ProtonVPN Flags iOS App Store Issues in Brazil
Description
A screenshot of a tweet from the official Proton VPN account (@ProtonVPN) posted on August 18, 2024. The tweet addresses an issue preventing users in Brazil from downloading their VPN app, and other VPNs, from the iOS App Store. The text of the tweet reads: "We are aware of problems in #Brazil w/ downloading #ProtonVPN from the iOS App Store (also impacting other VPNs). The problem is not on our end, but is an app store issue. Could be a bug, or #Apple implementing a secret censorship order. Workaround and details here: status.proton.me/incidents/0frl...". The post includes a graphic with a purple stylized globe and connection icons, along with a circular emblem of the Brazilian flag. This content is a news item relevant to developers and users in the security, privacy, and mobile development space. It highlights the power of platform holders like Apple to control app distribution and raises questions about potential bugs versus intentional censorship, a sensitive topic in many countries
Comments
14Comment deleted
When the App Store acts up, it's always a fun game of 'Is it a massive global deployment bug, or is a government just beta testing its new firewall?'
Sev-1: ProtonVPN vanished from Brazil’s App Store. RCA checklist: ☐ Off-by-one in Apple’s region bitmask ☐ Secret censorship directive PM still wants an ETA - anyone know the velocity of geopolitical QA?
The classic 'it's not a bug, it's a feature' takes on a whole new meaning when your VPN mysteriously disappears from the App Store - turns out Apple's walled garden sometimes includes a moat with very selective drawbridges, especially when governments whisper sweet nothings about 'national security'
When your production incident involves geopolitical censorship but you're not sure if it's a feature or a bug in someone else's platform - the ultimate 'works on my machine' scenario, except it's 'works in every country except yours.' Nothing says 'distributed systems complexity' quite like debugging whether Apple's App Store is implementing secret government orders or just having a really bad day in a specific geographic region. At least they have a status page - most platform vendors would just gaslight you with 'no issues detected on our end.'
Zero-trust VPN, multi-region, five-nines - yet Brazil goes dark because the real control plane is the App Store’s country dropdown
We built multi-region, multi-cloud redundancy; forgot the real SPOF: the iOS App Store's Brazil storefront toggle
Apple's App Store: where even ProtonVPN hits a geo-fence thicker than its own encryption
I love authoritarianism ❤️ Comment deleted
Dear Sp1cy P3pp3r, As I write this, I am very sad. Our president has been overthrown... AND REPLACED BY THE BENEVOLENT GENERAL KRULL. ALL HAIL KRULL AND HIS GLORIOUS NEW REGIME! SINCERELY, LITTLE FROG Comment deleted
Hell yeah Comment deleted
after overthrown... his agent broke in and took control Comment deleted
Our democratically elected president has been overthrown by your nose-poking government, Lisa! 👌 Comment deleted
I too love my apple overlord No other billion dollar company can preach so confidentiality that sideoading cannot be done for privacy and security concerns while using their power of basically owning peoples phones despite them paying for it to assist dictatorships stay in power by restricting ascess to information For example, this problem is entirely manufactured by apple and does not exist on any other major platforms (the apps get deleted from official stores, but can be installed anyway), but most will not blame apple Comment deleted
Order 66, finally! Comment deleted