OREANDA-NEWS  The Russian government will include the Max messenger in the list of applications required for pre-installation on electronic devices, the press service of the Cabinet of Ministers reported.

Max will replace VK Messenger, which has been on this list since 2023. The changes will take effect on September 1.

In addition, from September 1, RuStore will be pre-installed on devices running on the iOS and HyperOS operating systems. Prior to this, the domestic app store was required to be pre-installed only on Android and HarmonyOS devices.

The law on the creation of a national messenger was adopted in June. On July 15, the government of the Russian Federation designated the Communication Platform company, which is a subsidiary of VK, as providing the operation and development of a national information exchange service.

The first version of the Max platform was introduced by VK at the end of March 2025; at the end of June, the number of users was 1 million.

On August 19, it became known that the number of Max users had reached 18 million, the press service of the service reported.