April 1 in Russia: users will be able to refuse ICQ and other “must-have” applications for smartphones

On April 1, the so-called “law against Apple” is being enacted in Russia, which obliges the installation of certain Russian-developed applications on smartphones and other devices. As Kommersant found out, in reality the law may not justify the hopes of Russian developers to attract a new audience.

The thing is that a decree is attached to the law that prohibits manufacturers from taking payment from software developers for pre-installation, but allows three ways to fulfill the obligation to pre-install Russian software:

1. download the application completely to the drive
2. put only icons for download
3. enter a dialog box when activating the device, with which the user will install the software of his choice.

The latter option allows users to ignore “required” applications. As noted by “Kommersant”, this is the option chosen by the majority of smartphone manufacturers. According to the sources of the publication, manufacturers can not yet agree with application developers on pre-installation conditions. With regard to Yandex, the source noted:

The company insists on installing on a hard drive, and requires that its services be located on the home screen of the smartphone along with Google services, which are pre-installed on all Android devices. ”

The so-called “law against Apple”, which caused a great public outcry in 2019, was planned to come into force on July 1, 2020. However, due to the coronavirus pandemic, it was decided to postpone the introduction first until January 1, 2021, and then until April 1.

The list of 16 mandatory Russian applications for smartphones and tablets includes Yandex.Browser, Yandex search engine, Yandex.Disk, Yandex.Maps, Mail.ru Mail, ICQ, Marusya glossary assistant, Mail.ru News, OK Live, VKontakte, Odnoklassniki, MirPay (Android only), Gosuslugi, MyOffis Documents, Kaspersky Internet Security (Android only) and Applist.ru.