Applications downloaded in parallel – Kommersant

The app store from VK RuStore now has apps from major foreign publishers, including those that have withdrawn their apps from the Russian segment of Google Play. The platform features 300 services, including apps from Microsoft and Opera, TikTok, and Here WeGo cards. Their publisher lists the alternative app store Aptoide, which allows developers to distribute their apps to dozens of partner stores.

The developer of the Android app store RuStore VK told Kommersant that services from foreign developers are now available on the platform, in particular TikTok, Opera Mini, Skype Lite. The publisher of these and other foreign applications does not indicate the owner of the rights to the applications (in the case of the mentioned applications, ByteDance, Opera and Microsoft), but the Portuguese application distribution platform Aptoide. The VK press service clarified that they are “attracting developers and partners” to expand the range of RuStore: “About 300 foreign applications of various categories are now published in the store.” The company, however, did not respond to a question about Aptoide’s involvement in the publication.

Aptoide is an alternative store that provides both a client for Android devices and a site from which you can directly download application installation packages. The company also maintains a service called Catappult, which, according to its website, allows games to be published to more than 20 “partner stores”. Among the vendors that Catappult works with, the site lists Chinese phone brands Huawei, Xiaomi, Oppo and Meizu, as well as local app stores One Store (South Korea) and Apptoko (Indonesia). There are no mentions of VK or RuStore on the Catappult website. Kommersant sent a question to Aptoide.

Among the applications, the publisher of which is listed in RuStore as Apptoide, there is also a mapping service Here WeGo. After the start of the military operation in Ukraine, the developer of the Here Technologies application withdrew it from the Russian segment of Google Play. The selection of applications includes the application of the Microsoft Start news service, which was disabled in Russia in March 2022. Kommersant sent a request to Microsoft and Here.

The practice of publishing foreign applications in Russian stores through a third party is not new. In particular, a number of mobile games from foreign developers were published in the MTS AppBazar store, their publisher was the Russian content provider SMS Services (see Kommersant dated November 22, 2022). RuStore opened app publishing tools for foreign publishers back in February. Singapore-based Likeme, the owner of the Likee short video platform, became such, in particular, in April.

Aptoide has an ambiguous reputation – in particular, users pointed to the distribution of copies of applications unauthorized by vendors on the platform, says Pavel Golub, co-founder of Arcsinus digital platform development company. But, in his opinion, this should not concern programs of the scale of Skype: “I think that Aptoide has direct interaction with the most popular publishers.” He considers the risks when downloading applications of this class through RuStore to be low, “but so far these applications are available to a wide audience on Google Play.” Mr. Golub said that he, as a user, would be interested to see confirmation of the entire distribution chain in RuStore, starting from the author of the application: “This would serve as an additional way to confirm trust.” But most users are not interested, adds Denis Kuskov, CEO of Telecom Daily.

Yuri Litvinenko