On the night of April 17, Telegram resumed working for some Russian users without proxies or VPNs. According to Kod Durova, access only appeared on Android devices and exclusively for Telegram Premium subscribers. At the same time, the application settings display a connection from the United States, even if the subscriber has never used foreign bypass services.
Traffic analysis revealed atypical masked connections. Experts believe that the messenger has activated a built-in blocking bypass mechanism embedded directly into the client application. On iPhones and desktop versions, the service remains unavailable without third-party tools. Several application restarts may be required for initial launch without a VPN.
The work has been restored unstably: some users experience a drop in media download speed, the connection may disappear, but normalizes after a while. The fact that access appeared without the participation of regulators and providers indicates changes in Telegram itself, and not a weakening of restrictions by the Russian authorities. So far, the innovation has only affected a narrow segment of the audience.
Read more materials on the topic:
- Telegram restrictions may be eased in Russia — Bloomberg
- Telega blocked: Apple started tagging an alternative Telegram client as malicious
- Telegram has updated the protocol to bypass blocking, Durov said
