Apple Calls New Russian Smartphone Sales Legislation 'Equivalent to Jailbreaking'

Russian President Vladimir Putin today signed new legislation requiring all smartphones, computers, and smart TVs sold in the country to come pre-installed with Russian software, reports Reuters.

app store iphones
Proponents of the law claim it will help Russian developers better compete with foreign tech firms. The legislation has also been pitched as a way of sparing consumers from having to download software after purchasing a new device.

Electronic retailers have already criticized the law, which is due to come into force on July 1 next year, and say the legislation was adopted without consulting them. The law has also sparked fears that Russia could use the pre-installed apps as a way to spy on its citizens.

It's still unclear how tech companies will react to the news, although Apple has previously threatened to pull out of the Russian market if a complete ban on selling its products without pre-installed apps was introduced, Russian media reported earlier this year.

Responding to today's news of the law, an unnamed Apple source reportedly told the Kommersant business daily: "A mandate to add third-party applications to Apple's ecosystem would be equivalent to jailbreaking. It would pose a security threat, and the company cannot tolerate that kind of risk."

According to The Moscow Times, the government will draw up a list of software which tech companies will need to pre-install, and a list of the devices covered by the law, expected to include computers, tablets and smart TVs alongside mobile phones.

The Russian government has cracked down on internet freedoms in recent years, including requiring messaging services to share encryption keys with security services and social networks to store user data on servers in the country.

Note: Due to the political nature of the discussion regarding this topic, the discussion thread is located in our Political News forum. All forum members and site visitors are welcome to read and follow the thread, but posting is limited to forum members with at least 100 posts.

Tag: Russia

Popular Stories

28 years later iphone 1

Filmmakers Used 20 iPhones at Once to Shoot '28 Years Later'

Friday May 30, 2025 7:27 am PDT by
Sony today provided a closer look at the iPhone rigs used to shoot the upcoming post-apocalyptic British horror movie "28 Years Later" (via IGN). With a budget of $75 million, Danny Boyle's 28 Years Later will become the first major blockbuster movie to be shot on iPhone. 28 Years Later is the sequel to "28 Days Later" (2002) and "28 Weeks Later" (2007), which depict the aftermath of a...
iPhone 17 Pro Blue Feature Tighter Crop

iPhone 17 Pro Launching Later This Year With These 12 New Features

Tuesday May 27, 2025 9:10 am PDT by
While the iPhone 17 Pro and iPhone 17 Pro Max are not expected to launch until September, there are already plenty of rumors about the devices. Below, we recap key changes rumored for the iPhone 17 Pro models as of May 2025: Aluminum frame: iPhone 17 Pro models are rumored to have an aluminum frame, whereas the iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 16 Pro models have a titanium frame, and the iPhone X ...
maxresdefault

No iOS 19: Apple Going Straight to iOS 26

Wednesday May 28, 2025 11:56 am PDT by
With the design overhaul that's coming this year, Apple plans to rename all of its operating systems, reports Bloomberg. Going forward, iOS, iPadOS, macOS, tvOS, watchOS, and visionOS will be identified by year, rather than by version number. We're not going to be getting iOS 19, we're getting iOS 26. Subscribe to the MacRumors YouTube channel for more videos. iOS 26 will be accompanied by...
Generic iPhone 17 Feature With Full Width Dynamic Island

iPhone 17 Display Sizes: What to Expect

Thursday May 29, 2025 11:38 am PDT by
Apple's iPhone 17 lineup will include four iPhones, and two of those are going to get all-new display sizes. There's the iPhone 17 Air, which we've heard about several times, but the standard iPhone 17 is also going to have a different display size. We've heard a bit about the updated size before, but with most rumors focusing on the iPhone 17 Air, it's easy to forget. Display analyst Ross...
macOS Tahoe Render

macOS Tahoe Name Leaked Ahead of Apple's WWDC Event Next Week

Sunday June 1, 2025 7:08 am PDT by
The alleged name of macOS 26 (yes) has leaked. In his Power On newsletter today, Bloomberg's Mark Gurman said that macOS 26 will be named macOS Tahoe, after California's scenic Lake Tahoe. Apple previously named its Mac operating systems after big cats like Cheetah, Tiger, Leopard, and Lion. Starting with OS X Mavericks in 2013, however, Apple switched to California-themed names like...
iOS 19 visionOS UI Elements

6 visionOS-Inspired Design Elements Coming to iOS 26

Friday May 30, 2025 3:26 pm PDT by
With iOS 26, macOS 26, tvOS 26, and watchOS 26, Apple is planning to debut a new design that's been described as taking inspiration from visionOS, the newest operating system. With WWDC coming up soon, we thought we'd take a closer look at visionOS and some of the design details that Apple might adopt based on current rumors and leaked information. 1. Translucency Inside Apple, the iOS 26...
iphone 16 teal

iPhone 17 Base Model Now Said to Feature A18 Chip and 8GB of RAM

Friday May 30, 2025 11:07 am PDT by
The latest rumored specs for the iPhone 17 base model are underwhelming. In a research note with equity research firm GF Securities this month, Apple analyst Jeff Pu said that the lowest-end iPhone 17 model will be equipped with the same A18 chip that is used in the iPhone 16 base model. The chip will continue to be manufactured with TSMC's second-generation 3nm process, known as N3E, he...
iOS 26 Mock Rainbow Feature

With iOS 18 Jumping to iOS 26, Will Apple Renumber iPhones Too?

Thursday May 29, 2025 1:59 pm PDT by
With the next-generation version of iOS and other 2025 software updates, Apple is planning to change its numbering scheme. Rather than iOS 19, which would logically follow iOS 18, Apple is instead going to call the update iOS 26. Apple plans to use 26 across all of its platforms (the number representing the upcoming year), which will presumably be less confusing than having iOS 19, macOS 16,...

Top Rated Comments

infiniteentropy Avatar
72 months ago
Meanwhile, they bend to China's demand that allows people to be imprisoned or killed with little to no cause.

Too bad Russia doesn't build any of their stuff, then they'd follow the money and just comply and then defend the decision to comply!

Apple is lost.
Score: 56 Votes (Like | Disagree)
JohnApples Avatar
72 months ago
I actually really want to see Apple pull out of the Russian market.

Then, i want to see China demand that all smartphones have government mandated apps preinstalled.

Would Apple pull out of the Chinese market? Or would they make an exception/excuse for China? That would be fun to watch.
Score: 54 Votes (Like | Disagree)
AustinIllini Avatar
72 months ago

LOL. Money is more important than privacy to companies, EVEN Apple. They'll stay in the Russian market, comply, and sugar coat the entirety of the program with the purpose of the software.
Honestly, Russia isn't that big of a country for this to matter.

People think Russia is like China. It's not, it's far more like Italy.

Apple pulling out of Russia would be a power move and a worthwhile tactic, IMHO.
Score: 38 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Winni Avatar
72 months ago

Pull out of China, Russia, Saudi and every other dictatorship... If every company did this we’d probably be living in a better world today, but money is all that matters.
NSA. PRISM. Mass surveillance. Secret courts issuing National Security Letters. Guantanamo.

But sure, it's always the other countries that do the really, really bad things that violate everybody's rights.
Score: 34 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Pangalactic Avatar
72 months ago
As a Russian I can say this:

First, Apple already hardly operates in Russia - for example, there is not a single Apple store here at all, all the phones are sold through third-party resellers.

Second, it's typical for the Russian government to pass completely retarded laws and then roll them back because, well, of their sheer stupidity.

For example:
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yarovaya_law
A law that would require mobile operators to keep ALL DATA that goes through Russian phones on their servers, which would result in a threefold (!!!) increase of mobile services prices. A sheer madness of a legislation that was passed and then quickly rolled back.

Similarly, when Telegram refused to provide the encryption keys to the Russian government, it started blocking ALL the websites and DNS servers linked to telegram - Google servers, Amazon servers, Google itself (!), which hilariously resulted in around 10% of Russian online stores and tons of websites getting blocked for no reason, but not telegram itself.
https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.theregister.co.uk/AMP/2018/04/17/russia_blocks_google_aws_ip_addresses_to_get_telegram/
Needless to say, all this was quickly rolled back and Telegram is as operational as ever.

So I would actually prefer Apple to officially say they would not operate under such laws, as I believe the public indignation will quickly bring them back.
Score: 32 Votes (Like | Disagree)
ersan191 Avatar
72 months ago

The legislation has also been pitched as a way of sparing consumers from having to download software after purchasing a new device.
I can’t believe they say this stuff with a straight face.
Score: 31 Votes (Like | Disagree)