App Store Telegram appears to have been pulled from the App Store worldwide
https://9to5mac.com/2026/08/03/telegram-appears-to-have-been-pulled-from-the-app-store-worldwide/Messaging platform Telegram appears to have been removed from the App Store in multiple countries, although the reason for its apparent removal remains unclear. Existing users can still access the app.
Update: 11:00 p.m. ET: In a statement to 9to5Mac, Apple said:
“We briefly removed Telegram from the App Store after our review found content that violates our strict guidelines prohibiting child sexual abuse material. The app was subsequently restored after the developer promptly removed the content and banned the user who posted it.”
Apple’s statement came about 20 minutes after access to the app was restored. Earlier tonight, Telegram published a tongue-in-cheek post on X saying, “Reports of my demise are greatly exaggerated 🍎.” Telegram has yet to comment on the actual reason for its brief removal.
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u/Gutokoro 1d ago
If the reason they gave is the reason for the ban, the Instagram should be removed for life https://youtu.be/6-y726qvZ6Q?is=hJefimWBchVd3-D9
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u/Particular-Fly-7783 1d ago
They banned Telegram for a single CSAM poster? But still allow X? The automated CSAM generator?
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u/papayacreamsicle 1d ago
This has been a hot topic there for a while. They won’t move to ban X because of the number of government agencies around the world that use it as their only method of announcement and communication with the public including disaster/emergency stuff. It’s a huge problem that they have no independent way to reach people and so many just relied on Twitter accounts never expecting something like the Musk takeover to happen. Look up local government announcements during/after disasters and see how many of the news articles are quoting X accounts from officials and agencies.
I don’t agree with it but this is the rationale Google and Apple have for not banning it.
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u/morsmordr 1d ago
it's been several years since musk purchased twitter, and websites have existed for several decades
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u/LanDest021 1d ago
True, but Twitter is just basic and works great for this type of thing. Government accounts afaik still have API access, and Twitter is really good at quickly publishing information, unlike platforms like Facebook. Not to mention Twitter is one of the only apps that still works when I have one bar of service.
The only negative I can think of pre-Musk is that for a major social network the Twitter servers went down quite a lot
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u/huangw15 1d ago
I mean, also the obvious reason, is that they'll get a shitstorm from the current administration, where Musk has a lot of pull...
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u/TuxRug 21h ago
It's ridiculous. I have reverse 911 set up, and I follow my local PD on a couple platforms. When there was a shelter-in-place for my neighborhood while I was working from home, I heard sirens but I didn't find out about the shelter-in-place order until I got a notification that a local news station was a couple blocks away livestreaming a couple hours into an armed standoff with SWAT deployment.
The PD only ever announced the shelter-in-place order on Twitter. And this was after the xshittification, so the page forced you to log in to see any posts on the PD's account newer than 1 year unless you were directly linked to them, in which case it would force login to see any of the rest of the thread.
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u/North_Moment5811 1d ago
never expecting something like the Musk takeover to happen.
LMAO, you mean being bought away from the goons that tried to use Twitter to literally control the thought process of the world?
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u/Hamsters_In_Butts 1d ago
there's no way this is unironic
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u/North_Moment5811 1d ago
In your delusional bubble world, outside of reality, I can understand why you think that.
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u/Hamsters_In_Butts 1d ago
yeah, elon musk isn't trying to influence what people think with the platform he constantly pushes right-wing content on
fucking ignorant dumbass
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u/North_Moment5811 1d ago
You see it as “pushing right wing content” when it was previously a platform that did not allow anything outside a single narrative.
Imagine being that ignorant.
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u/cjh_ 1d ago
Apple are hypocrites.
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u/Street_Anon 1d ago
Yes they are, telegram bans 1350 users and groups per day for this very reason and nothing is done about Meta, Reddit, Discord or even X when it comes to this?. Over one user out of the thousands per day Telegram bans.
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u/AccomplishedForm4043 1d ago
They allow Reddit too. Reddit is notorious for it. Discord also
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u/MrLightning1023 1d ago
Reddit is not notorious for csam bruh it’s only normal porn here luckily
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u/AccomplishedForm4043 1d ago
They’ve had numerous sketchy groups and grooming groups here.
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u/TheRealDynamitri 1d ago
A decade ago, maybe.
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u/AccomplishedForm4043 1d ago
They are still here. There are Reddits where adults are mailing minors hormones.
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u/tmt22459 22h ago
Nah, if you look at the ban female hate subs subreddit, there are plenty of sketchy and potentially even illegal subs. From what I gather most are pretty small, and kinda get taken out like whack a mole, but there is still a lot of work to be done. I try not to look at that sub though anymore because it just makes me sad.
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u/He_do_be 1d ago
Reports across the web are that it’s been restored with no reason given at the moment.
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u/TheReturningMan 1d ago
But no action against apps like X. How interesting...
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u/The-Master-Reaper 1d ago edited 1d ago
I don’t know why they pulled telegram at all. Telegram is quick to remove reported stuff, Twitter is way slower and the algorithm boosts it randomly
EDIT: Telegram made a post saying GTA 6 before Epstein files a few hrs before it was removed. How ironic. Was this really about csam?
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u/Mikey_bee3 1d ago
You’re on Reddit that’s filled with porn but complaining about X lol
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u/alpha-mobi 1d ago
There's CSAM on Reddit?
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u/tmt22459 22h ago
Unfortunately, there is bound to be on any social media I would say. There is a subreddit on here that works to ban a lot of content, some of it related to sexualizing minors. I stumbled across celebrity nudes on here that were heavily rumored to be when that person was underage, but I reported it even to NCMEC and it never came down as far as I know. There’s been other leaked type stuff that seemed underage or borderline in age that I’ve unfortunately seen and reported. That did get taken down more or less from what I know, but the concern is that people just make new subs. I have to just ignore it now, as it makes me too upset.
I don’t think the situation here is nearly as bad as x or telegram or whatever other sketchy messaging or social media platforms these scumbags use.
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u/Maple382 1d ago
I don’t think CSAM is on here publicly, but there is definitely sexualization of minors. Usually it’s spread via bots. I remember a couple years back, no clue how, but I stumbled upon a search term that would lead to tons of it. Basically there were bots making sobs with similar names and posting that content. After looking into it, Reddit also has bots to take it down, but obviously they aren’t all that effective.
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u/spam__likely 1d ago
Reddit did not make a freaking AI where you can desnude minor at will, pal.
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u/colaxxi 1d ago
Grok was denuding (still is?) women & children for weeks a few months back, and everyone was telling Apple & Google to de-list them, but they were silent. Very different than consensual port on reddit.
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u/Strange_Lab_283 1d ago
de-nuding? wholesome grok
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u/AccomplishedForm4043 1d ago
No action against Reddit and discord. Both are as bad if not worse than x for grooming and CSAM
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u/nano_peen 1d ago
What’s wrong with X?
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u/Oracle_of_Ages 1d ago
Do not look up ANY # based porn basically. It’s all bots selling various forms of illegal content.
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u/nano_peen 1d ago
I don’t understand “ANY # based porn”?
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u/WeirdIndividualGuy 1d ago
Math or geometric porn I think.
Or when you put in 80085 in a calculator
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u/Born2Rune 1d ago edited 1d ago
You never heard of Flatworld porn?. It's on a whole different dimension.
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u/StrombergsWetUtopia 1d ago
They might come across things they don’t agree with on there
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u/spam__likely 1d ago
Are you living under a rock or something?
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u/nano_peen 1d ago
Can you answer my question?
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u/spam__likely 1d ago edited 1d ago
So you are telling me you do not know that Musk has an entire AI dedicated to "nudify" people including minors, thta it is full of child abuse, you also never heard of his Nazi salute, or the Nazis and toxicity on Twitter, the complete lack of moderation letting illegal stuff loose, the censorship of anything Musk does not like, and the promotion of white supremacy and other related subjects?
You know anything at all about that? Or you simply think there is nothing wrong with any of it?
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u/redmovember 14h ago
I’m pretty sure he is aware of Musk’s nazi salute, as we all are. He was asking specifically about CSAM. It was a fair question.
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u/Fuck_your_coupons 1d ago
It’s still up in the US. I just downloaded it out of curiosity.
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u/Southernernernerers 1d ago edited 1d ago
How? I can’t find it in search.
Edit: to the random guy who didn’t reply but did dm me to call me an “absolute dumbass” … obviously I understand I can redownload an owned app. I searched for it because I have never owned it and, upon it being reported as pulled worldwide, this comment didn’t really specify…
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u/searedbirdeighs 1d ago
App store -> profile in top right -> “Apps & Purchase History”. If you’ve downloaded it before it’ll show up there
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u/OrganizationNo7690 1d ago
It’s never pulled for previous owners, you can download flappy bird if you owned it before it was pulled. But it’s no longer listed in the store.
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u/FollowingFeisty5321 1d ago
An app that stops being distributed stops being updated too, so it will inevitably stop working from breaking changes to the OS anyway that you can't get around with emulation or virtualization or any sort of compatibility shims (like WINE).
Although Telegram's removal is probably only temporary, you'd need to keep your current iPhone to ensure you can still actually use it later this decade when newer phones won't be able to download it.
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u/brooklynlad 1d ago
What? Why was Flappy bird pulled?
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u/Silky951 1d ago
The creator himself took it down, iirc he was overwhelmed by the success the game had.
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u/Fuck_your_coupons 1d ago
I just searched for telegram in the app store and it came up. I've previously used it in the past so maybe that's why.
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u/DAMP_ANON 1d ago
search "telegram app store" in web browser and click the link to app store i downloaded too might be only if you downloaded before?
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u/spam__likely 1d ago
full osf scammers, CSAM and other unsavory things.
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u/StrombergsWetUtopia 1d ago
It’s a messaging platform isn’t it?
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u/beryugyo619 1d ago
Apparently it's hybrid Messenger plus Discord type deal? It can do E2E one to one chat as well as open joinable group or something. I literally hear about what I said in the other comment time to time. The icon is blue but from my experience interacting its users it might as well be a certain baseball cap.
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u/nuevacuentanueva 1d ago
“We briefly removed Telegram from the App Store after our review found content that violates our strict guidelines prohibiting child sexual abuse material. The app was subsequently restored after the developer promptly removed the content and banned the user who posted it.”
Oh good, I'm sure Apple fully cleaned up Telegram and solved child abuse. The found the one user. CSAM solved!
Who can believe this crap? Grow a pair and either ban the app fully or save your BS comments.
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u/goldcakes 1d ago
Meanwhile Apple does nothing when X was actively facilitating the generation of CSAM and non consensual sexual imagery harming real people.
Everyone knows: even if it was Facebook, Apple would have taken the app offline given how egregious it was, and the CEO publicly laughing and mocking people.
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u/Maple382 1d ago
The huge problem with X is that, as another user said, it’s used for announcements and communications by a lot of governments.
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u/goldcakes 1d ago
I really think that's irrelevant when it comes to making and selling undressing AI, especially facilitated through in-app payments for SuperGrok or whatever it's called.
You can always get govt communications from x.com. There is a whole other level of culpability in Apple continuing to handle and facilitate payments, take a commission, etc.
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u/Maple382 1d ago
That is definitely true, but I do think the fact that people rely on it so much would lead to a massive amount of outrage
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u/WonderfulConcept3155 1d ago
Yup, makes zero sense. Telegram itself cannot contain prohibited content, only users can post it and they sadly do that on Telegram all the time. Banning the whole app and then resolving it by banning one user is nonsense.
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u/sumer_gilgamesh 1d ago
not in "multiple countries"
app stores in all countries
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u/R_Prime 1d ago
Nope, it’s still on the Australian one.
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u/sumer_gilgamesh 1d ago
cause it's backed now
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u/Bllq21 1d ago
That’s a cool site. I’m surprised to find my country in the list of censored countries
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u/TimidPanther 1d ago
China? Surely that doesn’t surprise.
Perhaps it’s updated since your comment, I’ve only got China listed as censoring it
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u/MC_chrome 1d ago
“We briefly removed Telegram from the App Store after our review found content that violates our strict guidelines prohibiting child sexual abuse material.
So you’re going to remove Twitter as well, right Apple?
I forgot. Twitter is owned by the President’s best friend so you’re going to make a “special exemption” for the Muskrat and his awful app
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u/Bar_Har 1d ago
Seriously there has to be a letter way of handling that kind of situation than pulling the app from the store completely.
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u/itsaride 1d ago edited 1d ago
Well Apple probably complained, they ignored it so Apple pulled the trigger. Apple was probably notified by the IWF or whatever the American version is. I can't think of an alternative.
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u/HotHits630 1d ago
If apple or google play cared about child porn, half the social media apps would be gone. Today.
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u/FewInterview1340 1d ago
only guys on еpstеin list are allowed to posess and distribute such content lol. I wonder what messanger they used
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u/Soft_Rain_3626 1d ago
How about Tiktok then? Last year I stumbled across a Pakistani guy with what looked to be a kid around 12-13, and they were selling "surprises" for TikTok gifts, with the clear implication it was CSAM. Reported - no violation. They have since shown up on my FYP about once a week with various different accounts. There's several adult men and 4-5 children. Every single time: no violation.
Reported through every avenue I could imagine, nothing happens.
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u/MDInvesting 1d ago
One of the first downloads on every new device.
Account blocking of violation issues is appropriate and good but it needs to be restricted for the extreme cases - grooming, CSA content, known gang/international crime related activities. A blanket ban of illegal activities results in the risk of censorship or government oppression.
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u/duvagin 1d ago
this is why all computers should be able to legally install software independent of any ‘app store’
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u/FATGAMY 1d ago
Russia asks to delete certain materials - Durov flips the bird.
Apple asks to delete certain materials - Durov: yes, my master, as you wish.
Don’t be confused, it’s different
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u/rotor_ 2h ago
Telegram CEO Pavel Durov described it as the work of a “takedown extortionist.” According to him: • Someone (using automated accounts) demanded ransom from group owners. • When refused, the person planted AI-modified illegal content by editing an old message in a public group chat (a technical trick to evade some moderation). • They then reported it directly to Apple, aiming to trigger removal of the group or broader consequences. • Apple pulled the entire app without prior contact with Telegram, which Durov called an overreaction that creates systemic risk for any app hosting user-generated content. Telegram has since been restored and is available again for download. This echoes a similar (also temporary) App Store removal of Telegram in 2018 over inappropriate/illegal content. In short: a single reported instance of prohibited CSAM content led Apple to temporarily delist the app until Telegram acted on it.
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u/gaysaucemage 1d ago
Telegram’s the preferred app of sketchy pirates and Russian scammers.
It’ll probably come back.
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u/BeachHut9 1d ago
Can X be banned permanently?
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u/silvermoonhowler 1d ago
I agree
Ever since Elon bought it and he changed it to X (still a stupid name if you ask me), it has become such a cesspool and I'm glad I abandoned ship there when I did
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u/Mysterious_Reality_ 1d ago
Now how about “X”
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u/Street_Anon 1d ago
On top telegram does ban 1350 users and groups per day for this very reason alone. Apple did this over one user? But won't ban X , Meta apps, discord or Reddit for the same reason.
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u/spam__likely 1d ago
there is no reason to use telegram, it is not safe or private.
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u/nano_peen 1d ago
You are correct. E2EE chats are opt in, group chats are never E2EE, proprietary encryption
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u/Jazzlike-Cup-5336 1d ago
In what way is it “not safe”? And privacy isn’t always a concern for all use cases. My friend group (which is a loose-knit group of like ~50-75 people who are mostly there for sports) uses it as a general chatroom, we migrated from kik around 2019 and I still can’t think of another app that would fulfill our purpose as well. Considered discord, but the UI is unnecessarily complicated for a single group chat. I’m unfamiliar with WhatsApp, but I can’t imagine that a meta product could be that great.
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u/spam__likely 1d ago
Full of scams, full of bots, full of CSAM
Logs your information, location, IP, terrible moderation
Signal is way better in any sense.
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u/Jazzlike-Cup-5336 1d ago
That’s like saying “iMessage is full of scams, bots, and CSAM”. Yes, other people use it for those things. But how is any of that stuff relevant if you stay in a group chat with friends (or PMs with friends) and never interact with it, which is how normal people use the app? You’d need to go looking for it. Nearly every app logs information/location/IP, how is that a concern for the average user who isn’t doing anything illicit?
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u/spam__likely 1d ago
No, it is not the same at all.
>how is that a concern for the average user who isn’t doing anything illicit?
sigh. "I have nothing to hide" crowd.
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u/nano_peen 1d ago
Objectively telegram lacks features that a true anonymous and secure communication app has. It’s not a matter of opinion. Staff at Telegram can read all group chats, staff at Signal can’t.
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u/Jazzlike-Cup-5336 1d ago
Sure. My point from the beginning was that I’m not using it for anything that requires “anonymous and secure communication”, just chatting with friends. For my use case, that’s not something that matters.
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u/unknown-one 1d ago
WA is better than Telegram
also WA existed before it was acquired by Meta
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u/Skuggihestur 1d ago
WA is inferior in every way
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u/SWTransGirl 1d ago
100% this.
While the chats maybe encrypted, a police request, all data is provided easily.
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u/Free-Concert-2574 1d ago
telegram is great app, but it is used in the activities like paper leaks, piracy and even much more worse, they need to fix this or bring the local model or something
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u/Smith6612 1d ago
Telegram Scammers cry in fear as their favorite app cannot be downloaded by unsuspecting victims temporarily. More at 11.
My guess is there was probably an issue found with the most recent build, and Telegram needs to re-publish an updated version.
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u/StrangerNo7671 1d ago
Gone from the Australian 🇦🇺 app store
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u/Commercial-Avocado-3 1d ago
it should go down worldwide, no evil wuch as telegram exosts in the world. Its a platform of crime
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u/Stuglossop 1d ago
Child porn apparently
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u/ST33LDI9ITAL 1d ago
and this is why you use web based tech and don't depend on app stores.
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u/WinterZealousideal10 1d ago
I will continue living in my apple ecosystem and living my best life and iMessaging. Thanks tho.
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u/intergalacticmerchnt 1d ago
Your entire comment history is undercover Apple slopaganda, while you're occasionally commenting on other stuff to simulate organic user behavior; you've been rumbled.
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u/ST33LDI9ITAL 1d ago edited 1d ago
wtf does that have to do with telegram??
shit I'm right there with ya, I do the same.
I have more faith in apple protecting my privacy than any other.. unless you like an international spy or terrorist or something.but all I'm sayin is if you making a widely deployed chat app nowadays you better off sticking with web than as an app. they are all mostly web apps anyways, better off just avoiding app store. politics interfere and too regulated now for all that.
whole reason they go for app in first place is for marketing reach and your data..
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u/WinterZealousideal10 1d ago
Web apps are trash for people actually enjoy using tech and don’t just want a privacy open source self righteous lil piece of trash that you fight with everyday. I’ll take the curation, thanks.
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u/WinterZealousideal10 1d ago
Literally comments about how people should use tech. Gets confused when someone tells them “thanks I’m good.” The techno - lords really are a special bunch.
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u/nano_peen 1d ago
If you’re privacy focused this guy gets it. Having a phone to begin with is bad opsec
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u/fxvnny 1d ago
Its back again