From today, Russian users can download only free games and applications in the App Store and Google Play. Both stores have stopped accepting payments by cards of domestic banks.
So far, only Google has officially announced a change in the work of its store. According to the company, she had to do so because of problems with payment systems.
Recall that at the end of last week, Visa and MasterCard announced that they would temporarily stop working in Russia — from March 10, cards issued by Russian banks cannot be paid abroad and in foreign services.
According to Google’s statement, now users from Russia cannot buy both the applications themselves and subscriptions in them. In-game transactions are also unavailable.
However, previously purchased apps will continue to work, and paid subscriptions will be valid until the end of the billing period — after that, subscriptions will automatically turn off.
Apple has not publicly notified about the changes in the App Store payment system. But last week she announced that she would limit the operation of services in Russia. In addition, yesterday Alfa-Bank warned that payments on Russian cards will be disabled in the App Store from March 10.
We tried to make a purchase in the App Store. By bank card (“Tinkoff”), the transaction really did not go through, but everything was successful after changing the payment method to a mobile phone (YOTA). However, we note that the phone payment was made on the second attempt — perhaps Apple needs time to verify a new payment method, or money was not immediately credited to the YOTA account.