Russia now requires switch to MAX messaging app

grayway2

Russia is currently blocking WhatsApp and Telegram and soon Max will be mandatory on every phone sold in the country.

Max has no end-to-end encryption and is a powerful surveillance tool. It's developed by VK, an equivalent of Facebook in Russia.

Avoid using MAX and VK at all cost.

Eirikr70

grayway2 Sorry for the Russians ! May God help them help themselves !

cleanbowtie

grayway2 If anything, I am surprised it has taken this long for Russia to block the likes of WhatsApp.

What is the state of VPNs in Russia?

n3t_admin

It would be good to link a source with that.

n3t_admin

Fine, I'll link the source myself: https://www.rbc.ru/technology_and_media/13/08/2025/689cab709a7947a32eb24afb

I couldn't find any information about the encryption of VK Max though.

Eirikr70

n3t_admin Since I see several extensions exist in order to encrypt messages on VKontakte, it leads to presume that the app itself doesn't propose that function.
https://chrome-stats.com/d/jomkpofgflbplilomgklbdffmehoiokn
https://chromewebstore.google.com/detail/vkcrypt/lemdbelcbpfbohjiimbcdhbonmlamdbm
https://chrome-stats.com/d/egkklkkaedmooedakbknknhidcbmbolo
I can't guess whether these extensions are distributed/popular in Russia.

grayway2

n3t_admin sorry, I was not online.

https://www.firstpost.com/world/russia-tightens-grip-on-internet-mandates-new-state-messaging-app-for-all-smartphones-13920444.html

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/technology/russia-restricts-calls-via-whatsapp-and-telegram-the-latest-step-to-control-the-internet/ar-AA1Ksyto

https://en.tempo.co/read/2039674/russia-requires-switch-to-max-dropping-whatsapp-and-telegram

They are not only blocking calls. Apparently, it's also not possible to send media at this time.

n3t_admin

Eirikr70 ВКонтакте (VK) is actually the equivalent of facebook. They also have VK Messenger which is the equivalent of facebook messenger and now they have VK Max (ВК Макс) which is the equivalent of WhatsApp. Those are all different products and the extensions seem to be for VK (the facebook alternative).

grayway2

cleanbowtie Messaging apps and GPS are usually blocked in Russia when Ukrainian drones are flying but now the situation is different. They want Max to be the number 1 messaging app so they can spy on all citizens.

The app is out of beta since June 2025 and has already 2 million registered users.

More than 200 VPN are blocked in Russia.

Roaming4231

cleanbowtie

A lot of VPNs are blocked (all famous one I think) by Russia and a lot of removed from app store by Apple. On android everything fine with APK.

All foreign wireguard/OpenVPN connections without obfuscation are blocked.

Russia is banning popular VPS providers (like hetzner) and list of available options for selfhosting is short.

Many people are self-hosting vpn with vless protocol (panels like 3x-ui, marzban and Remnawave made it relativelly easy to deploy) for themselves and friends/family but since u can not pay with Russian visa/MasterCard/mir card outside of Russia list of VPS providers is short.

Russian government understands that they can not ban everything and they are trying to scare people into not using vpn at all and/or move everyone to controlled messengers.

I think new problem is a new law that restricts VPN advertisement and "search of illegal content". Many people will be just scared to even search for a VPN or banned news or something like that.

So situation with VPN is managable, but quickly can be way worse. They are already banning cloudflare and testing white lists for allowed foreign IPs.

P.S. I don't have any links at the moment and sorry for bad English xd

Grapi

MAX is like a copy of China’s WeChat - a super app that handles everything from private chats to government services. It includes things like a social rating system and digital identity tracking. It looks like preparation for a future where digital control has no limits.

And for those who haven’t heard: YouTube has already been blocked in Russia for about a month. Another sign of how fast things are changing.

grayway2

Grapi exactly

Nona15

Regarding this topic, I have a question for all those present: what do you think, how sad the consequences of the Max installation will be in a separate profile? I use a general SIM card for the Internet on all profiles (private and public for garbage applications)

Roaming4231

Nona15
I think main reason for Russia is to have messages inside country and have easy access to them.

All SIMs are already bounded to IDs, u are probably using yandex maps or something so they can track your location.

So if I have it in separate profile (or private space) and until u are using MAX only when it's necessary (like communication with government and school chats) and not using it for private conversations - i think should be fine.

Grapi

Nona15

I would use a separate smartphone for MAX and never use this smartphone for something else.

Morwendara

https://github.com/ZolManStaff/MAX-deep-analysis-of-the-messenger

This link provides a detailed analysis of the app's functionality. It appears to be highly questionable, as it collects excessive amounts of data, significantly exceeding what is required by messaging apps. I strongly advise against using this app. If you must install it, it is advisable to keep it separate from your primary apps, preferably in a separate profile.

ACuriousFellow

Morwendara the link no longer works. Was any mirrors of it taken?

Eirikr70

It is out in the press.
https://www.lemonde.fr/international/article/2025/08/20/en-russie-les-autorites-verrouillent-toujours-plus-les-communications_6632280_3210.html

cuckflared

Does Tor Browser work in Russia?

ryrona

cuckflared Does Tor Browser work in Russia?

Most circumvention methods offered by Tor Browser are blocked. Some might still work, I don't know. Tor was targeted almost right when the invasion started, and already a few months later effectively blocked for most Russian users (although some ISPs seemed less affected than others). I haven't followed what happened after that. But it is not unreasonable to guess Russia borrowed DPI blocking technology from China, and China has effectively blocked Tor entirely, including all circumvention methods, for a very long time.

In China, users are trying to get out outside the firewall by getting VPS servers abroad, and the talks above about Russian users doing similarly suggests most VPNs and VPN-like technologies are blocked in Russia, including Tor.

Morwendara

ryrona I think that blocking is much more severe in Russia. Lately, it has become especially active and affects everything. For example, the VLESS protocol is one of the most advanced: developers are focused on increasing collateral damage. The idea is to make VPN traffic as similar as possible to regular HTTPS, hoping that by blocking it, the state will cause significant unwanted damage to other resources. Recently, the XHTTP protocol has appeared, which is often used together with VLESS; it allows you to build more complex configurations - for example, combining outgoing and incoming streams with different parameters and routes in one connection. One of the practical tasks is to route traffic through CDNs of large providers in the hope that the state will not block their IP addresses so as not to affect many other services. However, Russia has already blocked Cloudflare CDN - one of the largest, although in China, as far as I know, it is not blocked.

Although Russia is not as restricted as China, its blocking methods are much cruder.