Apple’s own App Store Transparency Report lists 2,045 apps removed worldwide at the request of governments, with Russia responsible for more than half of that total on its own. The figures come from Apple’s legal site, not from a leak or a rival’s estimate, and Apple frames every removal as limited to the country whose government demanded it.
Government takedown requests are the part of App Store policy Apple discusses least, and this report is the clearest place it puts numbers to the practice. It is unrelated to iPhone 18 Pro or iPhone Duo, both shipping this month, but it covers the same store those phones use.
Key facts
| Item | Figure |
|---|---|
| Total apps removed at government request | 2,045 |
| Russia | 1,213 apps |
| Vietnam | 335 apps |
| China mainland | 196 apps |
| South Korea | 108 apps |
| India | 54 apps |
| United States | 39 apps |
| Source | Apple’s App Store Transparency Report, apple.com/legal |
What the U.S. total actually was
The 39 U.S. removals were not a scattered set of apps pulled for different reasons. Apple’s report describes them as ByteDance apps the company was prevented from distributing in order to comply with federal law, tied to the period when TikTok and related apps briefly left U.S. app stores. Apple’s report states those apps were restored on February 13, 2025.
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| Detail | What Apple’s report says |
|---|---|
| Apps affected | ByteDance apps, unnamed individually in the report |
| Reason | Compliance with federal law restricting distribution |
| Restoration date | February 13, 2025 |
| Scope | Removed from the U.S. storefront only, per Apple’s policy note |
Apple’s stated policy on where a removal applies
Apple’s report includes a general rule alongside the country figures: “Apps are required to follow the law in each country or region in which they operate. When subject to a government takedown demand, they are removed only from the country or region in which the entity demanding removal has jurisdiction.” That is why a takedown in Russia or Vietnam does not remove the same app from the U.S. or European storefronts.
Apple’s report frames the App Store as operating in 175 countries and regions in total, which puts the 2,045 figure in scale: the five countries listed above account for the large majority of all government takedowns Apple has disclosed, while the other roughly 170 countries and regions combined account for a small remainder. Apple does not break out every country individually in the material reviewed here, only the leading ones.
A separate claim Apple has not addressed
In June 2026, the Russian technology company VK said in its own statement that Apple removed VK’s apps from the App Store in Russia without a government order behind it, calling the move “completely unprompted and unacceptable” and adding that it cut off “tens of millions” of Russian users from VK’s services. That is VK’s own account of what happened, not a claim Apple has confirmed, and Apple had not issued a public response as of this writing. Because it falls outside the reporting window covered by the transparency figures above, it should be read as a separate, unverified claim rather than part of the 1,213 figure attributed to Russia.
Russia’s position as the single largest source of government takedowns in Apple’s own report is the backdrop against which VK’s statement landed. Whether the two are connected, a formal government order Apple has not disclosed, or something else, is not something Apple or VK has stated plainly, and no source reviewed here resolves the question.
What Apple has not said
- Apple has not published a version of this report covering 2026 activity, so the 2,045 figure reflects the most recently published period, not the current one.
- Apple has not listed the individual apps removed in Russia, Vietnam, China mainland, South Korea or India by name.
- Apple has not stated the legal basis each government cited for its takedown demand, only the country totals.
- Apple has not responded to VK’s June 2026 statement about its own apps.
As of September 13, 2026, this report remains the newest set of government-takedown figures Apple has published, and Apple has not said when the next edition will appear. Our recap of this month’s Apple event and coverage of AirPods 5 cover the products these App Store policies apply to.