MOSCOW, April 22. /TASS/. Telegram downloads in China did not see a decline after the app was removed from China’s version of the App Store, co-founder of the messenger Pavel Durov said on his official channel.

Reuters and The Wall Street Journal reported earlier that WhatsApp and Threads from Meta [recognized in Russia as extremist], Telegram, Signal and Line had been removed from the App Store. This directive came from China's cyperspace department and was linked to new cybersecurity rules introduced in summer 2023.

"We haven’t seen any decrease in downloads coming from China — and I don’t think Telegram was the main target of this change," Durov noted. "Apple shot itself in the foot with its centralized 'walled garden' app policies," he noted. This policy means keeping users in one ecosystem and in the case of Apple it is about only being able to install apps via the App Store.

Unlike iPhones, most Android operating system-based phones allow sideloading apps outside app stores. "As a result of this change, the iPhone’s market share in China will keep shrinking," the Telegram co-founder concluded.