The Max messenger and other VKontakte applications have been removed from Google Play. The information was confirmed by the VK press service.
In addition to Google Play, Max has also disappeared from AppGallery, the store used by owners of Huawei devices.
Earlier removals
In early June 2026, Apple removed Max from the App Store. After that, the messenger stopped sending push notifications to iPhone users. Russian human rights advocates and opposition politicians described that development as their victory.
One possible reason for the removal was a label the state messenger received on April 30 from major hosting provider Cloudflare. The service marked the app’s domains as spyware.
Earlier, in March, independent researchers reported finding a module in the app that tracks VPN use. According to them, the messenger sends requests to external services to determine whether a user is trying to bypass Roskomnadzor blocks.
It was also noted that Max does not support end-to-end encryption: all traffic passes through the provider’s servers and, as reported, could theoretically be accessible to security services upon request.