Russian citizens told "switch to Android" after Apple blocks key Russian apps

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 were designed to thwart the country's draconian Internet censorship. (Vietnam was No. 2, 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.")