several VPN Apps, including popular apps from Cloudflare 1.1.1.1 The app has been removed from app stores following government orders, marking the first major enforcement of India’s 2022 VPN regulations.
Ministry of Home Affairs instructions apple Google and Google will pull more than half a dozen VPN apps from their respective stores, according to documents reviewed by TechCrunch. Affected services include hide me and PrivateVPNas well as Cloudflare’s widely used products.
The removals stem from the government’s Cyber Security Framework 2022, which requires VPN providers to keep detailed customer records, including names, addresses and IP addresses, for five years. According to TechCrunch, Apple cited “requirements” from India’s Cybercrime Coordination Center in its communications with affected developers.
The enforcement follows previous boycotts by major VPN providers. When the rules were announced in 2022, companies such as NordVPN, ExpressVPN, and SurfShark expressed strong opposition, with some of them pulling their server infrastructure from India. While these providers continue to serve Indian customers, they have stopped marketing their apps in the country.
The regulations will take effect in mid-2022 and apply to virtual private server providers, cloud services and VPN operators, with the exception of corporate and enterprise VPNs. At the time of implementation, IT Minister Rajeev Chandrasekhar said providers unwilling to comply with the new rules would need to exit the market.
Neither the Interior Ministry, Apple, nor Google responded to requests for comment on the recent removals.
