Russia Is Moving All School Chats to a State-Controlled Messaging App
Starting this fall, Russian schools will begin migrating communication between teachers, parents, and students to Max — a homegrown, tightly controlled messaging platform. The move is part of a broader push to centralize and secure the country’s digital education infrastructure.
Beginning September 1, 2025, Russian schools will start transitioning all official chats to a domestic messaging app called Max. The platform, developed as a national alternative to foreign apps, will soon become the mandatory digital space for communication between teachers, students, and parents.
The Republic of Tatarstan is one of the early adopters. According to regional news outlet Tatar-Inform, the Ministry of Education and Science there plans to complete the transition by November 2025. But the shift won’t stop with schools. In its first phases, Max will also replace messaging platforms for internal communication among education ministry staff, local education authorities, school administrators, and employees of preschools, colleges, and technical schools.
Parents of children enrolled in kindergartens, colleges, and vocational schools will also be required to switch to Max to stay in contact with educators.
The official reasoning? Security and control. All user data will be stored on Russian servers. A special children’s mode will restrict chats to a pre-approved contact list, adjustable only with a parental PIN code. The app is expected to preserve access to familiar digital education services already in use, according to officials.
Behind the scenes, technical preparations are underway to migrate Russia’s broader digital education infrastructure onto Max. The government frames the transition as part of a sweeping digital transformation of the national education system — designed to increase security, streamline oversight, and tighten control over communication between all participants in the educational process.
In the long run, officials say, this centralized system should make communication more efficient and the digital environment safer for children and teachers across the country. Critics, however, are likely to see it as yet another step in Russia’s escalating push to isolate its internet and consolidate control over digital communication.
