Ukrainian developers present list of finance apps that sponsor Russia's war
Фото: ШоТам
Most of the financial apps popular in Ukraine are made by Russian developers, so Ukrainians created a memo on how to recognize Russian apps and avoid sponsorship by the aggressor state, Saldo Apps show in their survey.
What is the problem?
Financial experts estimate that Ukrainians have paid over $250,000 to purchase Russian apps in the year and a half since the start of the full-scale war. Most Russian personal finance apps have either Ukrainian localization or features with Ukrainian banks.
Another reason for the popularity of Russian apps is that the world's most popular apps do not have features with Ukrainian currency.
Photo: ShoTam
The problem of Russian apps is particularly acute because users voluntarily transfer their personal data.
According to federal law 152-FZ "On Personal Data," personal data of Russian users must be stored in Russia and processed by federal government agencies.
If Russian developers have not allocated separate servers outside of Russia to store Ukrainians' data, this may mean that all actions of Ukrainian users, including donations to the Ukrainian armed forces, are recorded in Russia.
What is the solution?
Saldo Apps and ASObot have created a memo to help Ukrainians refuse hostile financial apps.
When I saw that Ukrainians have not stopped downloading Russian apps and paying developers, I assumed that Ukrainians simply do not know their origin. So I decided to make a memo to remind Ukrainians "who is who" said Radomyr Novkovic, CEO of Saldo Apps.
How does it work?
The App Store and Google Play have over 1,000 personal finance apps, and about 100 are popular in Ukraine. Saldo Apps and ASObot collected information about the origin, number of installations, and revenue of about a hundred apps in this category.
The developers found that 50% of new installs still come from apps made in Russia.
Photo: ShoTam
With the memo, users will identify dangerous applications and avoid transferring their funds and personal data.
Among the 16 most popular Russian apps in Ukraine, the development team identifies Moneybox, Money manager, CoinKeeper, Zenmoney, Expense log, and others.
Photo: ShoTam
Among the alternatives of Ukrainian origin that can replace Russian apps such as Saldo Finance, Coin Flow, Monobudget, etc.
Saldo Apps is a part of Netpeak Group, a fintech ecosystem for self-employed individuals, microbusinesses, and financially educated people around the world.
