Telegram Ban: The temporary ban imposed on Telegram in India has had a major impact on the app downloading trend. According to the data of app intelligence firm App Figures, after the ban on Telegram, the biggest increase of this year was recorded in the downloading of VPN apps in the country.

After the central government imposed a temporary ban on Telegram on June 16, the total downloads of the top 100 VPN apps in India reached 9.19 lakh on June 17. This figure is 76% more than the average download of June 9 to 15 and 63% more than the average of June 1 to 15.

Even on June 16, downloads of VPN apps had increased to 6.45 lakh, while June 17 became the biggest downloading day for VPN apps since the beginning of 2025.

What does VPN do?
VPN (Virtual Private Network) encrypts Internet traffic and routes it through another server. This allows users to hide their IP address and bypass some network restrictions.

Generally it is used for privacy and security, but in case of any app or website being banned, its downloads increase rapidly.

Proton VPN and Turbo VPN benefit the most
According to the report, the highest increase was seen in the downloads of Proton VPN. Its downloads increased from an average of 60,500 per day to 1,55,430, i.e. an increase of about 157%.

Whereas the downloads of Turbo VPN almost doubled to 1,22,030. Ninja VPN jumped 669%, while Express VPN saw a 345% increase in downloads.

App store ranking also changed

The effect of increase in downloads was also visible on the ranking of Google Play Store. Proton VPN was ranked eighth in the Tools category on June 17, but reached number one by June 19. Whereas Turbo VPN moved from 11th place to second place.

• Popularity of Telegram X and Signal increased
• After the ban on Telegram, users also turned to other messaging platforms.
• Downloads of Telegram messenger fell from an average of 1,25,048 per day to just 38.
• Telegram
• Downloads of iMe, the messaging app linked to Telegram, increased by 22,018% to 1,70,372.
• At the same time, an increase of 571% was recorded in the downloads of privacy focused messaging app Signal and it reached 32,106 downloads.

Users adopted two paths

It is clear from the report that after the ban on Telegram, users adopted two methods. Some people tried to maintain access to Telegram by downloading VPN apps, while many users shifted to other messaging apps like Telegram X, iMe and Signal.