Asian Tech Press (Sep 28) -- Apple has pulled VKontakte, Russia's largest social app, from the App Store.

VK, the Russian developer of VKontakte, the country's largest social networking app with hundreds of millions of downloads, said that Apple has pulled the software from the App Store.

Some VK applications are now unavailable for download and update in the App Store as Apple has blocked them, VK said in a statement Tuesday.

The company said VK apps that users currently have installed on their smartphones can continue to work, and their core functionality will be stable. However, the notification and payment features may hit a snag and VK's experts are working on it.

VK promised that the VKontakte app will continue to work on Apple devices as well. In addition, users can access the mobile version of the website m.vk.com and the desktop version with full functionality. The company will continue to develop and support the iOS version of the app, and experts are doing their best to maintain and continue improving the comfort of users.

According to Similarweb, Apple's removal of VK apps means that iPhone users in Russia can no longer access the app for the country's fifth most popular website, as well as other apps like Mail.ru, VK Music and Youla, which are all unavailable for download.

Apple did not respond to why it took down VK apps. Earlier this year, Apple had stopped selling its products in Russia and made some Russian news apps blocked from downloading abroad.