• The CEO of the messaging app Telegram is saying Apple is blocking updates to the app.
  • Pavel Durov, who founded Telegram in 2013, said early Thursday that Telegram had been unable to update its app since April, around the time Telegram was blocked in Russia.
  • As a result, Durov said, certain Telegram features have stopped working, and the company has been unable to make the app compliant with GDPR, the new EU data-privacy regulation.

The CEO of the messaging app Telegram says the company has been unable to update its app since April – and he’s blaming Apple for the holdup.

Pavel Durov, who founded Telegram in 2013, posted on Twitter early Thursday that Apple had stopped approving Telegram’s iOS updates. As a result, some Telegram features, like stickers, have stopped working, and the company has been unable to make the app compliant with GDPR, the new EU data-privacy regulation, by the deadline, Durov wrote. (You can read more about what GDPR is and why you’ve most likely heard a lot about it recently right here.)

Apple did not immediately respond to requests for comment on Durov’s claims.

“Apple has been preventing Telegram from updating its iOS apps globally ever since the Russian authorities ordered Apple to remove Telegram from the App Store,” Durov wrote.

In April, Telegram was banned in Russia after the company refused to hand over encryption keys to the Russian government. Despite widespread protests from Russian users - which make up about 7% of Telegram's user base, according to Durov - Russia has not reinstated access to the app.

Telegram, which has 200 million users, is ranked as the world's ninth most popular mobile messaging service. Telegram's inability to update its app is now affecting users worldwide, Durov wrote.

You can read Durov's post below: