Russians begin losing access to the App Store
Access to Apple's website and App Store in Russia dropped sharply from July 16, with availability falling to 30-40% and 60% respectively. Google Play availability is at 40-50%, with anomalous connections observed for months.
According to independent Russian outlet Verstka, access to Apple's official website and the App Store in Russia plummeted late last week. The international research project OONI detected anomalous connections to Apple resources starting Thursday, July 16. Over subsequent days, website availability fell to roughly 30–40%, and App Store availability to about 60%. No similar issues were observed in other countries. Data from the Sboy.rf service corroborates this, with users reporting App Store outages en masse since July 16, citing disruptions across multiple Russian regions. Google Play availability currently stands at around 40–50%, but OONI graphs show a large number of anomalous connections to that platform stretching back several months. The disruptions may indicate partial restrictions by Russian authorities, Verstka wrote. Roskomnadzor's press service stated on July 14 that it was not restricting access to Apple or Google services. In early June, Apple removed the Russian messenger Max from the App Store, citing international sanctions. A few weeks later, other apps from the VK holding company disappeared from Apple's store. On July 13, the EU imposed sanctions against VK and its subsidiary Communications Platform, which developed the Max messenger. A few days later, Google also removed the holding company's apps from its store.
