Apple has removed Max messaging, promoted by Russian authorities as an alternative to Telegram and WhatsApp, from its App Store in the name of Moscow’s technological sovereignty, its developer announced Thursday. Russian authorities have for months been encouraging citizens to install Max, an “all-in-one” app, but critics say it can be used to track users.
To promote its use, the government restricted access to WhatsApp and Telegram, the two most popular messaging apps in the country, and forced civil servants, state-owned enterprises, schools and government agencies to use Max for communications. “Max is temporarily no longer available for download on the App Store,” the developer said Thursday in a press release published on its platform, specifying that it was removed Wednesday evening.
Dozens of Russian apps removed
Apple claims to theAFP that it respects the laws of the jurisdictions where the group is present and that it has removed Max from the App Store to comply with sanctions. The Californian group does not specify what sanctions it is referring to. Max is developed by VK, a Russian social media giant whose CEO, Vladimir Kiriyenko, has been targeted since 2022 by American, British and European sanctions.
Apple and Google have both removed dozens of Russian apps from their online stores since the start of the war in Ukraine in 2022, pushing the Russians to develop their own app stores such as the RuStore. Launched in 2025 by Russian social media giant VK, Max has been likened to China’s WeChat app, combining social media and messaging functions with access to public services, a digital ID card system, banking and payments.
President Vladimir Putin has presented it as a more “secure” platform that meets Russia’s need for “technological sovereignty.” It has been pre-installed on phones and tablets sold in Russia since September, but is not available in the European Union. Max does not use end-to-end encryption and its terms of service state that user data is stored exclusively on servers located in Russia.
