCC will start on Version 0.5.4, with the first version of TOBCC based on the first public v5 release of TEBCC. After TEBCC's run in April 2020, we'll transition over to working more on TOBCC.
Preview site of track.easterbunny.cc for streamers - This feature is coming to Version 5 of track.easterbunny.cc, but later in development. Since the preview site is basically the main tracker (minus tracker logic, etc), we're waiting for most of TEBCC v5 development to be complete before we start working on the preview website.
Improving horizontal shift on tablets - The code for this feature is in place in Version 5, and we're currently testing this feature.
New FAQ/News page style - As the number of FAQs & News articles gets longer and longer, in the coming weeks, we'll be switching the FAQ & News pages to accordion-based lists. This will mean easy browsing for the FAQ or News article you wish to read, at which point, you can click on that FAQ or News article to expand the full text.
Games on the website? No - We suggested in the announcement for TEBCC v5 that games might be coming to TEBCC in the future. I'd like to follow this up with the fact that this will likely not happen for a while.
We're committed to making the best tracker on the internet, and as such have had to sacrifice additional content on our website for this to happen. Beyond Version 5, we're looking into building good native apps on iOS/Android for TEBCC, and continuing to expand TOBCC, so at this point games aren't coming for a long, long while.
And that's Development Update 1! This will be the longest of the development updates, as we're currently working through the busy phase of adding features to the tracker. As we continue into July & August, the rate at which features are added will start to slow, and we'll focus more on testing the tracker, and expanding TOBCC.
Development Update 2 will be posted in about 2 weeks! See you then!
2021 preparations are beginning for track.easterbunny.cc Version 5!
Posted: May 23, 2020
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track.easterbunny.cc Version 5 is now beginning development, after two successful tracking runs.
Version 5 will make smaller, but noticeable improvements to Version 4 of track.easterbunny.cc. We're also excited to be expanding the tracker to allow for exciting innovations in the space of Easter Bunny Tracking.
Without further ado, here's what we have planned for Version 5 of track.easterbunny.cc!
Customization of the baskets delivered box with more metrics - A lot of you have been asking for additional metrics in track.easterbunny.cc, such as carrots eaten, speed, and distance traveled. We're proud to say that we're going to implement this in Version 5, but in a unique way.
Rather than throwing all of these metrics, you'll have the ability to customize the baskets delivered box with a button in the top-right corner. This will allow you to switch between Baskets Delivered, Carrots Eaten, Speed, and Distance Traveled, and show one metric at a time. This will allow you to focus on a certain metric, or switch quickly to another metric at any time. We're also looking into possibly cycling the metrics automatically at a set interval, but this is not confirmed.
Major stop detection improvements - This year, we begun improving the stop detection in the United States, United Kingdom, and Japan, and many of you enjoyed these improvements. The US was finally not a snoozefest! We also got lots of feedback that many places around the world were lacking in the amount of stops shown on the tracker, and we've also learned a thing or two about presenting more stops in the tracker.
This year, we plan to improve stop detection by about 40-45%, while also bringing 60-second updates to densely populated areas. We're looking to improve stop detection in Canada, Russia, China, SE Asia, Australia/New Zealand, and South America.
Under the same category, we're also planning to improve the accuracy of the baskets delivered count, as many of you notably pointed out that the baskets delivered count wasn't super accurate once the Easter Bunny arrived in the Americas.
Orthodox Version of track.easterbunny.cc - track.easterbunny.cc focuses on Western Easter, but some of our users in 2020 wanted us to restart the tracker to align with Orthodox Easter, which is celebrated on a different date. Beginning in 2021, track.easterbunny.cc will track the Easter Bunny on both the Western and Eastern dates of Easter. The Western tracker will remain on track.easterbunny.cc, but we'll also be launching a specific orthodox.track.easterbunny.cc tracker as well, sometime in late 2020.
The Orthodox tracker will run in the same manner as our main tracker. We're still looking into the exact specifics of running two tracker instances at once, and we hope to provide more information in a few months once everything is sorted out.
Preview site of track.easterbunny.cc for live streaming - As we continue to be the most popular tracker on YouTube, we want to continue to help people who are live streaming the tracker get the most out of our tracker.
We're hoping to work on a preview site of track.easterbunny.cc, where you can preview how the tracker will look on Easter before the big event. This means you can position overlays, text, and make sure that your stream is setup properly to capture the entire tracker.
Bringing baskets delivered metrics on mobile - As phones keep getting bigger and the average screen size gets larger and larger, we're left with phones having 18:9 or 21:9 aspect ratios, giving us more vertical space to show tracker information on mobile.
This year, we'll be putting the baskets delivered count in the next stop box on mobile phones. The implementation for this feature will depend on how tall your phone is - if there's enough screen space available, the text will be added. If there isn't enough space, the text won't be added.
Specifics on this issue will be worked out as we develop Version 5, such as if the next stop text is hidden, will the baskets delivered text appear instead, and how disabling this text in settings will work.
We don't intend on allowing metric switching on mobile at this time, but we will provide finalized information when Version 5 releases.
Improving horizontal shift feature on tablets - This year, the horizontal shift feature worked great on mobile phones, allowing you to properly use the tracker in horizontal mode. However, tablets did have some known issues where a horizontal shift should occur, but it didn't. We'll be working to get this issue fixed.
TEBCC API - This year, we will be experimenting with launching a track.easterbunny.cc API (application programming interface), which will allow applications to pragmatically call our servers to get information on the Easter Bunny's whereabouts. Applications will then be able to use that information to power a wide variety of experiences, such as asking voice assistants where the Easter Bunny is, or 3rd-party applications for tracking the Easter Bunny.
Navigation arrows in stop data - If you wanted to explore all the places where the Easter Bunny went in 2020, it was a bit tough. This year, we'll be adding navigation arrows to the bottom (or top - this is TBD!) of the stop data window, so that you can more easily explore where the Easter Bunny has gone.
Default zoom level - If you're not a fan of our default zoom level settings, we'll be adding the option to change the default zoom level the tracker runs at when it loads, and when you recenter the Easter Bunny.
(Chrome only) Adding an option to fix gray lines in the map - Chrome is chrome, and sadly Chrome has an issue where when the page is zoomed in, gray lines are visible in the map. We'll be adding a native setting in the tracker to apply a fix (at the expense of slightly distorted map labels).
Removing the URL arguments feature - The URL arguments feature is something we're considering feature bloat, and we don't believe that the feature adds enough to the tracker to keep it around and maintained with all the new features coming onboard this year.
Improving Twitter updates - We will continue to separate tweets on @bunny_updates and @bunny_tracking, but we will make some improvements. On @bunny_tracking, we will try to have more consistent 15 minute update intervals, which will increase in densely populated areas. On @bunny_updates, we will be updating the bot to show the last stop, current stop, and next stop to avoid potential confusion. We will also be switching the timestamp to UTC from EDT.
Games on the website? Not yet. - But, we are looking into it. Version 5 should be the last version with major updates to the tracker (Version 6 will of course feature improvements, just to a lesser extent). As such, we will start looking into expanding the tracker in terms of the social media footprint, and in terms of extra content on the site in 2022.
Due to the situation with Covid-19, it has changed how Version 5 will be developed. We'll be doing the bulk of development in summer 2020, with QA performed over Fall/Winter 2020. Version 5 will be released sometime in January/February 2021.
Version 5 is a collection of useful features & fixes that we weren't able to implement in Version 4 due to time limitations. We hope that these features will once again improve your tracking experience, and further expand Easter Bunny Tracking to a wider audience.
Thank you for all of your support!
track.easterbunny.cc is going open source, and has been upgraded to v4.5.4!
Posted: May 10, 2020
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track.easterbunny.cc is going open source! With that, we also upgraded the tracker to Version 4.5.4.
Going open source means that anyone can see the code that powers the Easter Bunny tracker. We're also releasing the source code for the Geo API, Twitter Bot, and various tools to make the tracker run.
We decided to release our source code for a few reasons.
1 - We've seen that many people have been inspired by track.easterbunny.cc to make their own Easter Bunny and Santa Tracker, and learn how to code. We're honored to have been the driving force for people to build new things, and we want to help in as many ways as possible. By open sourcing our tracker, anyone will be able to look at our source code for some inspiration in another project, or even modify our base source code to make unique versions of the tracker never seen before. We can't wait to see what you make!
2 - After two incredibly successful runs with tons of support coming from the Easter Bunny tracking community (including you!), we wanted to pay it back to the community by making the tracker available to everyone who enjoys it and supports it.
3 - Open source community! By having our tracker available for anyone to inspect and improve upon, we're opening the floodgates to community-driven contributions. Anyone will be able to fork the tracker repository, make changes that they want to see to the tracker, and then request for those changes to be merged. Best of all - we're planning to develop track.easterbunny.cc Version 5 in the open-source repository in real-time!
You can find the repository for track.easterbunny.cc at https://gitlab.com/track-easterbunny-cc/tebcc. We also have many other repositories available, and our organizational page is located at https://gitlab.com/track-easterbunny-cc.
It's important to note that we licensed the tracker under the GNU AGPL license. In short: the GNU AGPL is a strong copyleft license, following a pay it forward mantra. If you download our source code, modify it with your own changes, then distribute that modified code through a website, app, etc, you'll be required to distribute your source code under GNU AGPL as well. The same applies if you're incorporating the tracker into a larger website, system, app, etc. You have to release the source code of the entire system under GNU AGPL v3.
We understand that this is a tedious - even a bit excessive. However, we want the tracker to stay open source forever, and the GNU AGPL helps us achieve that goal. It'll also mean that other people will be able to build on and improve the changes that others made to the tracker.
With the open-sourcing of the tracker, Version 4.5.4 of track.easterbunny.cc has been released with a few minor changes.
Thank you for an amazing Easter 2020!
Posted: April 12, 2020
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Easter 2020 will always be remembered as the time where track.easterbunny.cc grew by 850% - because this is what exactly happened.
We set out earlier this year to build upon and refine the innovative and ground-breaking tracking experience that you loved last year. To say the least, our efforts paid off. We showed again what real Easter Bunny tracking looks like, even as other websites did their best to try and match our tracker.
During the course of tracking, we were floored by the amount of support the tracker received in its second run. We expected, at most, about 150-200% growth compared to last year. We were not expecting 850% growth, but it showed just how scalable our tracker is, in that it could handle 8x the traffic that we were expecting.
We don't use Google Analytics on our website, because we value your privacy. However, using some stats from the Geo API, and from how many times our website queried the Google Maps API, we can approximate that we received about 35,000 hits during the course of tracking.
The numbers from tracking on Cloudflare's side are even more impressive. We received about 14,000 unique visitors and about 300,000 total requests for site assets.
During the course of tracking, our website served 3.9 GB of site assets. Given that we're still a pretty lightweight tracker, and that on page load Cloudflare serves about 650 KB of site assets, these are some incredible numbers.
We also estimate that about 120-160 users joined us for the transition from countdown to pre-tracking. This is an increase from last year, where we estimated that about 30-40 users joined us for the transition from countdown to pre-tracking.
Cloudflare was, again, incredibly useful to ensure the scalability, availability, and reliability of the tracker. During the course of tracking, our tracker had a ~98% cache hit rate, meaning only 2% of requests made it to our origin server.
Track.easterbunny.cc also performed exceptionally well on YouTube streams, as it did last year. While other trackers shunted the tracking community, prohibiting the streaming of their tracker online, we openly encouraged people to share and stream our tracker, and even provided some helpful tips on Twitter for streamers. At peak, track.easterbunny.cc was being watched by approximately 700-800 people on YouTube concurrently. From the data that we can gather, track.easterbunny.cc was also viewed approximately 57,000 times on YouTube (playbacks). To everyone who streamed track.easterbunny.cc - we can't thank you enough for helping to spread the Easter cheer in a time where we need it the most.
The track.easterbunny.cc Twitter bot also ran exceptionally well, and had no issues throughout the course of tracking to post tweets. Additionally, we will continue to separate out the bunny's updates, as we believe it gives people more choice in controlling how many tweets they see about the Easter Bunny on Easter. We plan to add a few more scheduled tweets for the bunny_tracking account, as they were a bit sparse at times.
Even with all the improvements, the tracking community had lots of feedback to give about the tracker, and where we could make improvements for 2021.
The biggest request for 2021 is the addition of extra metrics - like carrots eaten, speed, and eggs delivered. We're already brainstorming how to add in these extra metrics into the tracker. We also got a lot of feedback about the improved stop detection - while the difference was highly visible in the US/UK, there are many countries and areas that need better stop detection. We will be working next year to improve the coverage in those areas, similar to what we did this year.
We also got requests, as we do every year, to add games and other activities to our website. Given that we're still only two years old, we're doing everything we can to focus on the core of the tracker, before building out the website to include games and other activities. However, we do hear you loud and clear, and it's something that we will add in future years.
We also noted some areas for improvement with the tracker. Some of these include integrating the countdown into the tracker for a full experience, adding PWA (progressive web app) functionality, improving mobile usability with what data is shown, along with some other minor improvements.
Over the summer and winter, we'll be working on major upgrades to Version 5 using feedback that you provided, along with the areas we noted for improvement.
Our site will remain online until May 1, 2020. We encourage you to explore the map, and see where the Easter Bunny has been. You can click on the baskets on the map to learn more about the cities where the Easter Bunny has stopped.
After tracking the Easter Bunny's preparations & movements for 28 hours, and after successfully delivering 4.400 billion baskets, it's time we say goodbye for 2020. From the bottom of our hearts, thank you for a second year of tracking that we will never forget.
Thank you all for an incredible year, and we cannot wait for 2021!
Happy Easter to you and your family,
- The track.easterbunny.cc Team
Tips to get the most out of your tracking experience - 2020 Edition
Posted: April 8, 2020
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track.easterbunny.cc is the world's most simple, yet advanced Easter Bunny tracker. Our tracker is simple to use and understand, and we have a wide variety of features and systems so that you can customize your tracking experience if you so desire.
We have 20 tips for you on how to get the most out of your tracking experience, similar to what we did last year. Without further ado, here are the tips for this year!
https://track.easterbunny.cc/?zl=8
! to the end of the zoom level: https://track.easterbunny.cc/?zl=8!
track.easterbunny.cc upgraded to v4.5.3
Posted: April 7, 2020
Updated: April 8, 2020
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Usually after the final release before tracking, we work on a lot of improvements in the background to ensure the tracker is ready to go, and fix many little issues. Usually, these fixes aren't enough to justify a new release of the tracker.
However, we've been fixing so many issues that we decided to have a new, proper release. And with that, we're happy to announce track.easterbunny.cc Version 4.5.3! Version 4.5.3 should be the final version that we track with. See what's new below!
track.easterbunny.cc upgraded to v4.5.2
Posted: April 4, 2020
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track.easterbunny.cc Version 4.5.2 is here, bringing some critical bug fixes and otherwise minor improvements to the overall tracking experience. See what's new below!
track.easterbunny.cc upgraded to v4.5.1
Posted: April 1, 2020
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This is no April Fools, track.easterbunny.cc Version 4.5.1 is here! Version 4.5.1 brings improvements to the overall tracker experience in preparation before launch, and to clear things up with how you can use our tracker and your privacy when using the tracker. See what's new below!
track.easterbunny.cc upgraded to v4.5.0
Posted: March 27, 2020
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track.easterbunny.cc Version 4.5.0 is here, bringing new features to make streaming the tracking easier, along with minor features & fixes to make the tracker better overall. See what's new below!
track.easterbunny.cc upgraded to v4.4.1
Posted: March 25, 2020
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track.easterbunny.cc Version 4.4.1 is here, bringing some bug fixes and minor feature additions to enhance the tracking experience. See what's new below!
Welcome to track.easterbunny.cc Version 4!
Posted: March 22, 2020
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Welcome to track.easterbunny.cc Version 4! Over the past few months, we've been working hard on taking all the feedback we got last year, and using it to build a more well-rounded Easter Bunny Tracker for 2020.
Last year was a big year for us - the tracker officially launched and we made a name for ourselves. But, the tracker we had last year was pretty basic, to the point where many of you said that the tracker was too basic!
Version 4 was developed with the goal of keeping the foundation of track.easterbunny.cc virtually unchanged, and build in lots of quality-of-life improvements that bring the tracker to the next level.
Without further ado, here's the full changelog for Version 4 of track.easterbunny.cc!
New Material Design - We've updated the general look and feel of the tracker to that of a more modern, material design across the website. It should be less distracting, yet more visually appealing than last year. Once tracking gets under way, we hope you'll really enjoy the new design!
Proper Light & Dark mode - Last year, the tracker was in a mix of light and dark mode. This year, there's now proper, fully integrated light & dark modes across the tracker. You can let us figure out if your device is in light/dark mode or you can force light/dark mode if that's more your speed. This feature is also built in to the external pages using the sun icon in the top right of the page. If you're using iOS/macOS with automatic light/dark mode based on the sun, the tracker will automatically go in and out of dark mode.
Tracker Customization - It's here! A settings window! We'll talk about all the stuff you can customize later in the changelog, but just know that it's pretty awesome. It saves changes on the fly, and is specific to each browser that you visit the tracker on.
Estimated arrival time for the Easter Bunny - Similar to that of Google's estimated arrival time, we now have one for the Easter Bunny Tracker. It uses your IP address as an approximation so that we can estimate when the Easter Bunny will arrive in your location. You'll see the arrival estimate in the Next Stop box, and it'll hide when the Easter Bunny reaches your location. We've also included the option to turn this feature off in the settings window, which we recommend doing if you're streaming the tracker online.
A few quick notes on this feature. If you're using a VPN with the tracker, we'll calculate the estimated arrival time at the VPN server. You can load in the tracker without the VPN for a good estimate, or turn it off in settings. Additionally, if you're using a smaller phone (under 5 inches), the Easter Bunny icon on the map might be blocked by the arrival time text, so you may want to turn it off.
Horizontal map shift on mobile devices - Last year, the tracker was basically unusable on phones in landscape mode, as the top boxes ended up blocking the Easter Bunny icon. This year, we've fixed this issue by shifting the map down when in horizontal mode. The map will automatically unshift when in vertical mode, as well. On taller phones, you'll be able to see all three boxes and where the Easter Bunny is!
Map modes are now changeable - You can pick between Street, Satellite, and Hybrid map modes on the tracker. The best part? The street map has light & dark theming that is synced with the light/dark mode setting which is incredibly cool.
The baskets are clickable! And show information when clicked! - You can now click on a basket (that indicates cities the Easter Bunny has visited), and a window will now pop up with information about that city. Information includes arrival time, population, elevation, weather on arrival, and the first (and sometimes second) paragraph from Wikipedia. A link to the Wikipedia article for that city is also shown as well.
Pre-tracking has been integrated into the main tracker - This means that there's only one redirect during tracking - from the countdown to the pre-tracking. We've done this to streamline the codebase, and next year we plan to integrate the countdown into the tracker as well for zero redirects.
Pre-tracking updates are now more frequent - You should see about 30-50% more updates during pre-tracking than last year, with a maximum gap of 5 minutes between updates.
Stop detection has been improved - We're now picking up about 30% more stops that the Easter Bunny makes this year. This change will be especially noticeable in the US, where last year tracking got a bit boring due to the lack of stops.
Persistent uncenter/recenter Easter Bunny button (during tracking) - Did you know that last year you could click the Easter Bunny to uncenter and recenter the map? I'm assuming you said no. We've ditched this in favor of a persistent button that appears during tracking.
Bunny bouncing effect is here! - We heard your calls to enable a bouncing effect for the Easter Bunny last year. You can now enable the option for the bunny bouncing effect in the Map Settings part of the settings window. Just note that enabling this will cause increased CPU usage, and lower battery life on mobile devices.
Optimal livestreaming settings - In the new settings window under Reset Settings, we've included some optimized settings for streaming the tracker online.
External page improvements abound - There's been lots of updates & changes to the external pages (like this one) in the tracker. We've updated the FAQs so that there's more of them and that the writing is also clearer. The news page has post IDs for easy sharing, and the privacy policy and acknowledgements pages have been rewritten.
Page structure update - Last year, all pages were linked with .html. This year, all pages now have their own directory on the server. You can still visit .html pages, and you'll be automatically redirected to the right place.
Site slogan update (again) - Now, the slogan is "Track the Easter Bunny in real-time with our Easter Bunny Tracker as the Easter Bunny delivers baskets and eggs to homes around the world!".
Tracker requirements update - This year, we are no longer supporting Internet Explorer 10. Otherwise, the tracker requirements have stayed the same, although there are some known issues on older browsers. We plan to bump up the tracker requirements for next year, but we also plan to add a basic mode for incompatible browsers.
Stream attribution requirement has been dropped - Since the tracker is not brand new and more people know about us, we are no longer requiring that you attribute the tracker in the description of live streams of the tracker. However, since the tracker still pretty new, we recommend that you keep the attribution.
A bunch of other smaller changes:
- The tracker is zoomed out to zoom level 5 on mobile phones, compared to zoom level 6 elsewhere. If you're not a fan of this on mobile, just click the zoom key once, and you're good to go. If you do uncenter/recenter the map, the tracker will go back to the appropriate zoom level for your device, so make any adjustments after this process is complete. We're looking into a way to customize the default zoom level for the 2021 run.
- Add to homescreen has been modified, you'll now see a shorter name on your homescreen (Easter Bunny Tracker -> Bunny Tracker)
- Incompatible browser detection has been improved
- Improved the movement of the Easter Bunny on the map
- Reworked how the baskets delivered counter works
- The question mark from last year is now an info button that pops up a window with how to use the tracker along with links to FAQs, Privacy Policy, Acknowledgements, News
- Automatic updates on how the Easter Bunny is doing are available through @bunny_updates thanks to a new Twitter bot we developed in-house. We're using a separate Twitter as we don't want to spam your feed with tons of tweets come Easter! The main Twitter will be tweeting general status updates every 20-30 minutes.
- Numerous other minor feature additions, along with numerous bug fixes from last year
And some notes:
- For everyone who used the countdown as part of your stream last year, the position of it has unchanged this year.
- The tracker is heavier this year - with total assets of about 2 MB. You'll need a decent connection to load the tracker. Additionally, the tracker will be slower on older devices, so please be patient.
- We're working on updating the FAQ, Privacy Policy, Acknowledgements, and News pages to bring you back to the countdown or the tracker depending on what state they're in. This feature will be added in Version 4.4.1, which should be out by the 26th.
- If you're still seeing v3.8.2 when you visit track.easterbunny.cc, please wait about 4 hours for your browser to uncache the previous countdown page, and cache the new one. You can also clear your cache manually as well.
The Easter Bunny will start making final preparations starting on April 11, 2020 at 2:00 AM EDT, before lifting off three hours later on April 11, 2020 at 5:00 AM EDT. Tracking will end 25 hours later, on April 12, 2020 at 6:00 AM EDT.
Once tracking is complete, the website will be kept up until May 12, so you can explore and learn about all the places the Easter Bunny visited during his journey!
We're super excited to launch Version 4 of the tracker, and we hope you're excited to track the Easter Bunny with us! We hope that all the changes we've made make the tracking experience more enjoyable.
track.easterbunny.cc Version 4 - Development Update 3
Posted: March 1, 2020
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With 40 days until liftoff, we're working really, really, really hard to get the tracker in shape for liftoff.
Quality assurance, also known as QA, has been the main focus for the past few weeks. We've now completed about 5300 QA runs of the tracker, and are 47% complete with QA as of this post. While doing QA, we've found just under 300 bugs or areas of improvement for the tracker, and we're busy ensuring that the tracker works as best as it can for everyone come Easter.
We're proud to announce that track.easterbunny.cc v4 is launching on March 29, 2020 - that's in 29 days! We don't have a set launch time as of yet (but we're working on it), with more details to come in a Development Update 4 in Mid-March.
In the mean time, we're adding a few more features here and there throughout the tracker. A feature planned is that we'll have appearance switchers on the FAQ & News page, so that you can quickly set the appearance mode on these pages, which will also propagate through to the rest of the tracker. Otherwise, it's mostly super minor stuff that we're implementing right now as we continue to roll through QA at a mighty pace.
We understand that some of you smart people may realize that in the last post, we said we were 10% done, and we're 37% more done in 20 days, so how will we manage to do 53% of QA in 29 days? Magic. Magic is key here. Also we're a lot further in the QA process, so we're not finding as many bugs. Pinky promise it'll be done on time.
After the March 29 release date, we'll be working hard on more of the infrastructure & social side of the tracker. We have a new Twitter account for all the automated Easter Bunny updates (@bunny_updates). We didn't feel like spamming your main feed with a boatload (~500-600) of status updates in 28 hours (thank the 30% better stop detection for this one), but we will be tweeting status updates from our main twitter every 15-30 minutes (that's about 112 updates for those playing along at home). We'll see how this goes. We're also in the process of rewriting the privacy policy page - which should be out in the next week or so. We want to be as transparent as possible with how the tracker works in regards to your privacy, and the current privacy policy page is confusing, badly worded, and isn't doing a good job of being a privacy policy.
We're really, really, really excited for not only launching v4 in 29 days, but the liftoff in 40 days. We'll have another development update out in about 15-20 days, so stay on the lookout for that!
We also promise not to put bad Easter music on our website. We ain't about that, chief.
track.easterbunny.cc Version 4 - Development Update 2
Posted: February 8, 2020
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With 62 days until liftoff, we're continuing to work on the tracker. This development update highlights some of the changes we've been able to make, and where we're going next.
The tracker is comsidered pre-QA (quality assurance) complete. This means that the tracker is done, but not fully bug tested. We are in the middle of quality assurance right now, with about 10% completion. We've found about 14 bugs already, and we expect to find lots more as QA continues to run on.
We've updated the tracker with an estimated arrival time for the Easter Bunny, which is a super cool, very awesome feature. It uses a custom Geo API that we built to get your approximate location based on your IP address. For people who stream onto YouTube, we also have the option to turn this off as to not reveal your location. We've also added streamer optimized settings to the tracker, so that when the tracker goes live, you can set the settings to what we feel gives the best experience on stream. This brings the tracker to virtual parity with Google Santa Tracker.
We've also upgraded the countdown to the new design, so that you can customize the settings during the countdown. We also made it so that in the info box, it will show localized times of when pre-tracking starts, and tracking starts.
The Acknowledgements, FAQ, Privacy Policy, and News page have been updated. The first change is that they are under their own directory, instead of a .html page. The second change is that they sport the refreshed design. What you're seeing now is the new refreshed design. We hope you like it. The news page also has the ability to share a specific post, post IDs, and hash linking.
The new Twitter Bot for this year is working great, and we're excited to use it! It covers pre-tracking and tracking, from start to finish. We've coded it so that it has a similar style to what was being manually tweeted out last year (including an abbreviated basket count).
In the next 4 weeks, we're planning to run lots, and lots of QA on the tracker. After that is completed, we'll be launching! The anticipated launch date is in mid-March, with no specific date set.
That is all for development update 2. The next development update will be posted in about 20 days.
track.easterbunny.cc Version 4 - Development Update 1
Posted: January 18, 2020
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With 83 days until the Easter Bunny lifts off for his 2020 journey, we've been working super hard on the tracker. This first development update highlights what we've done so far, and what we're working on next.
The biggest change thus far is the refreshed UI for the tracker, and as a result this part is 99% done. Dark mode integration is working great with the map (it switches into dark mode when the site goes into dark mode). The settings UI is also working great, and we've added a new about UI as well. Lastly, there's now a persistent uncenter/recenter button, which is almost finished.
We're also working hard on fixing up the backend of the tracker. Earlier this month, the issues with inconsistent basket counts and movement glitches got fixed. We've also fixed some edge-case issues with placing baskets on the map. There's lots of additional hard work going on to ensure that the tracker is more stable and less resource-intensive than last year.
Regarding the Easter Bunny's stops - we've made some major changes to the experience on the tracker. In addition to seeing short Wikipedia descriptions and data about each stop that the Easter Bunny visits, we've also added in weather data from Dark Sky for each stop on arrival. This feature isn't entirely completed yet (there's still some changes that we need to make to the user experience), but so far it's working great.
With all of this out of the way, for the rest of January, we'll be working on more tracker improvements and ironing out bugs. In addition, we'll be integrating pre-tracking into the main tracker, so the only redirection that occurs is from countdown to pre-tracking. Speaking of the countdown, we'll be propagating the changes we've made from the tracker to the countdown page as to keep things consistent.
That is all for development update 1. The next development update will be posted in about 30-45 days!
2020 preparations are under way!
Posted: January 1, 2020
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With 100 days remaining until liftoff, we're excited to announce the final changelist for Version 4 of track.easterbunny.cc. Version 4 builds on Version 3 of the tracker, all the while improving the basics but also providing a better experience in general. Here's what's coming!
We look forward to bringing all of these changes to you this year. Look out for development updates on our Twitter starting in late January for more!
Thank you for an amazing Easter 2019!
Posted: April 21, 2019
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Wow, just wow. These three words perfectly sum up Easter 2019, our first year of operations of track.easterbunny.cc.
In March, we set off to create a tracking experience that you'd never forget, and from the looks of things we've created an experience that so many of you will remember for years to come.
Since 12 AM EDT on April 20, track.easterbunny.cc has received over 4,000 visits, and over 18,000 requests for site assets made. Additionally, CloudFlare registered over 2,400 unique visitors to the site, and over 100 MB of tracker assets were served - for such a lightweight tracker this is unbelieveable.
We estimate that during the crossover from pre-tracking to tracking at 5 AM EDT, nearly 220 people were using our site, and everyone was redirected without issue.
We'd like to give a massive thank you to everyone who enjoyed the tracker this year. We thought that we would likely get one-tenth of the traffic that we ended up receiving, and it's simply mind-boggling to see how many people discovered our tracker in such a short period of time.
Our first year of running track.easterbunny.cc was a bit different than normal, because for extended periods of time we were the only Easter Bunny Tracker operating on the internet, due to more popular sites going down from high loads of traffic.
While we expected some issues due to traffic, we ended up having no issues. CloudFlare helped out tremendously with taking a huge load off of our servers. The transitions from the countdown to pre-tracking, and pre-tracking to tracking went flawlessly, and the site remained up even during the busiest hours of tracking.
From the bottom of our hearts from the track.easterbunny.cc Team, thank you for a first year that we will never forget. Over the summer and winter, major upgrades will be brought along to the tracker to take your Easter Bunny Tracking experience to a whole new level. We've also been listening to feedback on our site and where we can improve, and we'll be taking that feedback to make our site even better.
Our site will remain online until May 1, 2019 so that you can explore the map, and see where the Easter Bunny has been. If you're on a laptop or desktop computer, hover over the baskets with your mouse cursor - you'll get extra information on stops!
After tracking the Easter Bunny's preparations & movements for 28 hours, and after successfully delivering 4.022 billion baskets, it's time we say goodbye for 2019. Thank you all for an incredible year, and we cannot wait for 2020!
Happy Easter to you and your family,
- The track.easterbunny.cc Team
Tips for getting the most out of your tracking experience
Posted: April 20, 2019
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Given that this is our first year of operations, you might not know how our tracker will work. That's okay, as we've compiled a quick list of tips to get the most out of your tracking experience.
Easter Bunny Tracker upgraded to v3.8.2
Posted: April 17, 2019
Updated: April 18, 2019
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Although we're less than 3 days out from tracking, we've found some more bugs to fix with the tracker that further enhances your tracking experience. See what's new below.
These smaller bug fixes will continue to enhance your tracking experience as the days draw closer. We're very excited to start tracking, and we hope you are too.
If you forgot, pre-tracking starts on April 20, 2019 at 2:00 AM EDT, and tracking starts on April 20, 2019 at 5:00 AM EDT.
Update (4/18/2019): Earlier today we discovered an issue where users running Firefox on iOS would get redirected to the incompatible browser page, when the browser is perfectly compatible.
Better browser detection code has been added to resolve this issue.
Easter Bunny Tracker upgraded to v3.8.1
Posted: April 6, 2019
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v3.8.1 of the Easter Bunny tracker brings some incremental changes to the Easter Bunny Tracker to enhance your tracking experience. See what's new below.
Easter Bunny Tracker upgraded to v3.8.0
Posted: March 31, 2019
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v3.8.0 of the Easter Bunny Tracker brings some major changes to the Easter Bunny Tracker to continue to enhance your tracking experience. See what's new below!
Easter Bunny Tracker upgraded to v3.7.2
Posted: March 25, 2019
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v3.7.2 of the Easter Bunny Tracker makes some critical fixes to the website, along with some feature improvements & enhancements.
Take a look at the changelog below.
Easter Bunny Tracker upgraded to v3.7.1
Posted: March 23, 2019
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Although tracker development has completed, I'm still making sure the tracker is in great condition for launch on April 20. We've found a few bugs, and added a few features to v3.7.1 of the Easter Bunny Tracker.
Take a look at the changelog below.
Welcome to track.easterbunny.cc!
Posted: March 16, 2019
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Welcome to track.easterbunny.cc! I'm really excited that you're here.
So, you're probably wondering who runs this site, and what this site even does. Time for a bit of history.
I'm eastmountainfilms, you might know me from my pretty popular tracking streams on YouTube.
Last year, a few months before my first Easter Bunny Tracker live stream, the site I would use, TheCPTrackers, was up for domain renewal. TrackEasterBunny quickly bought the domain out and redirected it to their site.
I hate TrackEasterBunny - and a lot of you probably hate it too. It's got too much going on at once, the actual tracker is a nightmare given you need to refresh it to get the latest data, and overall, it's a nightmare.
That's why last year, I made my own tracker in about 3 weeks, with data being streamed from Easter Island. The only issue? It was private, very hacky, and was nowhere near able to being published online.
So, for 2019, I wanted to step up my game. Make a tracker on the level of NORAD & Google's Santa Trackers, because the world deserves a better Easter Bunny Tracker. And that's just what I did.
I'm really excited to share what we've been cooking up for this tracker. Below are just a few of the reasons why this site can easily be considered the best Easter Bunny Tracker out there.