Russian citizens told "switch to Android" after Apple blocks key Russian apps - Ars Technica
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According to Apple’s 2025 App Store Transparency Report, Russia is the runaway world leader in one category: Demanding that Apple remove apps from its App Store.
In 2025, Russia asked that Apple remove 1,213 apps—many of these VPN apps designed to thwart the country’s draconian Internet censorship. (Vietnam was number two, requesting that 335 apps be blocked.)
Russia is essentially trying to build a closed, spy-friendly, domestic version of the Internet. While the Russian government loves demanding app bans from Apple, it only wants bad, degenerate apps banned. It does not want good, strong Russian apps banned, such as VKontakte (a Russian version of Facebook) or the Max messaging app (state-mandated communications software so creepy that one exile publication described it with the insanely long headline, “You already know Russia’s Max messenger spies on users. You probably don’t know just how many surveillance tools it hides, including even a neural network for eavesdropping.”)
In the last few weeks, Apple has blocked both of these key apps, making them unavailable to iPhone users in Russia. Existing installs will still function, but Apple has shut down push notifications from the apps, making them far less useful. Max was blocked on in the first week of June. VKontakte was blocked on June 25.
According to the Moscow Times, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said yesterday that “the Russian government expects an explanation from Apple for the removal of VK apps.”
VK Group, the developers of VKontakte and related services, issued its own statement complaining that “Apple has removed VK apps from the App Store without warning or explanation… VK has never been subject to sanctions nor included on sanctions lists, a fact confirmed by numerous legal opinions from international and US counsel. Apple has long been in possession of these official legal opinions and all relevant information. Nevertheless, Apple unilaterally removed VK apps without prior notice… We consider these actions by Apple regarding Russian users to be unjustified and unacceptable.” (Translation from Russian through Google Translate.)
VK Group also stressed that its Android apps “remain fully functional—including updates, notifications, and other features—and are available via RuStore, Google Play, Huawei AppGallery, Samsung Store, Xiaomi Store, and official product websites.”
This appears to be the new line from the Kremlin, as well. A Russian Telegram channel that reports on Peskov’s comments quoted him yesterday as saying that Apple perhaps could not be “trusted as a commercial service provider” and that the blocks are part of a pattern of “decisions by Apple that are, to put it mildly, bizarre.” (Translation from Russian through Google Translate.)
Still, despite the posturing, Peskov knows the score; there’s little Russia can do about the situation. So instead, he ended with an appeal to users. “There is always an immediate solution,” he said, “switch to Android, switch to our systems, switch to our equivalent service, and continue using the services you love.”
Nate Anderson
Deputy Editor
Nate Anderson
Deputy Editor
Nate is the deputy editor at Ars Technica. His most recent book is In Emergency, Break Glass: What Nietzsche Can Teach Us About Joyful Living in a Tech-Saturated World, which is much funnier than it sounds.
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