VPN and Chat App Downloads Surge in India After Temporary Telegram Restriction
The Indian government’s temporary restriction on the Telegram messaging app has triggered a surge in downloads of virtual private network (VPN) services and alternative messaging applications in the country. Data from app analytics firm Appfigures recorded that the day the government announced the restriction became the day with the highest number of VPN downloads in India since at least the start of 2025. Downloads of major VPN applications rose 49 per cent from a daily average of around 139,000 to 208,000, with services such as Proton VPN and Turbo VPN recording significant increases. NordVPN saw a 41 per cent rise on the App Store, while ExpressVPN climbed 31 per cent on Google Play. The surge also boosted the popularity rankings of VPN apps. Proton VPN, for instance, jumped from 18th to fifth place in the Utilities category on the App Store between 16 and 18 June, and from eighth to second in the Tools category on Google Play.
The spike in VPN usage followed the government’s decision to restrict access to Telegram until 22 June. The move was prompted by concerns that scammers were exploiting the platform to disseminate fake question papers for the National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET), one of India’s largest university entrance exams. The government argued the restriction was necessary to prevent the spread of fraudulent exam materials and various scams targeting candidates. Telegram challenged the policy in the Delhi High Court, arguing that the government should target specific problematic content rather than blocking the entire platform. The company also stated it had cooperated with local authorities by removing channels deemed problematic. However, the High Court upheld the temporary restriction, ruling that the government had followed proper procedures given the emergency nature of the situation.
Downloads of the messaging app Viber on the App Store rose by 216 per cent. The app iMe, which is connected to the Telegram ecosystem, recorded one of the highest increases, with Google Play downloads jumping from a daily average of around 827 to more than 50,900 on 16 June. Despite the access restrictions, Telegram’s user base did not immediately decline. Data from Sensor Tower showed that daily active users of Telegram in India actually increased by 17 per cent on the day the restriction was announced, marking the largest daily rise since the Meta services outage in 2021. Further data highlighted the extent of efforts to maintain access, with Cloudflare recording a surge in Domain Name System (DNS) requests to Telegram domains from India in the two days following the announcement.