Russia continues its campaign to force Apple to pre-install government-made apps on its devices before sale. The campaign ignores the fact that Apple hasn’t officially sold an iPhone inside Russian borders for nearly four years!
Russia has launched a long-threatened investigation as to why Apple refuses to preload state-backed apps onto devices sold in the country. Once again, let me remind you that Apple hasn’t sold iPhones in Russia since the Russian invasion of Ukraine in March 2022.
Any iPhone or iPad sold inside Russia these days is sold via the black and grey markets, meaning none of the devices sold have the government-backed apps preinstalled. However, the App Store is still available in Russia, although users cannot subscribe or pay for Apple Services, thanks to Apple Ireland being fined for breaking sanctions against Russia.
The apps that Apple refused to install were Max, a state-backed messaging service, and RuStore, a domestic app store.
“The company did not comply with the FAS warning to preinstall the national messaging app and the national app store on its iOS devices (iPhone, iPad). The FAS opened a case against the company in accordance with the competition law and the already established law-enforcement practice in regard to Apple,” a statement seen by Interfax said.
If found guilty, Apple could face a 4 billion rubles fine, which comes out to around $49.8 million in dirty capitalist dollars.
While Apple likely will not develop a Russia-only configuration for its devices, it could restore the apps in question to the App Store. After all, it has bowed to pressure from the Russian government in the past.
In July 2024, following pressure from the Russian government, Apple removed several iPhone VPN apps from the country’s App Store.
In December 2025, Russia blocked Apple’s FaceTime video calling app, as part of a continuing effort to block private communication methods, which the Russian government claimed was being used to facilitate criminal activity. Social network Snapchat and multiplayer gaming platform Roblox were also banned. The restriction came following the launch of the Russian government’s own messaging app, called… Well, can you believe the coincidence? MAX!
