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Apple has removed Russia’s state-backed Max messenger from its App Store, according to the app’s Russian developers on Thursday.
The messenger disappeared from the store on Wednesday night, prompting a statement from the platform that Max is temporarily unavailable for download.
Apple has not yet commented on the removal, and the reasons for the decision remain unclear.
Both Apple and Google have previously removed dozens of Russian apps from their online stores, specifically targeting those developed by Western-sanctioned companies.
For months, Moscow has pushed citizens to install Max—a super-app that lacks end-to-end encryption and stores all user data exclusively on servers in Russia, raising critics’ fears that the government could use it to track people.
To force this transition, the state has throttled WhatsApp and Telegram, the country’s two largest messengers, while compelling civil servants, state companies, schools, and government agencies to move their communications to the new platform.
President Vladimir Putin has touted Max as a more secure platform that meets Russia’s demand for technological sovereignty.
Russian social media giant VK launched Max in 2025, designing it to mimic China’s WeChat by combining social media and messaging functions with access to government services, digital ID cards, banking, and payments.
While the app has come pre-installed on phones and tablets sold in Russia since September, the European Union has blocked its availability.
Although already-installed apps continue to work on Russian phones, new users can no longer download Max, and existing users cannot update it.
The widespread removal of Russian apps from global marketplaces has triggered a cat-and-mouse game.
Russian companies, especially banks, now routinely launch new apps disguised as alternative products, like accounting software. They then rush to notify their clients to download these new versions before Apple or Google can discover and ban them.
