Durov’s clone Telegram HD app to be discontinued

Telegram HD, the clone of messaging app Telegram launched in July this year by Pavel Durov, is soon to disappear from app stores. Users of Telegram HD began receiving notifications yesterday that the app is no longer supported by its developers, prompting users to download the original app instead. Telegram will return to its original, single version of the app, according to a report from Vedomosti.

The original Telegram app was developed by Pavel Durov and his brother Nikolai in 2013, who have been locked in a series of legal wranglings with investment fund United Capital Partners (UCP), the majority shareholders of Russian social networking site VK, over ownership of the app. UCP claimed ownership of the app stating that it was created using company resources, an argument countered by Durov, who accused UCP of illegally gaining ownership of Telegram in the US.

In July this year, Durov launched Telegram HD, which he registered to the firm Telegram Messenger LLP, a different company to the original app that was registered by the app’s legal owner, UCP, to American firm Telegram LLC.

Durov’s name made headlines last week after his press secretary Vladislav Tsyplukhin announced on Facebook that Durov had returned to Russia. The post reads: “Durov has returned to Russia. Everyday he goes to the office of Telegram, and each week the developers give a presentation report of the work done … I have only one thought: I am glad that he is back in the ranks.”

Since leaving his post as CEO of VK in April this year, Durov fled Russia claiming persecution, gaining citizenship of St Kitts and Nevis in the Caribbean.