Russian MAX messenger users reach 18 mln

MOSCOW. Aug 19 (Interfax) - Russia's MAX national messenger service now has 18 million users, the service's press office said.

"MAX has 18 million registered users. The most active MAX users are residents of Moscow, St. Petersburg, Samara, Krasnodar, Yekaterinburg and Kazan. The Android mobile operating system accounts for 73% of registered users, iOS - 26% and PC versions - 1%," the press office said.

It said that since MAX was launched, users had sent more than 200 million messages and made about 30 million calls, including group video calls. "The average duration of a voice call was eight minutes, and a group call was almost 47.5 minutes. The number of group chats exceeded 700,000," it said.

MAX started testing channels on July 14. More than 300 channel creators with a more than 2 million subscribers in total are taking part in the testing. Companies which have launched channels include Sber, Aviasales, Gazprombank , OZON , Golden Apple and T-Investments.

The law on the national messenger service was passed in June. The Russian government on July 15 designated the VK tech holding's Communications Platform as its operator and developer.

VK unveiled the first version of MAX at the end of March 2025. The service had 1 million users at the end of June.