Kaspersky antivirus software suddenly disappears from Google Play Store

Over the past week, users have reported that Kaspersky products (including Kaspersky Endpoint Security and Kaspersky VPN & Antivirus) are no longer available on Google Play in the United States and other regions around the world.

Kaspersky confirmed the incident on the company's official forum on Sunday, October 6, and said it was investigating why its software was no longer available on Google's app store.

" Kaspersky product downloads and updates are temporarily unavailable on the Google Play Store ," a Kaspersky representative revealed.

" Kaspersky is currently investigating the cause of the issue and looking for potential solutions to ensure users of the company's products can continue to download and update apps from Google Play ."

As a workaround, Kaspersky is recommending that users install apps from alternative store platforms, including the Galaxy Store, Huawei AppGallery, and Xiaomi GetApps. Alternatively, the company's security apps can also be installed manually by downloading the .apk installation file from Kaspersky's website.

Kaspersky antivirus software suddenly disappears from Google Play Store Picture 1

The move comes after Kaspersky announced in a press release in July that it would close its operations in the United States, after the country's government imposed sanctions on 12 Kaspersky executives, and banned Kaspersky-branded antivirus software over national security concerns in June.

In a statement earlier this week, Google also confirmed that the US government ban prompted its decision to block Kaspersky and its products from the Google Play store.

" The U.S. Department of Commerce's Bureau of Industry and Security recently announced several restrictions on Kaspersky. As a result, we have removed Kaspersky apps from Google Play ," a Google spokesperson revealed.

In September, the Russian multinational cybersecurity company removed its anti-malware software from customers' computers across the United States and replaced it with UltraAV's antivirus solution without informing customers.

Marvin Fry

Update 08 October 2024