More than half a dozen VPN apps, including Cloudflare’s widely used 1.1.1.1, have been pulled from India’s Apple App Store and Google Play Store following intervention by government authorities, TechCrunch has learned.
India’s Ministry of Home Affairs issued orders to remove the apps, according to a document reviewed by TechCrunch and a disclosure made by Google in Lumen, the Harvard University database that tracks government requests for global removals.
Among the affected apps are Hide.me and PrivadoVPN. In communications with one of the affected developers, seen by TechCrunch, Apple cited a “request” from the Indian Cybercrime Coordination Center, part of the Ministry of Home Affairs, which assessed that the developer was content in violation of Indian law .
The ministry, as well as Apple, Google and Cloudflare, did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
This enforcement action marks the first significant implementation of India’s 2022 regulatory framework governing VPN applications. The rules mandate that VPN providers and cloud service operators keep comprehensive data of their customers, including names, addresses, IP addresses and transaction histories, for a period of five years.
The stringent requirements prompted reactions from major industry players. Major brands such as NordVPN, ExpressVPN, SurfShark and ProtonVPN expressed significant reservations about the rules, with some announcing plans to pull their server infrastructure out of India.
NordVPN, ExpressVPN and SurfShark continue to maintain services for Indian customers, although they have stopped marketing their apps in the country.
