Apple removes VPN apps from Russian App Store amid surveillance push

Apple removed several VPN apps from its Russian App Store in March 2026, including Streisand, V2Box, v2RayTun, Happ, and Proxy Utility.

Developers report that Apple is again pulling their VPN apps from Russia’s App Store. The same apps remained available on Google Play for Android users in Russia. The Electronic Frontier Foundation condemns the removals as an attack on privacy and speech tools.

Apple told the developer of v2RayTun that it removed the app because it contains content illegal in Russia. v2RayTun shared Apple’s removal notice, which cited a demand from Roskomnadzor. The notice said the application included content illegal under part 7 of article 15.1 of Russia’s Law on Information.

Apple said local laws obligate it to follow regulations in the countries where it operates. The company also told Human Rights Watch that the law requires it to follow the law everywhere it operates, and that failing to follow lawful orders in Russia could result in Apple no longer being able to operate the App Store or distribute content there.

The Electronic Frontier Foundation said Bloomberg reported that Russia added Apple and Microsoft to its state surveillance registry. Being on the registry gives Roskomnadzor access to local users’ correspondence, according to the foundation, and puts Apple and Microsoft in a position to turn over customer information to security services as required.

Russia targeted VPNs on Apple’s store. On July 4, 2024, Apple removed multiple popular VPN apps from its Russian App Store on the demand of Roskomnadzor. In 2024, Roskomnadzor went after VPN apps on Apple’s App Store, according to reporting cited by the Electronic Frontier Foundation. Russia blocked Apple’s FaceTime software in 2025, according to reporting cited by the foundation.

Russia had banned access to Western social media platforms and blacklisted opposition media sites, according to reporting cited by the Electronic Frontier Foundation. The 2017 law on VPN services prohibits them from providing access to state-blocked websites. By February 2026 authorities had blocked at least 469 VPNs under this law.

The scale of app removals has grown sharply. Apple removed 2,045 apps from the App Store in 2025 at government request, with Russia leading all countries at 1,213 demands. Apple’s 2025 transparency report shows it removed 1,213 apps in Russia in response to Russian government requests, nearly 60 percent of all such removals globally.

In 2024 Apple removed 171 apps in Russia; in 2023 it removed 12; and in 2022 just seven. In 2025 Apple removed 468 utility applications, which include VPNs, from its App Store. Apple does not disclose which specific apps it removed. iStories believes the 2025 app removals primarily involved VPN services.

Google data showed 801 demands from Roskomnadzor in 2025 to remove services used to circumvent internet blocks. A Russian court fined Google 22.8 million rubles, around USD 300,000, in February for failure to remove VPN apps as authorities ordered.

Demand for VPNs surged amid the blocking of YouTube, Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp, and Telegram. Estimates indicate about 40 percent of Russia’s population, or 57 million people, use VPNs, and downloads consistently grow.

Russia’s Digital Development Minister Maksut Shadayev announced on state-backed messenger Max that reducing VPN usage is the task. He said officials had made decisions to restrict access to several unidentified foreign platforms without giving details. In April 2026, Shadayev said on state-backed messenger Max that reducing VPN use is the task.

Shadayev linked the anti-VPN push to talks with foreign tech companies over following Russian law. A 2024 law that bars sharing information on how to bypass internet restrictions underlies the digital minister’s campaign against VPN usage.

Authorities such as Roskomnadzor are increasingly pressuring tech firms to follow local laws. Since spring 2025, Russian authorities have increasingly carried out whitelist shutdowns, blocking access to all but state-approved websites. In 2025 authorities banned advertising VPNs, introduced fines for intentionally searching for extremist content online including via VPNs, and classified VPN use as an aggravating circumstance for certain crimes.

Mid-April brought a new limit: major Russian internet platforms, responding to official requests, restricted use of their sites and apps over VPN connections. In April, the Ministry of Digital Development, Communications and Mass Media instructed more than 20 of the largest internet companies to gather information on clients’ VPN use and deny access when detecting VPN connections.

According to a study by RKS Global, at least 30 of the largest Russian apps gathered this information, including IP addresses used by VPN services. An expert at RKS Global told Human Rights Watch that the information was used in the recent attack on VPN infrastructure.

In June, authorities carried out a coordinated attack on Amnezia VPN, blocking its IP addresses in bulk, targeting employees with phishing e-mails, and using distributed denial-of-service attacks. It took Amnezia one and a half months to fully restore its services. On August 4, 2026, Exploit reported that 20 VPN providers in Russia faced service disruptions caused by blocking by Russian authorities.

Human Rights Watch says the blocking targets VPN infrastructure, including entire subnets of IP addresses. Restoring services after bulk blocking takes more time and costs more than previous granular blocking, Human Rights Watch says.

In March 2026, the Ministry ordered the four largest mobile service providers to stop allowing payments to Apple account holders using mobile phone billing. From April 1, mobile operators cannot let customers add money to Apple ID accounts through phone billing.

Officials said the step targets a payment channel for VPN subscriptions that account for more than 80 percent of App Store purchases in Russia. Mobile carriers face a May 1 directive from Shadayev to charge customers whose international data traffic passes 15 gigabytes in a month. The surcharge aims at VPN users since their traffic runs through servers outside the country.

Russian tech companies including Yandex and Wildberries were reportedly told to block access to their platforms entirely if they detect VPN traffic.

Russia has banned US-owned social media platforms Facebook, Instagram, and X, and most recently blocked WhatsApp. Residents reported connectivity issues on Telegram for two weeks after Roskomnadzor said it intended to slow access to the platform, a partial restriction. Authorities are actively encouraging people to sign up to state-backed options such as Max.

Telegram founder Pavel Durov said Russia was targeting apps that help users bypass Russia’s deep packet inspection, which monitors and blocks traffic.

VPNs act as customizable routing tools that let users send data through a server of their choosing, often in another country. They disguise the source of the connection and help bypass local restrictions. Over the past decade, VPNs have been a lifeline for accessing millions of censored websites in Russia, including independent media and foreign social media and messaging platforms such as Instagram, YouTube, and WhatsApp.

Human Rights Watch says VPNs that do not collect client logs or transfer data to state authorities can ensure privacy of internet communications, including against Russia’s advanced state surveillance system. Escalating VPN blocking pushes users to repeatedly change providers, creating privacy and security risks such as choosing a service that stores data without consent or shares data with Russian authorities.

Removed apps still work for users who already installed them but no longer receive updates such as security patches, bug fixes, or new features. “These repressive tactics affect millions of people in Russia seeking to connect to the internet without state censorship,” Hugh Williamson of Human Rights Watch said. Human Rights Watch says the attacks are part of a broader assault on access to information, privacy, and freedom of expression.

Multiple United Nations human rights institutions condemn restrictions on anonymity, including VPN blocking, as violating rights to privacy, freedom of expression, access to information, and peaceful assembly. A 2015 UN Special Rapporteur report said anonymity and encryption are key for freedom of opinion and expression, and blanket prohibitions fail necessity and proportionality criteria.

Access Now and over 40 Russian and international civil society organizations and experts demanded Apple restore all blocked VPN services on its Russian app store. They also demanded Apple not follow orders violating international human rights standards. “Apple must not turn its back on the people or civil society of Russia,” Access Now said.

The Electronic Frontier Foundation has publicly criticized proposals by several U.S. states to ban VPNs to make it difficult to circumvent invasive age-gating laws. “This is an unacceptable crackdown on a vital tool to protect privacy and speech online,” the foundation said.

In July, Human Rights Watch sent a letter to Apple inquiring about company policy on VPN takedowns in Russia and the exact number of VPNs taken down on authorities’ demand.

In July, both Apple and Google faced apparent blocking in Russia. The UK levied a fine on Apple’s European distribution arm for mistakenly paying Russian video-streaming service Okko, connected to a sanctioned company.

People in Russia suffer from an unfree internet aggravated by wartime censorship imposed since the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Access Now says. The Russian government has continued to press digital platforms to remove Russian civil society content. It has also blocked access to independent media websites, social media platforms, and Russian and international human rights organizations.