This Week in Apps: Google Play lowers commissions, Apple drops anti-steering rule, Pinterest clones TikTok, Android 12 arrives
Image Credits: Bryce Durbin / TechCrunch
Welcome back to This Week in Apps, the weekly TechCrunch series that recaps the latest in mobile OS news, mobile applications and the overall app economy.
The app industry continues to grow, with a record 218 billion downloads and $143 billion in global consumer spend in 2020. Consumers last year also spent 3.5 trillion minutes using apps on Android devices alone. And in the U.S., app usage surged ahead of the time spent watching live TV. Currently, the average American watches 3.7 hours of live TV per day, but now spends four hours per day on their mobile devices.
Apps aren’t just a way to pass idle hours — they’re also a big business. In 2019, mobile-first companies had a combined $544 billion valuation, 6.5x higher than those without a mobile focus. In 2020, investors poured $73 billion in capital into mobile companies — a figure that’s up 27% year-over-year.
This Week in Apps offers a way to keep up with this fast-moving industry in one place 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, too.
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Top Stories
Weekly News
Platforms: Apple
- Apple introduced Tech Talks 2021, a series of over 100 online sessions and 1,500 office hours designed to help developers building apps and games. The Tech Talks will run over the course of the next eight weeks and will be conducted across time zones. Office hours will focus on things like App Review, Evangelism, App Store Connect and Developer Technical Support, and will offer developers 30-minute conversations about their apps to help problem-solve and better understand guidelines and tools. The sessions are free of charge to members of the Apple Developer Program and the Apple Developer Enterprise Program.
- Alongside its new Macs, Apple launched a $4.99/mo version of its Apple Music service which only operates by way of Siri. Likely designed primarily for use with HomePod (or perhaps AirPods), subscribers will only see an Apple Music interface that shows suggestions based on their preferences and their recently played tunes.
- Apple will roll out software updates across all platforms next week. The company announced the news in a press release for AirPods (third gen.), noting iOS 15.1, iPadOS 15.1, watchOS 8.1, tvOS 15.1 and macOS Monterey were all on the way in the week ahead.
- Along with the release of iOS 15.1, Apple said developers will be able to make their in-app events discoverable directly on the App Store. Developers can create their events in App Store Connect and schedule when they want them to appear. The feature will give app makers a better way to showcase things like game competitions, movie premieres and livestreamed experiences. The events will begin to appear starting on October 27.
Platforms: Google
- Google also announced Pixel Pass, an all-in-one subscription that combines a brand-new Pixel phone with access to Google’s premium services. The service is available at $45 per month for the Pixel 6 and $55 per month for the Pixel 6 Pro and includes YouTube Premium, YouTube Music Premium, 200 GB of cloud storage with Google One, Google Store discounts and a Google Play Pass subscription to free apps and games without ads or in-app purchases.
- Among the new features coming to Pixel 6 first is an updated Phone app that will show callers the expected wait times for toll-free numbers, and which will help guide callers through businesses’ phone trees by having Google Assistant listen to the options and display them as text.
- Pixel 6 will also include a new feature called Quick Tap that adds a camera-only version of Snapchat directly to the device’s lock screen. The feature will make it easier and faster to take photos to share on Snap and represents an interesting take on the typical app pre-load deal by making it seem more like a device feature, not bloatware.
- Google Play now allows app developers to fill out their “Data Safety” info for the section that will come to the Play Store in February. Once live, users will be able to view details about the data collected by the app and how developers will use that data alongside the app’s listing.
E-commerce
- WhatsApp rolled out a new Collections feature to make it easier to shop through its app. Collections allow businesses to organize the items in their catalogs by category so customers won’t have to scroll through long lists of items to find what they’re looking for.
- Spotify partnered with Shopify to allow artists to sell their merchandise through their profiles in the Spotify app. The integration will allow artists to sync their product catalogs to Spotify and choose three items to feature on their profiles. Spotify has a similar integration with Merchbar.
- Walmart begins testing shopping via text. Walmart’s R&D group Store Nº8 begin testing a feature called Walmart Text to Shop with customers in select markets to better understand how conversational commerce could work for its customers.
Augmented Reality
- Snap announced the launch of Arcadia, a global creative studio that will help brands deliver AR advertising and experiences that can be shared across web platforms and app-based AR environments beyond just Snapchat itself. The studio, which will function as a division of Snap, will partner with brands and creators, and is already working with Verizon, WWE, Shake Shack and P&G Beauty. As part of this launch, Snap took over a Shake Shack in NYC for a week to show of AR experiences.
Fintech
Facebook launched its digital wallet app Novi into a pilot program that enables users to start trading the Paxos Dollar (USDP), a stablecoin tied to USD created by Paxos. Coinbase will provide custody services for the program which will first be available in the U.S. and Guatemala to enable cross-border money transfers. However, Novi won’t initially take advantage of the Diem Association’s stablecoin Diem, as Facebook says it’s awaiting regulatory approval. The app is available on iOS and Android.
Social
- Pinterest clones TikTok and announces $20 million in creator rewards. Pinterest has been trying to reposition its business as a home to creators, not just a shopping inspiration site. This week it expanded those efforts with new TikTok-inspired features, including a vertical video feed that features its video-powered “Idea Pins” and the ability to respond to videos with “Takes.” It also announced a plan to invest $20 million in “Creator Rewards,” a series of expanded creator tools, support for the Amazon Associates affiliate program, as well as the launch of its own original content.
- Snap shares drop 22% after the app missed on revenue expectations in its Q3 earnings. Snap brought in $1.07 billion in revenue versus the $1.10 billion forecast by Refinitiv. The company said its advertising business was hit harder than expected by Apple’s privacy changes. DAUs were up to 306 million from 293 million in the prior quarter.
- Instagram adds “Collabs,” new music features, support for posting from the desktop web and new fundraiser features, in a series of updates. Collabs allow people to co-author both Feed posts and Reels. To do so, users can invite another account to be a collaborator from the tagging screen on Instagram. If the other person accepts, both accounts will appear in the post or the Reels header and content will be shared to both sets of followers. It also added new effects called Superbeat and Dynamic Lyrics. The former intelligently applies special effects to music to the beat of the user’s song and the latter displays 3D lyrics.
- Facebook tests a new option for cross-posting Facebook Feed posts to Instagram. Users with the option will be able to cross-post to Instagram single photos, single videos or multi-photo albums up to 10 photos — the max that’s supported through Instagram’s carousels. Other formats, like GIFs, polls, photos albums with more than 10 photos, Feed reshares, text-only posts and any media that’s too tall for Instagram’s Feed are not eligible for cross-posting.
- Twitter rolls out the ability for anyone to host a Space on iOS and Android. Previously, the company had limited access to hosting Spaces to accounts with at least 600 followers. Twitter says it’s still rolling out the dedicated Spaces tab, which was recently extended to more people in English on iOS, but is not yet available on Android. It also added the ability to subscribe to people’s Revue newsletters from the Timeline.
- TikTok says its videos longer than 1 minute have received over 5 billion views globally, and videos span over 2 minutes, on average. The new format is most popular in Vietnam, Thailand and Japan, while TikTok users in the U.S., U.K. and Brazil engage with longer videos the most.
Messaging
- Facebook Messenger added new AR experiences for group video calls. Unlike traditional AR effects, the new “Group Effects” apply to everyone in the call at the same time. At launch, over 70 group effects are available, including a game where you compete to build the best burger the fastest. Facebook says the feature will be coming to Instagram soon.
- WhatsApp expanded its joinable calls feature to group chats. Joinable calls were first introduced in July and allow users to join an ongoing group call after it has begun.
Streaming & Entertainment
- YouTube Music’s free tier will go audio-only starting next month as part of a major update to the YouTube Music app. The music, however, will now stream in the background when the app is minimized or the phone screen is off, as part of the free service, but videos will become a paid feature.
- YouTube tops $3 billion in consumer spend on iOS as of October 17, 2021, according to App Annie data. YouTube ranked No. 3 among all non-gaming apps by global lifetime consumer spend as of October 2021, the firm said.
- Amazon Music added support for spatial audio to more devices, including iOS and Android devices with their existing headphones and select devices that support Alexa Cast. Spatial audio was first introduced in 2019, but had not yet been available through mobile on headphones. The feature is offered to Amazon Music Unlimited subscribers only.
- Spotify opened up access to a new tool for creators that will allow them to begin publishing their video podcasts to its service. The tool will be provided by the company’s podcast creation platform Anchor, and expands on the global launch of video podcasts last year, which encompassed only a select group of creators. Currently, the product involves a waitlist, but Spotify says users should expect to see an expanded selection of video soon.
Gaming
- Google’s Stadia game-streaming service is going white label. The company had earlier said it would offer its services to partners, and now AT&T Wireless customers will be able to stream “Batman: Arkham Knight” from their browser…but on their desktop, not phone (oddly). This is the first in-the-wild example of Stadia’s white-labeling, however. More are likely to come.
- App Annie updates its Game IQ market intelligence tool with enhancements including Feature Tagging, Genre Summary and Tag Trends.
Health & Fitness
- Digital therapeutics company Limbix released data from a trial on its new product, SparkRx, a self-guided therapy program for teens run entirely on a phone. The app is designed to help teens manage depression, by encouraging teens to take note of their feelings, and schedule activities that leave them feeling better.
Travel & Transportation
- Bolt Mobility launched in-app navigation for its shared e-scooters. The system is called MobilityOS and will be accessed via a smartphone that will be mounted to, and charged by, the scooter. The mounts will roll out to the next-gen scooters, the “Bolt Two.”
- Lyft says it received over 4,000 reports of sexual assault, including 360 reports of rape, on its app from 2017-2019. The findings were revealed as part of the company’s first-ever safety report, arriving two years after Uber’s.
Government & Policy
- The Yahoo Finance iOS app was removed from China’s App Store. Neither Apple nor Yahoo commented on the matter, but it’s possible the app was pulled because it was being used as a way to read news stories from media outlets that are typically blocked by the Chinese government.
- Apple also removed a popular Quran app in China after a request from local regulators. The app allowed users to read the Islamic religious text and other prayer-related information.
- TikTok and Snap will testify before Congress for the first time next week as part of lawmakers’ investigation into how Big Tech platforms are impacting kids’ safety. (Snap will likely discuss its plans for a new family center in its app, which will offer some sort of parental insights and controls over minor children’s usage.)
- Facebook was fined $70 million by U.K. regulators for deliberately withholding information related to the ongoing antitrust investigation of its Giphy acquisition.
Security & Privacy
- Tencent says it fixed a vulnerability that made some WeChat content available to Google and Bing, both of which are blocked in China. Ahead of the news, there was speculation that Beijing regulators had won a victory in their push to stop tech firms from building walled gardens which blocked rivals from accessing data in each others’ services.
- Google’s Play Protect service is split off into its own app with Android 12. The safety service scans for malware on your device, and could be now easier to update as a standalone application.
Funding and M&A
Downloads
Artiphon debuted an app called Orbacam that allows you to create “Musical Selfies.” The app is meant to serve as a companion to the Orba, a music sequencer device aimed at amateur music makers. With the new app, users can sing or beatbox along with the music they’re creating, import videos and photos from their camera roll and add visual effects to their videos, which can then be shared across social media platforms, like TikTok. The iOS app itself is free to use but the Orba is $100. (Read the full review on TechCrunch)