Apple blocks Telegram updates at Russia's demand
Apple has stopped support of Telegram messenger after Russia blocked the service, and has limited updates of the application for all users, reported Telegram’s founder, Pavel Durov.
“Apple has been preventing Telegram from updating its iOS apps globally ever since the Russian authorities ordered Apple to remove Telegram from the App Store. Russia banned Telegram on its territory in April because we refused to provide decryption keys for all our users’ communications to Russia’s security agencies. We believe we did the only possible thing, preserving the right of our users to privacy in a troubled country," he wrote.
According to Durov, Russia accounts for only 7% of the total Telegram user base, but Apple has restricted updates to all users around the world.
"Unfortunately, some Telegram features, such as stickers, don’t work correctly under iOS 11.4 that was just released – even though we fixed this issue weeks ago," he noted.
Pavel Durov apologized to users for the inconvenience and thanked them for their patience.
On May 28, Russia threatened to block the App Store due to Telegram.