- Apple has removed DVPN from its App Store at Russia’s request
- NORSE Labs’ decentralized VPN was among Apple’s top free VPN apps
- Over 100 VPNs are currently unavailable in the Russian Apple App Store, with at least 60 apps killed since July last year
Earlier today, April 17, 2025, the Founder and CEO of NORSE Labs, Aleksandr Litreev, received a notification from Apple that its decentralized VPN app was removed per Roskomnadzor’s demand “because it includes content that is illegal in Russia.”
The NORSE Labs DVPN app has gained huge popularity lately across the country, ranking #3 among Apple’s top free apps before the block – the provider reported. It adds to the over 100 VPNs, including some of the best VPNs on the market, currently unavailable in Russia’s Apple App Store.
Apple keeps killing popular Russia VPNs
“Just a few hours ago, Apple removed our NORSE Labs DVPN app from the Russian App Store – without any valid court order – at the request of Roskomnadzor, the government’s censorship agency,” announced Litreev in a X post on Thursday morning.
A popular free VPN app especially for Russian Apple TV, Mac, and iPad users, DVPN is a decentralized VPN service by NORSE Labs that relies on a global network of independent nodes rather than centralized VPN servers.
This feature, the provider explains on its official website, should make it much harder for governments or ISPs to block access to the service. It doesn’t then promise only better privacy and security, but also stronger censorship circumvention skills – exactly what’s needed to bypass Roskomnadzor’s internet blocks currently in place.
A Russian activist and IT engineer, Litreev is a well-known opposition figure in Russia who was involved with Alexei Navalny’s movement. In 2020, he managed to flee to Estonia and escape trial.
Since then, he’s been working in the decentralized VPN space to offer privacy and anti-censorship solutions to help people in Russia, China, Venezuela, and other countries enforcing strong control on the national internet.
“Ensuring secure and free access to independent media is a fundamental duty of any democratic power in the fight for human rights, and Apple picked the wrong side,” said Litreev.
Just a few hours ago, @Apple removed our @norselabs DVPN app from the Russian App Store—without any valid court order—at the request of Roskomnadzor, the government’s censorship agency.Thread 👇 pic.twitter.com/cVWWCzJsaoApril 17, 2025
NORSE Labs is only the latest victim of Roskomnadzor’s crusade against VPN.
VPN censorship efforts intensified in 2024 since a law enforced in March began criminalizing the spread of information about ways to circumvent internet restrictions. This is likely the legal basis upon which the Russian censor body issues these requests.
In 2024 alone, Apple was found to have killed at least 60 VPN apps in this way, bringing the total to 98 VPN unavailable apps in September. These include some of TechRadar’s favorites, such as NordVPN, ExpressVPN, and ProtonVPN.
The current toll is expected to be even higher, especially considering that another popular Russian VPN, Amnezia VPN, reportedly disappeared from the country’s App Store at the end of October, becoming the last target of Russia’s anti-VPN actions in 2024.
While Apple appears to have been largely compliant with Russia’s orders so far, Google Play has also been targeted by similar removal requests.
According to AppCentroship’s latest data, Google received 212 VPN blocking orders between March and April 2025. Among these, however, only 6 apps appeared to have been removed so far, bringing the total of unavailable VPN services on Russia’s Google Play Store to 53.
How to keep downloading unavailable VPNs
Litreev ensured that all users who have already downloaded the NORSE Labs DVPN app before its removal know that the app they have downloaded isn’t at risk.
“The app will continue to work despite the Russian government’s attempts to block it,” he said.
In case you haven’t downloaded it yet, you can still do so by changing your App Store region to any other country. The DVPN app remains available globally.
Another alternative is using the DVPN mini-app version that the provider has launched on Telegram. This will remain functional as long as Telegram does, Litreev explains.
“While we’re working on a tool to help our Russian users bypass this absurd restriction and install the app directly, we’re also evaluating our options for legal action,” he added.
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chiara.castro@futurenet.com (Chiara Castro)
