In Russia, serious problems with Apple services began at the end of last week — the availability of the company’s official website and the App Store has sharply decreased. Users from different parts of the country are complaining about the inability to download applications or access the tech giant’s websites, which may indicate attempts at local blocking.
In Russia, serious problems with Apple services began at the end of last week — the availability of the company’s official website and the App Store has sharply decreased. Users from different parts of the country are complaining about the inability to download applications or access the tech giant’s websites, which may indicate attempts at local blocking.
As reported by Russian media, citing data from the analytical project OONI (Open Observatory of Network Interference), the first anomalies in the work of Apple resources were recorded on Thursday, July 16. Over the next few days, the availability of the company’s website in the Russian Federation dropped to 30–40%. The App Store is working a little better, but its availability also dropped to about 60%. At the same time, no problems with Apple services are observed in other countries of the world.
Access problems are also confirmed by the graphs of the Russian monitoring service «Sboy.rf». According to the data received, massive complaints about the work of the App Store began to come from users on July 16. At the same time, Google Play continues to be in trouble in the Russian Federation — its availability currently fluctuates between 40-50%, and analysts have been recording abnormal connections to the platform for several months in a row.
Journalists from Russia suggest that such disruptions may indicate attempts by the Russian authorities to partially block or restrict the work of the App Store. At the same time, the press service of Roskomnadzor traditionally denies any interference and claims that they do not restrict access to the Apple and Google ecosystems.
At the end of June, Apple, without warning, blocked and removed most of the key services of the Russian holding company VK from the App Store, including the Mail.ru mail service, the Zen content platform, and the Odnoklassniki social network.
