The Latest from Sarah Perez
TikTok to launch LIVE creator subscriptions this week
TikTok is ramping up its competition with Twitch, YouTube and others with this week’s launch of TikTok LIVE subscriptions, a new program that will allow creators to generate recurring revenue vi
Epic Games’ Bandcamp temporarily wins right to use its own payments system on Google Play
Epic Games isn’t just fighting the app stores over the right to process its own in-app payments in its popular game Fortnite, it’s also taken up its antitrust legal battle with the tech gi
This Week in Apps: Snapchat policy checkup, more Twitter deal drama, TikTok games
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 re
Snapchat’s parental control features spotted in development
Snapchat is preparing to introduce a new parental control feature dubbed “Family Center,” which will allow parents to see who their teen is friends with on the app as well as who they̵
TikTok is gearing up for games, including interactive minigames for TikTok LIVE
TikTok is already one of the world’s fastest-growing social media platforms, where it’s even overtaken YouTube on watch time in select markets and sports over 1 billion monthly active user
WhatsApp ramps up revenue with global launch of Cloud API and soon, a paid tier for its Business App
WhatsApp is continuing its push into the business market with today’s news it’s launching the WhatsApp Cloud API to all businesses worldwide. Introduced into beta testing last November, th
YouTube teases livestream shopping expansion with co-streams, live redirects
In recent years, YouTube has been working to transform its platform into more of a shopping destination with product launches like shoppable ads or more recently, the ability to shop directly from liv
YouTube’s player gains new features including Most Replayed, Video Chapters, Single Loop and more
YouTube today is launching a new feature designed to help users identify the most popular parts of a video they’re watching, along with other changes for its video player. The company says it
TikTok launches its first creator crediting tool to help video creators cite their inspiration
After years of stolen memes and uncredited dance trends, TikTok today is introducing a new feature that it says will be the first iteration of its creator crediting tools that allow creators to direct
Candle Media, the new media company co-backed by former Disney execs, acquires Gen Z-focused ATTN: for $100M
Candle Media, the new media company headed by former Disney execs, Kevin Mayer and Tom Staggs, has made another acquisition — this time with an eye on social storytelling and reaching a Gen Z to
Netflix lays off 150 staffers, citing slowing revenue growth
Netflix confirmed it’s laid off approximately 150 primarily U.S.-based staffers as it works to rein in costs as its top-line growth has slowed down. A Netflix representative wrote in an emailed
Pulse, the maker of an automatic Slack status updater, acquires team communication startup Lounge
Lounge, a team communication startup that was looking to reimagine the future of work with features designed for remote and distributed workforces, has now found an exit after Slack entered its same m
PSA: Apple’s new rules let apps raise subscription prices automatically
Surely, this won’t be abused? Alongside the launch of the iOS 15.5 update, Apple introduced a new set of rules to govern auto-renewing subscriptions on the App Store. Now, instead of asking user
Snapchat’s stricter policies for anonymous apps and friend finders aren’t yet fully enforced
A small handful of Snap Kit platform developers have not yet complied with the new guidelines around anonymous messaging and friend-finding apps announced in March. The Snapchat maker revamped its dev
Apple Podcasts gains storage clean-up tools, support for annual subscriptions and a new distribution system
As the battle for podcaster talent and distribution heats up among providers, Apple this morning announced the launch of several new features for its Apple Podcasts service, arriving alongside the lat
This Week in Apps: Google I/O wraps, a new ARCore API, Twitter deal drama
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 re
Top Twitter execs, including heads of revenue and consumer products, are out following Musk deal
Twitter GM of Consumer, Keyvon Beykpour, announced today he will be leaving the company after seven years. Beykpour first joined the social media platform by way of its acquisition of Periscope, which
Google TV app to add casting as Android TV ecosystem grows to 110M monthly active devices
Following last year’s makeover of the Google TV app, which added features like movie and TV recommendations, critics’ scores and more, the company today announced at its Google I/O develop
Amazon’s Alexa app feature lets customers option to scan their shopping receipts for cashback rewards
It’s been said that no one uses Alexa for voice-based shopping. But retail giant still sees the potential for Alexa as a shopping companion — just in a different way. That’s why this
Snap snaps up database developer KeyDB to make its infrastructure more snappy
As Snapchat’s app continues to grow, the company is turning to the open source community to help further improve its technology infrastructure. This morning, Snap announced it’s acquiring