After Telegram ban, VPN apps are racing up India's app charts
Telegram has long carried a murky reputation in India, with the platform repeatedly linked to piracy, scams and alleged exam-paper leaks. However, the government’s decision
Telegram has long carried a murky reputation in India, with the platform repeatedly linked to piracy, scams and alleged exam-paper leaks. However, the government’s decision to temporarily block the app just days before Sunday’s NEET re-examination has revealed an interesting pattern: users are actively seeking technical workarounds. That search is now visible in the sudden rise of VPN services. These tools route a user’s internet traffic through an encrypted connection and can make it appear as though the device is accessing the internet from another location. In practical terms, they can allow users to reach platforms that have been blocked on their regular network. Read Full Story The first public indication came from Proton VPN’s general manager, David Peterson. Citing company data in a post on X, Peterson said daily registrations from India had risen by 120 per cent, after hourly registrations briefly spiked by 150 per cent the previous evening. Proton VPN recorded a 150% spike in hourly sign-ups from India after Telegram was blocked The numbers offer a useful early signal, but they only represent the registrations for one VPN provider, not the entire Indian market.
To examine whether the pattern extended beyond Proton, India Today tracked the popularity of several VPN applications using India’s App and Play store rankings. There is no direct public way to check the daily download numbers for VPN apps on Google Play or Apple’s App Store. So, India Today tracked the rise in VPN demand through changes in app-store rankings. App-store rankings offer a useful proxy: they show how rapidly an app is gaining momentum relative to competing applications. VPN apps surged up India’s top app rankings after the Telegram ban “VPN – Super Unlimited Proxy” is currently ranked 14th among India’s top free apps on Apple’s App Store. To understand how unusual that is, consider the apps it has overtaken: Where is My Train, Amazon, Zomato and Uber—services that lakhs of Indians use every day to track trains, shop, order food or commute. These are far more established and widely used platforms, yet a VPN app has moved ahead of them in rankings as interest in circumvention tools rises, as of Thursday.
Turbo VPN is ranked 41st, while Proton VPN is at 42nd, showing how sharply VPN apps have climbed after the Telegram restriction. So, what exactly do these mean? Chart rankings are shaped by signals such as new installs, user activity and overall app performance. The fact that three VPN apps have entered India’s top 100, therefore, points to a clear surge in interest following the Telegram restriction. The speed of the climb is equally striking. Turbo VPN climbed over 200 positions in India’s free-app rankings, moving from around 286 in mid-May to about 185 by June 17 and 41st today. This reflects a sharp rise in its popularity, driven largely by fresh installs and user activity. “VPN – Super Unlimited Proxy” jumped from around 456th in India’s free-app rankings in mid-May to 14th today, a rise of more than 440 positions. Its grossing rank also improved from a low of roughly 902 to around 687. Proton VPN climbed from around 265th at its late-May to 42nd today, while its grossing rank improved from roughly 257 to about 167.
The BriefWire