Telegram received its first update in two months after being locked out of App Store updates following a dispute with the Russian government and Apple
Telegram today received its first update in two months after an App Store update lockout caused by a dispute with the Russian government and Apple.
Context & Ripple Effects
The two-month freeze traces back to April, when Russia banned Telegram and Pavel Durov said Apple began rejecting the app's updates globally — not just in Russia — leaving every iOS user on a frozen version while Android moved ahead. The June update ends that stretch.
It is also not Telegram's first run-in with Apple's review process this year: in February Apple pulled the apps outright over inappropriate content before restoring them. That friction later hardened into a formal grievance when Telegram filed an [[a:956257|EU antitrust complaint arguing users should be able to download software outside the App Store]].
First-order effects
- Telegram's worldwide iOS base gets its first feature update since April, ending a freeze where Apple's rejection applied globally rather than only to the market where the Russian dispute played out.
Second-order effects
- The episode hands Telegram concrete evidence for its competition argument against Apple's distribution monopoly, feeding the EU complaint it filed two years later.
Third-order effects
- App Store approval becomes a lever in government–platform disputes: if a national ban can quietly stall updates everywhere, messaging apps' iOS reach depends on politics as much as code — a pattern that recurs when Apple briefly removes Telegram again over CSAM content in 2026.
The trend: App Store gatekeeping is turning into a chokepoint in disputes between governments and messaging platforms, with Apple's review process repeatedly caught between regulators and Telegram.