Telegram back on Apple App Store after temporary removal

San Francisco: Encrypted messaging platform Telegram is back on Apple’s iOS App Store after being removed for reportedly making inappropriate content available to its users.

“Telegram is back in the AppStore after being absent there since midnight CET. Every day 500,000+ users download Telegram for Android and another 100,000 download Telegram for iOS,” Pavel Durov, CEO of Telegram tweeted on Friday.

Telegram and an an unfinished version of its new experimental app called “Telegram X” that the company announced for Android devices were both removed from Apple’s App Store.

“We were alerted by Apple that inappropriate content was made available to our users and both apps were taken off the App Store. Once we have protections in place we expect the apps to be back on the App Store,” Durov added.

According to TechCrunch, “Telegram X” could have fallen foul of Apple’s guidelines requiring all apps to have filtering and blocking systems as well as ways for offensive content to be removed quickly.

The messaging platform has risen in popularity thanks to its focus on advanced security features and the ability to hold secret conversations with end-to-end encryption.

Most of its rival messaging services now support end-to-end encryption which was not the case when Telegram debuted in 2013.

IANS