Sarah Perez
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Third-party Twitter app makers turn their attention to Mastodon
Open source Twitter alternative Mastodon has gained a bit of attention in the wake of Elon Musk’s Twitter acquisition. Now, it’s gaining interest from third-party Twitter app developers, a
Facebook to now test age verification tech on Facebook Dating in the US
Meta is bringing its age verification technologies to another of its products, Facebook Dating. Though the service has not taken off as a significant Tinder rival, it will now serve as the testing gro
This Week in Apps: The year’s best apps, Twitter rival Hive’s security woes, App Store backlash grows
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. Global app spending reached $65 billion in th
What’s a Twitter user to do?
In the older days of the web, an app called Trillian emerged to solve the problem of allowing users to connect to their friends across multiple messaging services, like AIM, Jabber, Yahoo! Messenger,
‘Indie App Santa’ returns, this year offering 40 deals on free and discounted iPhone apps
It’s the most wonderful time of the year… for free and discounted iPhone apps, that is. Here’s your reminder that today marks the return of Indie App Santa, an initiative started to
Twitter alternative Hive shuts down its app to fix critical security issues
The team at the newly popular Twitter alternative Hive is in over its head. The company has now taken the fairly radical step of fully shutting down its servers for a couple of days in response to con
BeReal and AI art tool Dream by WOMBO top Google Play’s list of best apps in 2022
Just a couple of days after Apple announced the best apps of 2022 in its annual App Store Awards, Google Play has now shared its own “best of” list. The company published a list of winners
Jack Dorsey’s Bitcoin project TBD kills its plan to trademark ‘Web5’
A plan which would see a corporate entity trademark the term “Web5” has been put to rest after much backlash. Late Tuesday night, TBD, the Bitcoin-focused division of Jack Dorsey’s p
Spotify Wrapped 2022 arrives with new features like your ‘Listening Personality,’ 40K+ Artist Messages
Spotify Wrapped 2022 has officially arrived. Though other music services, including Apple Music and YouTube Music, now put together their own year-end retrospectives, Spotify’s personalized and
Snapchat complies with the California Privacy Rights Act with a new toggle switch for users
Snapchat is adding a new privacy setting that enables users based in California to better protect their sensitive personal information. The company confirmed it’s rolling out a feature designed
New tool ‘Movetodon’ makes it easier to find your Twitter friends on Mastodon
Open source Twitter alternative Mastodon has seen sizable growth following Elon Musk’s Twitter acquisition, topping a new milestone of 1 million monthly active users in just over a week after th
Flickr weighs support for ActivityPub, the social protocol powering Twitter alternative Mastodon
On the heels of Tumblr’s decision to integrate with ActivityPub — the social protocol powering the open source Twitter alternative Mastodon and others — it appears that photo-sharing
Twitter says crowdsourced fact-checking system updated to better address ‘low quality’ contributions
Twitter’s crowdsourced fact-checking system, Community Notes, just received an update that the company claims will help to identify more “low quality” fact checks — meaning, th
Mark Cuban-backed streaming app Fireside acquires Stremium to bring live, interactive shows to your TV
Mark Cuban-backed streaming app Fireside, which today offers podcasters and other creators a way to host interactive, live shows with audience engagement, will soon expand to the TV’s big screen
Venmo adds in-app charitable donations, redesigned ‘send money’ screen
PayPal-owned Venmo is today rolling out two changes to its peer-to-peer payments app, including the ability to donate to charities through Venmo as well as a redesigned money-sending experience. The l
Spotify launches audiobooks to more English-speaking markets outside the US
Spotify is expanding its newly launched audiobooks service outside the U.S., the company announced today. The service will now become available in other English-speaking markets, including the U.K., I
Tumblr to add support for ActivityPub, the social protocol powering Mastodon and other apps
Tumblr will add support for ActivityPub, the open, decentralized social networking protocol that today is powering social networking software like Twitter alternative Mastodon, the Instagram-like Pixe
Twitter alternative Hive hits 1 million users after surge of sign-ups
In the wake of Elon Musk’s takeover of Twitter, users have been fleeing to other social apps like open source microblogging platform Mastodon and niche communities like CounterSocial. Now, anoth
This Week in Apps: Apple-Epic antitrust battle resumes, Apple sued over tracking, Google’s new rules for kids’ apps
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. Global app spending reached $65 billion in th
Google Play streamlines policies around kids’ apps as regulations tighten
Google Play today announced a series of changes to its programs and policies around apps designed for children. The company is describing the update as an expansion of its previously launched “T