The latest in mobile OS news, mobile applications and the overall app economy can be found in this week's This Week in Apps.
In the first half of the year, global app spending was $65 billion, up slightly from the $64.4 billion in the same period in the previous year. According to the latest year-end reports, the app economy is growing and has produced a record number of downloads and consumer spending across both the Apple and Google Play stores. Consumers downloaded 143.6 billion apps and global spending was $133 billion.
The latest from the world of apps can be found in this week's edition of This Week in Apps.
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Top Stories
The image was created by Alex Tai/SOPA Images/ LightRocket.
Adding new counts to their initial complaint, which was filed last year, will help fortify their antitrust lawsuits against the company. A week ago, the companies filed a motion to amend their complaints against the company, which now alleges that they were paid off not to start other app stores that would put them in competition with the company's own store. The Sherman Act is an antitrust law in the U.S.
In a filing last year, Epic Games and Match Group detailed a program called theApps and Games Velocity Program. The goal was to pay game developers hundreds of millions of dollars in incentives to keep their games on the Play Store.
The Match Group is looking to add to their complaint with two new allegations about how the Play Store was used to bribe potential competitors to not distribute their apps in competition with the store. The developers were identified as the most at risk of leaving Play and then offered an agreement to stay.
Section 1 of the Sherman Act prohibits "every contract, combination in the form of trust or otherwise, or conspiracy, in restraint of trade or commerce among the several States, or with foreign nations." The full story can be found here on the website.
Google Play revamp continues
The image is from the internet search engine, GOOGLE.
The new features for the Play Store are designed to put more of the store listings front and center. The Play Store will redesign on large-screened devices, like tablets, foldables and Chromebooks, to make it easier to find and download games. This will make it easier for users to find new games to install.
To better portray the Chromebook experience, it is adding the ability for developers to uploaded Chromebook-specific screenshots to the Play console. Up to eight screenshots can be uploaded in the recommended version of the landscape, with a resolution of 970 x 760. The quality guidelines for tablets are being updated for consistency across large screens, but they won't affect previous uploads.
The set of content quality guidelines was published by the search engine giant.
The changes announced this week follow an earlier redesign of the Play Store that made it easier for users to find and download apps for non-phone devices, such as TVs and cars. The feature was important because of the recent debut of the first Pixel- branded watch.
BeReal’s real traction
BeReal encourages users to take a photo every day in order to create a daily habit. New estimates from a third-party app intelligence firm show that only a small number of the app's users are currently doing it. According to research from Sensor Tower, BeReal has seen its monthly active users jump by 2,254% since January 2022. Only 9% of its active installs are opening the app every day, according to the firm.
Many people install an app out of curiosity, but then abandon the app if they don't like it, as active users are a better indication of an app's adoption than downloads.
BeReal is still behind established social media giants. Users who downloaded the app and are using it are now launching the app every day. That is a long way behind TikTok andInstagram. TikTok is second in this category with 29%, but it leads with 39% of active installs. At 27%, 26%, 20% and 18%, this is followed by Facebook.
The image is from the sensor tower.
Proponents of BeReal point out that the app's adoption is not at the same pace as that of the iPad. Many of its new installs are from young people in the U.S., so this figure may not show a full picture of the app's usage. It is a window into a company that is media-averse, declining to speak to the media, or even tout its funding. For now, third-party data is what we have, and if it can be used to show that many of BeReal's users aren't everyday addicts, that's great. Is there still time?
42matters, a mobile app data firm, estimated that BeReal's MAU on Android were only up by 633% this year. The full report can be found here on the website.
Weekly News
The image was created by Apple.
Apple launched “Ask Apple,” a new series for app developers that allows them to connect directly with Apple experts for questions about integrating the latest technologies, design, testing and more. The sessions will run from October 17-21 and will include one-on-ones and group Q&As across multiple languages and time zones. To participate, developers will need to be members of either the Apple Developer Program or Apple Developer Enterprise Program.
Apple Entrepreneur Camp applications are open and will close on December 5, 2022.The camp supports underrepresented founders and developers and will offer three online cohorts for female, Black or Hispanic/Latinx founders starting in January 2023.
Apple will add 5G support to the iPhone 12, 13 and 14 models in India through an iOS update by December, The Economic Times reported. India’s government is pushing handset makers, like Apple and Samsung, to expedite software upgrades on their phones to make them compatible with local 5G airwaves.
Apple is planning to launch iPadOS 16.1 alongside new hardware including MacBook Pros and new iPads in late October, Bloomberg reported. The iPad software update is expected the week of October 24, the report claims.
As part of Microsoft’s announcements at its Ignite conference this week, Apple will be bringing more of its services, including Apple Music and iCloud storage with the Photos app in Windows 11, to Microsoft’s platforms.
Apple rolled out iOS 16.1 beta 5 and watchOS 9.1 beta 5 to developers and as public betas. It also launched iOS 16.0.3 with fixes for the slow camera launch or slowness in changing camera modes, low microphone volume in CarPlay calls, delayed call and app notifications and more.
Apple owners are reporting their iPhone 14 and Apple Watch’s crash detection features are being triggered by riding roller coasters.
Platforms: Google
Google said its newly launched Pixel Watch will get at least three years of Wear OS updates, including security updates.
Google approved the Truth Social app on the Play Store after the company updated its moderation policies. The app, which was denied entry in August 2022, said it would agree to enforce some policies around posts inciting violence, in order to gain approval.
E-commerce
TikTok is planning to build its own fulfillment centers in the U.S., Axios reported, citing jobs posts in an effort to scale its e-commerce strategy. The company earlier this year was said to be dropping its live e-commerce “Shop” venture in the U.S., after it failed to gain traction abroad.
Chinese fast fashion retailer Shein has seen its valuation decline from $100 billion+ to $65-85 billion in recent months, FT reports.
Shein parent company, Zoetop, meanwhile has to pay $1.9 million in a fine to New York for a 2018 data breach that impacted 39 million Shein users and 7 million Romwe accounts.
Shein owner fined $1.9M for failing to notify 39M users of data breach
Fintech & Crypto
The image was created by Apple.
Apple is partnering with Goldman Sachs to introduce high-yield savings accounts in the Wallet app for Apple Card holders. The accounts can be funded with Daily Cash (cashback) from card purchases or through linked bank account transfers. Support for the accounts will arrive with an iOS update in the “coming months.”
Crypto.com Capital is backing a new effort called Magic Square that’s aiming to build an app store for web3 developers.
Children’s financial app Greenlight introduced a suite of new family safety features, putting the app in closer competition with services like Life360. A new subscription, Greenlight Infinity, will include family location sharing, SOS and emergency alerts, crash detection with automatic 911 dispatch and more.
Fintech app Betterment launched a new crypto offering that allows customers to choose from four themed, customizable portfolios of crypto assets.
Samsung announced its Samsung Wallet will roll out to 13 more markets this year, including Bahrain, Denmark, Finland, Kazakhstan, Kuwait, Norway, Oman, Qatar, South Africa, Sweden, Switzerland, Vietnam and UAE. The wallet is already available in China, France, Germany, Italy, Korea, Spain, the U.K. and the U.S.
Social
TikTok is expanding its set of third-party integrations with the launch of Profile Kit, which offers a way to embed videos on other sites. The first partner to adopt the new integration is Linktree.
It also announced updates to its TikTok Creator Marketplace, including improved search, new recommendation tech, invite links, improved reportingand tools to anchor app store links or clickable links in comments. TikTok introduced Showtimes on TikTok for movie studios looking to promote films and connect users with ticketing partners, and a new campaign offering called Focused View, where brands only pay when users watch their ad for at least six seconds.
TikTok plans to take action against exploitive begging on its app after a BBC investigation found Syrian refugees pleading for digital gifts from TikTok users.
A U.K. report found that one-third of children between 8 and 17 with social media profiles were using fake ages to make them “adults” on the apps by signing up with fake birth dates.
The image is called Meta.
Meta said videos from its VR space Horizon Worlds can now be shared to Instagram Reels. It also filed to dismiss the FTC complaint over its acquisition of VR fitness company, Within.
Instagram expanded its AI-powered age verification program to India and Brazil, which, combined have around 400 million MAUs on the app. The verification program, which began testing in the U.S. earlier this year, runs video selfies through an AI system. Privacy advocates warn the California Age-Appropriate Design Code will lead to more invasive age verification practices like this.
Twitter is now asking users to enter their birthdates to view sensitive content in its app, unless they have already done so and are over 18. The feature has no apparent built-in controls to prevent children lying about their age.
Twitter is also developing a feature that would allow users to control who can @ mention them.
Search-driven advertising has helped Pinterest stock rise 34% from its two-year low in mid-June, Bloomberg reported. This outpaces Meta and Snap, down 22% and 12%, respectively.
Snapchat rolled out its parental controls to users in India through the new in-app Family Center. The launch follows the U.S. debut a couple of months ago, and allows parents to see who their teens are friends with and messaging on the app without being able to read the content of those messages.
TechCrunch’s Rita Liao analyzes the potential challenges for Elon Musk’s super app plans: Elon Musk’s X app for ‘everything’ might be a non-starter in the U.S.
Elon Musk’s X app for ‘everything’ might be a non-starter in the US
Messaging
Signal announced it will soon be removing SMS support for Android users, explaining that it wants to simplify the experience for users instead of continuing to support two different messaging types in the app.
A report by Rest of World looked into the issues around spam on WhatsApp in India, where users are complaining about receiving too much spam from brands, some of which are using WhatsApp’s own business tools.
WhatsApp is beta testing a feature that allows users to put 1,024 friends into a single group chat.
China’s internet censors have suspended thousands of WeChat accounts and removed posts following a protest in Beijing against “dictator and traitor Xi Jinping,” FT reported.
Streaming & Entertainment
Netflix announced its ad-supported plan will go live next month. The $6.99 per month subscription will arrive in 12 markets to start, initially with Canada and Mexico on November 1 then the U.S., U.K., France, Germany, Italy, Australia, Japan, Korea and Brazil on November 3, followed by Spain on November 10.
Netflix undercuts Disney+ with launch of its $7/month ad-supported plan early next month
ByteDance is reportedly planning to expand its Resso streaming music service in more than a dozen global markets outside the U.S. and integrate it into the TikTok mobile app.
YouTube announced the launch of “YouTube handles,” a way for creators to identify their channel using the @username format across channel pages, video descriptions, comments and Shorts. The handles will be rolled out gradually, becoming available first to creators with larger subscriber bases, but will ultimately be offered to everyone on YouTube.
YouTube to broadly support the @username format with launch of YouTube handles
NBCU and Meta are partnering to bring VR experiences, including those from the Peacock app and shows like The Office, to its Quest headsets.
Streaming media company Roku launched a new Roku Smart Home mobile app to support its expanded product line that now includes smart home devices like security cameras, video doorbells, smart lights and voice-enabled smart plugs. The devices are available at Roku.com and Walmart.com. A camera subscription service is also offered.
Apple-owned Shazam updated its iOS app to offer users new wallpapers for the iPhone and Apple Watch. The app now includes an “Exclusive Downloads” section where users can customize their iPhone or watch with wallpapers from favorite artists.
Gaming
Harry Potter-themed mobile games have generated a combined $1 billion in player spending globally to date, a report from Sensor Tower indicates. The game with the highest revenue is “Harry Potter: Hogwarts Mystery” from Jam City, which has earned more than $400 million since its April 2018 launch.
A Newzoo gaming report on the habits of Gen Z users found that 70% of Gen Z are interested in socializing in in-game worlds beyond gameplay and 1 in 2 Gen Alpha and Gen Z users are spending money on games, compared with 42% of the total online population.
Apple’s Music app launched on Xbox One, Xbox Series S and Xbox Series X. The app is a free download from the Microsoft Store.
In the wake of Stadia’s demise, Google’s new gaming-focused Chromebooks from Acer, Asus and Lenovo will support cloud gaming services like Nvidia GeForce Now, Microsoft Xbox Cloud Gaming and Amazon Luna.
Meta said its Quest Store has generated $1.5 billion in total revenue to date and that more than one-third of its 400 titles have grossed more than $1 million in sales; 33 titles surpassed $10 million in gross revenue. It also announced the game Among Us will head the Quest 2 platform on November 10.
Health & Fitness
Productivity
Utilities
Google’s keyboard app Gboard updated with support for Android tablet layout, which includes easier-to-type on keys and an overall taller keyboard.
Samsung and Google partnered to allow Samsung’s SmartThings app users to onboard Matter-enabled devices even if they’re set up in Google Home and vice versa.
Reading & News
Instapaper rolled out an update, version 8.2 on iOS, that introduced in-article search, text justification and several other design updates. Among the changes, users can now manually add a link from the side menu by tapping on the + icon instead of worrying about clipboard detection prompts — useful, considering iOS has cracked down on apps reading users’ clipboards with an initially buggy security feature.
Security & Privacy
Google rolled out support for signing in with passkeys — a new way to sign in on the web and in apps without using passwords — on Android and Chrome to beta testers. The feature is expected to launch more broadly later this year.
Security researchers discovered that many apps associated with Apple services on iOS 16 send data that bypass users’ VPN connections.
Funding and M&A
The real estate investing app raised $6.2 million at an $80 million valuation in an extension round from existing investors. Non-accredited investors can use the app to invest.
The company raised $500 million in equity and debt A Series C equity round was raised by Step last year. The app will be expanded into a new currency.
Homa raised $100 million in Series B funding led by Headline and Quadrille Capital. Tracking metrics is one of the tools offered by the SDK in order to improve sessions and retention times.
The Cairo-based Telda raised $20 million in seed funding. Money management and payments are offered by the app. 25,000 users have been onboarded and there is a waiting list of over 100,000.
The company raised over $50 million in Series B funding. According to the startup, they have 2 million users.
Kirkbi is buying the US edtech company Brainpop for $875 million. Brainpop reached 25 million children annually across two-thirds of the U.S. school districts.
Downloads
The image is called Naver.
The parent company of Webtoon and Wattpad has launched a new app called Yonder. The goal of the app is to attract both those who are already avid consumers of serialized fiction as well as those who are new to the space but looking for a more premium experience.
Yonder will have hundreds of titles and exclusives from authors such as Ivy Smoak, P.C. Cast, and RubyDixon. Yonder's stories are not open to the public like Naver's and Webtoon's.
To make money, the app will allow users to explore and read several chapters for free, and then use virtual coins to get access to the rest of the story. Soon, the app will be available on both mobile devices.
Hi, friends! It’s time for another edition of Week in Review, the newsletter where we quickly recap the most read TechCrunch stories from the past seven days. Want it in your inbox every Satu...Welcome to Startups Weekly, a fresh human-first take on this week’s startup news and trends. To get this in your inbox, subscribe here. People leave jobs for all kinds of reasons, but when it’...On a surface level, usage-based insurance makes a lot of sense. But differentiating users also raises all sorts of questions on what’s fair, and where usage-based insurance is heading next.What appeared earlier this year to be a selfless act of technotopianism, the widespread deployment of Starlink terminals in Ukraine, has soured as SpaceX and governments disagree on who ultimately ...A majority of retail workers at the Apple Store at Penn Square in Oklahoma City have voted to unionize. The second Apple Store to win union representation in the U.S., the workers voted 56-32 in fa...The CFOs from OpenSea, Brex and Noom are changing teams. Here’s what that says about executive turnover in the high-growth startup world.
Hello, friends, and welcome to Daily Crunch, bringing you the most important startup, tech and venture capital news in a single package.
Tata Power, a leading power generation company in India, has confirmed it was hit by a cyberattack. In a brief statement released on Friday, the Mumbai-based company said that the attack impacted s...New PitchBook data found that US companies with all female founders are raising less capital this year than the last. But it’s not all bad news.
Opeyemi Awoyemi, one of Nigeria’s well-known serial founders, is back with another outfit. It’s not a tech company this time — Awoyemi co-founded online jobs site Jobberman (which...In 2022, the pace of quarterly change in how venture investors are disbursing capital is making full-year numbers almost misleading.
Clear Capital, a real estate valuation technology company and firm, is laying off 27% of its staff months after freezing mass hiring, TechCrunch has learned from sources. A spokesperson for Clear C...Manipulation and sensing have long been considered two key pillars for unlocking robotics’ potential. There’s a fair bit of overlap between the two, of course. As grippers have become a fundamental...NBCUniversal’s Peacock is unveiling a new interactive video feature that will let Peacock Premium subscribers delve into extended clips, including extra footage and interviews, from within an episo...A ‘Prevention of Future Deaths’ report following a U.K. coroner’s inquest into the suicide of British schoolgirl, Molly Russell, who killed herself almost five years ago after vie...Momentive Global, the parent of the web-survey portal SurveyMonkey, laid off 11% of its workforce this week. Multiple people across divisions — including those handling the business developme...Boosting expansion revenue, particularly during a downturn, will impress the hell out of your potential investors.
Hi, friends! It’s time for another edition of Week in Review, the newsletter where we quickly recap the most read TechCrunch stories from the past seven days. Want it in your inbox every Satu...Welcome to Startups Weekly, a fresh human-first take on this week’s startup news and trends. To get this in your inbox, subscribe here. People leave jobs for all kinds of reasons, but when it’...On a surface level, usage-based insurance makes a lot of sense. But differentiating users also raises all sorts of questions on what’s fair, and where usage-based insurance is heading next.What appeared earlier this year to be a selfless act of technotopianism, the widespread deployment of Starlink terminals in Ukraine, has soured as SpaceX and governments disagree on who ultimately ...A majority of retail workers at the Apple Store at Penn Square in Oklahoma City have voted to unionize. The second Apple Store to win union representation in the U.S., the workers voted 56-32 in fa...The CFOs from OpenSea, Brex and Noom are changing teams. Here’s what that says about executive turnover in the high-growth startup world.
Hello, friends, and welcome to Daily Crunch, bringing you the most important startup, tech and venture capital news in a single package.
Tata Power, a leading power generation company in India, has confirmed it was hit by a cyberattack. In a brief statement released on Friday, the Mumbai-based company said that the attack impacted s...New PitchBook data found that US companies with all female founders are raising less capital this year than the last. But it’s not all bad news.
Opeyemi Awoyemi, one of Nigeria’s well-known serial founders, is back with another outfit. It’s not a tech company this time — Awoyemi co-founded online jobs site Jobberman (which...In 2022, the pace of quarterly change in how venture investors are disbursing capital is making full-year numbers almost misleading.
Clear Capital, a real estate valuation technology company and firm, is laying off 27% of its staff months after freezing mass hiring, TechCrunch has learned from sources. A spokesperson for Clear C...Manipulation and sensing have long been considered two key pillars for unlocking robotics’ potential. There’s a fair bit of overlap between the two, of course. As grippers have become a fundamental...NBCUniversal’s Peacock is unveiling a new interactive video feature that will let Peacock Premium subscribers delve into extended clips, including extra footage and interviews, from within an episo...A ‘Prevention of Future Deaths’ report following a U.K. coroner’s inquest into the suicide of British schoolgirl, Molly Russell, who killed herself almost five years ago after vie...Momentive Global, the parent of the web-survey portal SurveyMonkey, laid off 11% of its workforce this week. Multiple people across divisions — including those handling the business developme...Boosting expansion revenue, particularly during a downturn, will impress the hell out of your potential investors.
