According to data shared by Sensor Tower, the App Store in Russia has lost 6,982 mobile apps since the Russian-Ukrainian conflict, and many companies have announced withdrawals and removals of apps and games.
As of now, the total number of downloads in Russia is about 218 million, accounting for about 3% of the total global download of 6.6 billion. With many companies withdrawing from the Russian market, the apps of several big tech companies continue to rank high in the Russian app store, despite the current rankings flooded with VPN apps.
While Apple routinely removes outdated and abandoned apps from its App Store, the post-conflict (February 24-March 14) compared to the first two weeks of February 2022 (February 1-14). Japan) the number of apps removed from the Russian app store increased by 105%. Only 3,404 apps were removed from Russia’s app store during this period — a figure that matches Apple’s number of app store removals in other markets, including the U.S., where 3,422 apps were removed. Sensor Tower noted that the removal of these pre-invasion apps may be related to Apple’s ongoing cleanup efforts.
Russia is not the only country affected by this. Many publishers have also removed their apps and games from the app stores of Russia’s neighbor and ally Belarus. The country has now lost 5,900 apps since the intrusion began – a 73 percent increase from the 3,418 apps removed between February 1 and 14. In contrast, the increase in app deletions in other app markets was smaller, perhaps also related to the maintenance work of Apple’s App Store.
In some cases, the removal of Russian app stores has been linked to the exit of these big brands. Coca-Cola, for example, pulled its loyalty and rewards-focused iOS app from the Russian app store after the company recently vowed to suspend its operations in Russia. Retailers such as H&M and American Eagle Outfitters also pulled their apps, as did Ebates’ shopping platform, ShopStyle.
In sports, apps for the NFL, NBA, WWE and Eurosport disappeared from Russian app stores following the intrusion. Also missing are MyFitnessPal, Kaiser Permanente’s health app, and numerous smaller fitness, meditation and yoga apps. Among them, MyFitnessPal is quite popular in Russia, with about 4.2 million installs so far, including on iOS and Android.