People's habits take on special significance when it comes to messaging apps, which have long been a part of our lives. Just yesterday, Telegram and WhatsApp seemed taken for granted. But in 2025, our familiar world changed. At first quietly, then increasingly, individuals and entire companies began searching for suitable alternatives. It turns out that even the tech giants that created Telegram and WhatsApp don't guarantee the unlimited popularity of their products.
What's going on? Why are services with millions of users suddenly experiencing user decline, and what solutions will fill the void? Let's examine this situation in detail.
The Russian Factor: When the Law Takes Effect
The main impetus for change in the Russian market came from legislators. We are talking about of July 1, 2021, popularly known as the "landing" law. In simple terms, it boils down to two actions required of foreign IT giants: opening a full-fledged representative office (legal entity or branch) in Russia and storing Russian citizens' personal data on domestic servers.
A problem arose: neither Telegram nor WhatsApp fully complied with these requirements. In practice, this resulted in concrete consequences. By 2025, users faced limitations on voice and video calls, and the possibility of a complete blocking of these services loomed large. Official government rhetoric focused on combating fraud and protecting digital sovereignty. For ordinary people, this meant a loss of stability and an urgent need to find backup options for communication, maintaining contacts, and archiving.
The Global Dilemma: Who Reads Our Chats?
But it's not just Russian laws. Around the world, people are asking far more questions about the privacy of their data than before. And here, both tech giants have also found something to complain about.
WhatsApp, a product of Meta Corporation (designated extremist and banned in Russia), has never been able to shed its image as a "data collector." The 2021 privacy policy update clearly showed that the service actively collects metadata. This is not the conversation itself, but information about it: who is communicating, with whom, when, and from where. The messages themselves are encrypted, but this digital trail is invaluable information for advertising algorithms.
Telegram, considered by many to be the standard of security, will fall out of the top secure messaging apps by 2025, according to many analysts. This is because its renowned end-to-end encryption is not a default setting, but a separate option in "secret chats." All other messages, including channels and groups, are stored on the company's servers. Yes, this is incredibly convenient for syncing between a phone and a computer. But it's a conscious compromise by Pavel Durov: convenience at the expense of less-than-perfect privacy.For many, this compromise proved unacceptable in 2025. Foreign users, for whom privacy is a top priority, have begun switching en masse to Signal, Threema, or Wire. In these apps, security is not an option, but a foundation for which developers deliberately forgo certain conveniences.
Business under pressure: why standard features are no longer sufficient
For private users, all this was cause for concern. For businesses, it was a direct call to action. Starting in June 2025, a direct ban on the use of foreign messaging apps for transmitting sensitive information—payment documents, personal data, and account information—came into effect in Russia.
However, even without this ban, businesses have long had questions. Telegram, despite its media power, has never become a fully-fledged corporate environment. It lacks the basic functions necessary for organizing workflows: a flexible role-based model with customizable access rights, administrative tools, and, most importantly, the ability to deeply integrate with the company's internal workflow—CRM, document management systems, and so on. It remains a great tool for external communications, but not for internal corporate interaction.
Which messengers are popular in Russia: three illustrative examples
The Russian messaging market today is quite diverse, and finding patterns and general trends is difficult. But to understand the main vectors of this market's movement, it is enough to look at three significant solutions. We chose them deliberately: they clearly demonstrate three different approaches and meet the needs of three different groups:
- MAX — a state-sponsored project aimed at creating a super app;
- TamTam — a simple and straightforward solution for those looking for a direct replacement for traditional chats;
- eXpress — a universal platform with a focus on corporate security.
Let's take a closer look at each of them.
MAX: A Project Targeting Gosuslugi
If we're talking about the government's main focus, then it's, of course, from VK. A project that has been positioned from the outset not just as a WhatsApp replacement, but as the future "Russian WeChat."
It's important to understand what MAX is now and what it aspires to become. Currently, it's a beta-testing messenger with basic functionality (chats, calls), accessible to numbers in Russia and Belarus. It's not yet ready for serious corporate use. However, in the long term, it's an ambitious attempt to create a unified A platform for literally everything: from messaging and government services to banking and online shopping. This strategic goal makes it an important solution in the IT market.
TamTam: classics in a familiar style
While MAX looks to the future, works confidently in the present. This is another product from VK that offers exactly what is expected: chats, channels, and calls. It is, essentially, a classic messenger without complex add-ons or global ambitions.
Its audience is those looking for a highly understandable and accessible solution that simply works. For many people TamTam became the obvious choice for a quick and painless transition from foreign services. A familiar interface, clear functionality, and a Russian developer make it a convenient option for the general user.
eXpress: a platform for work and everyday life
eXpress stands a bit apart from the rest. The key idea of this project is to combine convenience for personal communication and a high level of security for corporate needs in a single platform. For the average user, everything is familiar: download the app, register, and communicate with friends and family. An important detail: the free version for individuals provides the same level of data protection as the paid corporate versions. Tariffs.
eXpress truly shines in business. The platform was originally created for the public sector and companies working with sensitive data. It complies with regulatory requirements (FSTEC certification, Federal Law No. 152). Its main advantage is flexibility. eXpress can integrate with dozens of corporate systems, allowing the messenger to be integrated into a company's existing business processes—from 1C accounting to electronic document management systems.
Two worlds—two different paths
What do we have in the end? The picture is quite clear. In 2025, the global communications market will finally be divided into two camps with different philosophy.
The Western trend can be called a bottom-up movement. Users, tired of data collection by tech giants, are choosing platforms like Signal. Their values are end-to-end encryption by default, open source, and a business model that doesn't involve selling information. This is a conscious choice by people to control their data.
The Russian trend is more of a top-down movement. Its agenda is being shaped by the state, which is committed to digital sovereignty. The focus is not so much on personal privacy as on data localization and the manageability of information flows.
In this new reality, MAX can be considered a vector for the future, TamTam a base for mass users, and eXpress a universal tool that connects personal and corporate communications. The IT solutions market is becoming more complex and diverse, and the era when one or two messengers are closingWhether the needs of almost everyone really do seem to be coming to an end.
