Russia makes local apps mandatory on smartphones

Russian President Vladimir Putin has signed a law a requiring all smartphones and computers sold in the country to come pre-installed with Russian software. The legislation, which will take effect in July 2020, is aimed at promoting Russian-made software. But it has been dubbed the "anti-Apple" law because it would force the US tech giant to pre-install non-Apple software on its products.

The Russian government will now draw up a list of products affected by the law, published and signed by Putin on Monday, as well as a list of applications that would need to be pre-installed.

It comes amid a slew of measures taken by Russian officials to control the tech sector, including a law that took effect on November 1 requiring local internet providers to install devices provided by authorities to enable centralised control of traffic.