Signal not working in Russia: the 2024 block and what we know now

Messages don’t go out or come in, and signing back into your account fails: that is how the messenger has behaved for many users since August 2024. Below we explain why Signal is not working in Russia: what Roskomnadzor announced, what exactly broke, what the messenger’s team says, and what results our October 12, 2026 measurement produced. The website and the app behaved differently in it.

Why Signal is blocked in Russia: Roskomnadzor’s wording

On the evening of August 9, 2024, Roskomnadzor, Russia’s communications regulator, confirmed to several outlets at once that the messenger had been shut off. The regulator’s wording, as relayed by Interfax, RIA Novosti and Rossiyskaya Gazeta: “Access to the Signal messenger has been restricted in connection with a breach of the requirements of Russian legislation.” According to RKN, these requirements have to be met so that the messenger cannot be used for terrorist and extremist ends. A spokesperson for the regulator did not tell Vedomosti which requirements exactly had been violated.

Signal has no commercial owner: the open-source project is developed by a nonprofit foundation funded by donations (CNews). The messenger protects all chats with end-to-end encryption; in Telegram, by comparison, only secret chats work this way (Vedomosti).

When Signal was blocked: how it unfolded

• The night of August 9, 2024. Users start complaining: for some of them, messages are not being sent and chats are not loading (Rossiyskaya Gazeta).
• The morning of August 9. According to the Downradar and Sboy.rf services, people could not send or receive messages or complete sign-in; most complaints came from Moscow, Saint Petersburg, Krasnodar Krai and Novosibirsk Oblast (Vedomosti). By the evening, Sboy.rf had counted about 2.2 thousand complaints (RIA Novosti).
• The evening of August 9. Roskomnadzor confirms the restriction. According to CNews, by that time the messenger had stopped working in Russia entirely, and nobody had warned users in advance.
• The same day. The messenger’s official account on X advises users in countries that block it to turn on the built-in censorship circumvention (Engadget, BleepingComputer).

As of October 12, 2026, no news of the restriction being lifted had come our way.

Why Signal messages are not sending: what stopped working

• Chats. During the first day, messages neither went out nor came in, and chat history would not load (Vedomosti, Rossiyskaya Gazeta).
• Signing in. Affected users could not complete sign-in either (Vedomosti).
• The circumvention mode. According to Vedomosti, for some users the messenger did not work even with it turned on.
• The signal.org website. In our measurement, it opened from every Russian network: the restriction hits the app’s operation, not the page about it. We did not test calls.

Our October 12, 2026 measurement: the site opens, the app’s server doesn’t

Using Globalping, a public service that fires off requests from measurement points worldwide, we tested two addresses: the signal.org website and chat.signal.org, the app’s main server (this is the address set in Signal’s open-source Android code). Four measurements between 22:36 and 22:37 UTC, 16 checks in total, 12 from Russia; the network labels (“home” or “data center”) are Globalping’s, not ours. Our server abroad contacted both addresses on its own, without a VPN. We did not launch the app or send any messages.

What Signal itself says

On the day of the block, the Signal team responded through the messenger’s official account on X. As BleepingComputer summarized it, Signal confirmed that some countries block its service and advised turning on the built-in censorship circumvention feature; Engadget reported the same advice, citing Signal’s account. In the same posts, Signal said it was already working on more advanced censorship circumvention techniques and promised: “our team will continue to do everything we can to maintain and restore access to Signal” (BleepingComputer). We don’t go into how to set up circumvention: those are Signal’s own technical instructions, and we did not test the messenger in that mode.

What Signal’s Terms of Service say

Signal’s Terms of Service say nothing at all about VPNs, proxies or location. The clauses are not numbered, so the sections are named below.

• “Ending these Terms” (the “Resolving Disputes and Ending Terms” section). Signal may modify, suspend or terminate your access to or use of its services anytime for any reason, for example if you violate the letter or spirit of the terms or create harm, risk or possible legal exposure for Signal.
• “Our Terms and Policies” (the “Using Signal” section). If Signal disables your account for a violation of the terms, you may not create another one without its permission.
• “General.” Users agree to comply with all applicable export control and trade sanctions laws.

Signal via the Netherlands, Germany or Georgia: a Liberum VPN trial week

Abroad, Signal’s server responded to all our probes, and a foreign IP is precisely the tool for services closed to Russian addresses. Liberum VPN has three such locations, the Netherlands, Germany and Georgia, and the first week costs nothing: a 7-day trial, no bank card required. We have not run Signal through a Liberum VPN connection ourselves, so there is no result we can vouch for; it may work in your case. Here is what to do: go to the Liberum VPS bot in your Telegram app and request the trial, choose one of the foreign countries, then import the link the bot sends (that is your subscription) into Happ or any comparable client app. Once connected, launch Signal. For prices and the list of countries, see Liberum VPN: a VPN for those in Russia. The address at a location is shared: other clients use it at the same time.

What we don’t promise

• That your account won’t be banned. The “Ending these Terms” section lets Signal suspend or terminate access at any time for any reason.
• That Signal will work through our location. Signal’s server answered Globalping probes in the Netherlands and Germany and our server abroad; no Liberum VPN connection took part in the measurement.
• That calls and file transfers will go through. We looked only at how two addresses responded, not at chats or calls.
• That the connection will be the same on every network. In our measurement, the result varied noticeably from one network to another; we saw a similar picture with another messenger, see why WhatsApp works only intermittently in Russia.
• That the restriction will be lifted. As far as we know, Roskomnadzor has announced no reversal, and we won’t guess at dates. Separately, we have looked at what Russian law says about VPNs for ordinary users.

Key takeaways

• On August 9, 2024, Roskomnadzor shut off access to Signal: in the regulator’s version, the messenger broke requirements meant to stop its use for terrorist and extremist ends.
• The regulator did not specify which requirements were violated; as of October 12, 2026, we had seen no news of the restriction being lifted.
• During the first day, users could not send or receive messages or complete sign-in.
• On October 12, 2026, signal.org loaded in each of the 6 Russian checks, while the app’s server answered in only 2 of 6; abroad, it answered everywhere.
• Signal’s terms do not mention VPNs, yet they let Signal cut off access to the service for any reason.
• The 7-day Liberum VPN trial covers the foreign locations too, but we don’t guarantee Signal will work through them.