Sarah Perez was on the phone for 17 hours.
This Week in Apps is a weekly series on the latest in mobile OS news, mobile applications and the overall app economy.
The global consumer spend on apps is expected to hit a record in 2020 with a record 218 billion downloads. Consumers spent 3.5 trillion minutes using apps on their phones. In the U.S., app usage increased before the time spent watching live TV. The average American spends four hours a day on their mobile device, but watches only 3.7 hours of live TV.
The apps are a big business. Mobile-first companies had a combined valuation of $544 billion, which was 6.5x higher than those without a mobile focus. In 2020, investors poured 73 billion in capital into mobile companies.
This Week in Apps gives a place to keep up with the latest from the world of apps, including news, updates, startup fundings, mergers and acquisitions, and suggestions about new apps and games to try.
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The top stories.
The image is from Apple.
The list of the best apps and games of the year was released by Apple this week. The Toca Boca children's app won the App of the Year, while Riot Games' "League of Legends: Wild Rift" was the iPhone Game of the Year. The iPad Game of the Year was from Netmarble, while the Mac App of the Year was from Luki Labs.
The subtle statement Apple is making with its editorial picks is interesting. For instance, Toca Boca, which has produced more than 40 kids' apps to date and celebrated its 10-year anniversary this year, is a reminder that developers are building long-term businesses on the App Store and Apple helped play a role in supporting that success. Carrot Weather uses weather data from Apple-owned Dark Sky, Pages rival Craft, and iMovie competitor LumaFusion are some of the other winners.
These aren't necessarily coincidences. The App Store faced a lot of backlash and upheaval in the year of 2021, including lawsuits over the commission-based business model and increased regulatory scrutiny. As a result, Apple has adjusted and clarified its policies and even reduced its commission in some cases, as dictated by the market demands and settlement agreements. The winning lineup reminds us that the quality of the apps on the App Store is still high.
TikTok, Procreate Pocket, and Among Us! are the most downloaded apps of the year, according to Apple. Here is the full lineup.
The Best of 2021 app awards were introduced by the Play store.
The image is from the internet search engine, Google.
The year-end list of the best apps and games on the Play store was announced by the company this week. This year, the awards lineup was expanded to include apps and games on tablets, Wear OS and TV. Balance was the app of the year in the U.S. and the top game was Pokémon UNITE. The user's choice awards went to Paramount+ and Garena Free Fire MAX.
In 2020, the award winners reflected a world where stressed users had turned to apps and soothing games to relax, like top sleep app lona, which was last year's "Best App," or escapist games like winner Genshin Impact.
With the early days of the Pandemic behind us, some of this year's award winners were apps that focused on personal growth and creativity, instead of just relaxing or escaping. Balance, an app that offers personalized meditation, is one of the Best of 2021, along with other personal development-styled winners.
Other winners showed how we adapted to pandemic life, such as with audio chatrooms, tools for reducing screen time, or those for connecting with nature.
Here is the full list of award winners.
Almost no one cared that the Amazon Appstore stopped working on Android 12.
The news that the Amazon Appstore has little traction with the general public is a telling piece of news that shows how little media attention has been given to the platform. Liliputing finally called attention to the matter on Monday, after the October release of the operating system. It said that the Amazon Appstore couldn't be launched because of how the Appstore handles piracy. The site noted that some 90-plus users had complained about the problem in a thread on Amazon's forums, but the company's moderators only replied that they were investigating the issue.
The problem was affecting a small number of Amazon Appstore users that upgraded to the newer version of the operating system. Oof! It makes us wonder if anyone at Amazon had even run a build of the app before the launch of the new version. Maybe they were too busy with the Microsoft deal.
There is weekly news.
Both developers and public testers have been given the chance to try out the newest version of Apple's mobile operating system. Downloads and restores are no longer possible because it stopped signing iOS 15.1.
A report by 9to5Mac pointed out that Apple said in a legal filing that it could collect commission on in-app purchases that take place outside its App Store when it asked for an extension on the injunction. The claim was first spotted and then covered by the media. Apple used the argument that non-App Store IAPs should be granted the extra time because of the required changes. It is too early to read into the filing as an indication of Apple's future plans. It is a complex matter and one that could open Apple up to increased liability due to fraudulent transactions. Apple may very well do that, but it may not. This is proof that Apple is trying to get an extension, and nothing else.
The image is from the internet search engine, Google.
There are new features coming to the devices. The new features include a new Memories feature in Google Photos where a selection of special events will appear in your photo grid, as well as new widgets for YouTube Music and Play Books. The Family Bell feature of the Google Assistant was expanded to include mobile devices. There were a lot of updates for the auto.
In its latest video, which can be found below, the company offered a number of updates on Paging, Gradle, AndroidX, Media3 and CameraX.
Food delivery and e- commerce.
This week, India's top food delivery startup, Swiggy, announced it will invest $700 million into its express grocery delivery service. The service was only available in two cities last year, but is now in 18.
It is related to Fintech and cription.
Meta is the image credit.
Messenger will begin testing a way for users in the US to split the cost of bills and expenses, which can be done evenly or by modifying the contribution amount for each individual.
VeVe Collectibles is leading the NFT trading space on mobile with more than $100 million in consumer spending. It is ahead of SWAP, OurSong and Sweet because they focus on collectibles. VeVe has already led the pack with 744,000 installs and $112 million in spending. The remaining apps have a combined total of over 500,000 installs and over $400,000 in spending.
The image is from Sensor Tower.
Square changed its name to Block to better reflect its ambitions in the market. Block will house the company's products, including Square, Cash App, and Spiral.
On December 8th, Cypto CEOs will testify at a House committee hearing titled "Digital Assets and the Future of Finance: Understanding the Challenges and Benefits of Financial Innovation in the United States". The CEOs from Circle, FTX, Bitfury, Paxos and Stellar will be present.
David Marcus is leaving Meta later this year. Marcus ran Messenger at Facebook before moving to lead the Novia digital wallet app. Marcus said that he may want to do more in the space, noting that he is as passionate about the need for change in our payments and financial systems as ever.
Social.
Jack Dorsey resigned as CEO of the social media company on Monday and will remain on the board until his term ends in 2022. He will be able to work full-time at the other company he has been running, Block, which is related to his current interests incryptocurrencies and Bitcoin. Parag Agrawal is the new CEO and he is already making changes. The Washington Post reported that the head of engineering Michael Montano and the VP of design Dantley Davis are leaving the company. Consumer, revenue and core tech divisions will be led by Kayvon Beykpour, Bruce Falck and Nick Caldwell.
Meta is moving in a different direction with its NPE team, which has historically tested new social apps in hopes of stumbling across the next big hit. The company will open offices in Nigeria and Asia in order to focus more on the world. Helping the formerly incarcerated re-enter society is one of the new projects it is developing in the U.S.
Meta is the image credit.
TikTok has added new features for creator monetization. Fans will be able to send direct payments to creators, who will keep 100% of the money. Video Gifts can only be awarded to creators outside of a live broadcast. The new portal organizes all TikTok's monetization opportunities in one place.
TikTok launched a new transparency center, which will house the company's historical transparency reports as well as its more interactive reports going forward.
The Hindi language can be reached by 500 million people in India. The move is timely, following a week that saw another India-born exec move into the CEO ranks at a top U.S. tech company.
New real-time features include typing and commenting indicators. The goal is to make its service across desktop, mobile and tablets feel more engaging and dynamic.
There is a message.
Messenger collaborated with four creators to expand its new lineup of Group Effects, which can be applied to everyone on the call at once. The new effects were created by King, Emma, and Bella. It is working with the streaming service on new soundmojis and has added a new Taylor Swift soundmoji.
Dating.
App Annie has a screenshot.
According to data from App Annie, Bumble surpassed the $1 billion mark in consumer spending. The dating and networking app is one of only 15 other non-gaming apps, and the only dating app outside of Tinder, to have hit this milestone. Other billion-dollar club members include YouTube, Youku, iQIYI, and Disney+. The WSJ said this week that Bumble, with a fully Diluted valuation of around $6.6 billion, is starting to look overvalued.
Match settled its lawsuit for over $400 million. The suit alleged that IAC and its Match Group manipulated financial data in order to create a false valuation of the dating app when it was merged into IAC. The employees said they had been stripped of their stock options. Billions of dollars were sought in the suit at the time it was filed. After the court dismissed some of their claims for damages, they got a small amount of money. Match is paying the settlement in cash. At the end of the third quarter, it had $510 million in cash and cash equivalents.
Streaming and entertainment.
The image is from Spotify.
The year-end review for Spotify is Wrapped 2021. The company has introduced a number of new features this year, including artist and podcaster video messages, a version of Blend designed for Wrapped, and an in-app game based on "Two Truths and a Lie." The feature makes Apple Music fans green with envy, because it makes it easy to leverage the huge data collection of the service.
Users and their friends can watch a stream on the app with up to 31 of their friends. Everyone on the call can use the feature by logging into their app and watching in either portrait or landscape mode with their friends.
The Material Design 3-inspired look includes pill-shaped bubbles surrounding the thin line-art icons, a combined tab for likes and dislikes, and is being tested on the site. The height of the bar under the video is greatly reduced by the test design. The test is an indication that the app will get a Material You makeover soon.
The relaunch of the music streaming app for French-speaking African territories was made possible by a partnership with Tuned Global.
There is gaming.
The image is from Sensor Tower.
MrBeast created a parody video of "Squid Game", which helped drive installs of Supercell's Brawl Stars. The event was sponsored by Supercell because of the success of the video which had over 100 million views. In the six days after the video was released, the downloads of the video grew to over one million. The majority of them were from the U.S. Player spending grew by over 50% week-over-week to reach $8.2 million. The surge may not be related to MrBeast. The World Finals of the Brawl Stars may have boosted installs.
The average daily revenue for the game was $8.1 million in the App Store and Google Play. The title brought in over $2 billion in the first year, making it the 2nd top grossing game in the world.
Travel and transportation.
The company says it will begin piloting the program, which will allow drivers to send trip recordings to Uber in the case of a safety incident, in three U.S. markets: Kansas City, Missouri, and Louisville, Kentucky.
It is the first time that both companies have added ride-booking via the messaging service. Users can send a message to a chatbot to access the ride-sharing service.
Digital car keys for compatible BMW vehicles are now supported on the devices of the Pixel 6 and the SAMSUNG GALAXY 21. When your phone is connected to your car, it now auto-launches, as well as adding an always-on play button to its Home screen. The latter is coming soon. Smart reply is a support for responding to texts.
The easy-to-use interface called "Car View" will be retired by the service. Some users were upset that the company didn't immediately offer a replacement, which they thought would make using the service in the car less safe. Others are happy to see the feature go.
Government and policy.
Some Chinese state-run companies have restricted the use of a messaging app. China Mobile, China Construction Bank Corp., and others were told to stop using the app for work chats.
The companies were fined 10 million for not giving their users enough information about commercial uses of their data. When users first set up their Apple ID, that includes the App Store.
The U.K. antitrust watchdog ordered Facebook to sell Giphy, the online and mobile platform it acquired for $400 million in May 2020.
Privacy and security are related.
When you download an app, it will be turned off for you if you haven't used it in a while. The feature was part of the winter update and will be rolled out this month.
A bunch of apps with 300,000 installs were found to be banking trojans that stole user passwords and two-factor authentication codes. The apps were discovered on the Play store and posed as PDF and Cryptocurrencies.
The posting of images and videos of private individuals without their consent was banned by the social network. If a private individual asks for an image to be taken down, then it will happen. The new policy could lead to difficulties in balancing what is in the public interest with individual privacy according to the Columbia Journalism Review. Things are not going well. There is no expectation of privacy when it comes to posting videos of right-wing extremists who are discussing plans to assault a reporter in public.
M&A and funding.
The image is called Lowkey.
Lowkey is a social gaming platform that allows users to capture and share their favorite gaming moments. The company said it will bring on Lowkey's team to help build out the future of Niantic's social experiences.
The acquisition of DeepDraft was a seven-figure cash and stock deal. The company brings deep expertise in machine learning and artificial intelligence to the table, which will be used by Picsart as it pushes further into the video space.
The social app made its first acquisition with a deal for the digital nutrition company AeBeZe Labs. The company was developing a range of products with an understanding of how digital content can affect people's moods. IRL wants to use its technology to improve its event and community recommendations in a healthier way than other social rivals. Deal terms were not offered.
SoftBank Latin America Fund, K5 Global and others participated in the Series A funding of Glorify, a Christian-focused subscription app that offers meditation, bible passages and Christian music. Notable angel investors include Kris Jenner.
The ticker symbol for Grab was changed to GRAB after the company raised $4.5 billion in the biggest Wall Street debut by a Southeast Asian company. After an initial jump on Thursday, shares dropped more than 20% as investors reacted to falling revenues and rising losses.
The makers of an app for cancer patients and for R&D raised $5.5 million in seed funding. The app has 15,000 downloads in the U.S., and was launched by the London-based startup.
Gozem raised $5 million in Series A funding from a number of companies. The app offers transportation, e-commerce and financial services in 13 cities. Over 5 million trips have been completed using its services.
Goalsetter raised $15 million in Series A funding. The Goalsetter app allows kids to receive an allowance and financial gifts from family and friends, which can be used to purchase Goalsetter debit card. They can only get the money by taking financial literacy tests. The white-labled version of the service will be sold to banks.
Plum raised $24 million in Series A funding, bringing its total raise to $43 million. The company's revenue increased by 189%.
The Southeast Asian investment app raised $25.6 million in new funding, seven months after its Series A raised $23 million. The new round was led by Prosus, a venture firm majority-owned by Naspers and EDBI. The total assets under management of the app is over 1.5 billion SGD.
A super app for North Africa that includes ride-Hailing, last-mile delivery, payments and more was raised in Series A funding. The company raised $13.25 million in seed funding.
Downloads.
The 888-405-7720
The advent calendar of sorts for those who love to download and try out iOS apps is the new Indie App Santa app. The idea began last year as a result of a 40,000 downloads to the apps on the day they were featured. The team at App Craft Studio decided to expand the project to the web this year, with a native app for the iPad and a social accounts on Gumroad and Patreon.
Franois Boulis said that the team was unsure if the app would be approved by Apple because it could be considered a mini App Store. He says that the app passed through App Review.
Each day you can open a door and find a new deal on an independent developer's app with the advent calendar-like interface of the new iOS app. The app will be free to download from December 1 to December 24.
The app has revealed deals including a free version of MrClockface, a clock widget app, and a free version of visual calendar Structured Pro. Most of the apps will be free, except for YarnBuddy, which will offer its IAP for just $9.99 on December 8. There are also deals for Jinks!, Twidget, Vinyls, Crouton, Bluebird, PastePal, Wynk, Guessing Game, Inventory List, Skaffer, Sticker Doodle, Calory, Sync Flashlight, HabitMinder, un:safe, and more. There are Timer, Luxilux, Pile and Wordsmyth.
You have to grab them as they arrive or you will miss out.
Alms.
Alms is the image.
A new startup called Alms is building a social network that focuses on users' well-being through participation in creator-led challenges in areas like personal growth,sustainability and others focused on positive impacts. Instead of driving the collection of likes, Alms aims to encourage real-world engagement through its challenges and specific steps and actions that must be taken. The idea is to design an app that will make users happy and more meaningful when they use it. Alms has attracted a couple of thousand users in its first few days on the App Store, and has 30 creators on board. Read the full review here.
