{"id":362883,"date":"2025-08-21T20:04:15","date_gmt":"2025-08-21T20:04:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/362883\/"},"modified":"2025-08-21T20:04:15","modified_gmt":"2025-08-21T20:04:15","slug":"russia-orders-state-backed-max-messenger-app-to-be-pre-installed-on-new-phones-technology","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/362883\/","title":{"rendered":"Russia orders state-backed Max messenger app to be pre-installed on new phones | Technology"},"content":{"rendered":"

A Russian<\/a> state-backed messenger application called Max, a rival to WhatsApp<\/a> that critics say could be used to track users, must be pre-installed on all mobile phones and tablets bought in the country starting next month, the Russian government said on Thursday.<\/p>\n

The decision to promote Max comes as Moscow, locked in a standoff with the west over Ukraine, is seeking greater control over the internet. The Kremlin said in a statement that Max, which will be integrated with government services, would be on a list of mandatory pre-installed apps on all \u201cgadgets\u201d, including mobile phones and tablets, sold in Russia<\/a> from 1 September. The firm behind Max said this week that 18 million users had downloaded its app, parts of which are still in a testing phase.<\/p>\n

State media says accusations from Kremlin critics that Max is a spying app are false and that it has fewer permissions to access user data than rivals WhatsApp and Telegram<\/a>.<\/p>\n

It will also be mandatory from 1 September for Russia\u2019s domestic app store, RuStore, which is pre-installed on all Android devices, to be pre-installed on Apple devices. A Russian-language TV app called Lime HD TV, which allows people to watch state TV channels free of charge, will be pre-installed on all smart TVs sold in Russia<\/a> from 1 January.<\/p>\n

The push to promote homegrown apps comes after Russia said this month it had started restricting some calls on WhatsApp<\/a>, owned by Meta Platforms<\/a>, and on Telegram, accusing the foreign-owned platforms of failing to share information with law enforcement in fraud and terrorism cases.<\/p>\n

WhatsApp, which in July had a reach of 97.3 million users in Russia, responded by accusing Moscow of trying to block Russians from accessing secure communications, while Telegram<\/a>, which had a reach of 90.8 million users, said it actively combats the harmful use of its platform.<\/p>\n

The third most popular messenger app in July, according to Mediascope data, was VK Messenger, at 17.9 million users, an offering from the same state-controlled tech company VK which developed Max.<\/p>\n

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Russia\u2019s interior ministry said on Wednesday that Max was safer than foreign rivals, but that it had arrested a suspect in the first fraud case using the new messenger.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A Russian state-backed messenger application called Max, a rival to WhatsApp that critics say could be used to…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":362884,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7655],"tags":[332],"class_list":{"0":"post-362883","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-russia","8":"tag-russia"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115068552625064854","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/362883","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=362883"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/362883\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/362884"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=362883"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=362883"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=362883"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}