Sarah Perez
Reporter
The Latest from Sarah Perez
Instagram confirms test of new anti-harassment tool, Limits, designed for moments of crisis
Instagram head Adam Mosseri confirmed the company is testing a new feature called “Limits,” which would give users the ability to temporary lock down their accounts when they’re bein
Spotify partners with GIPHY to connect users with artists’ music via GIFs
Spotify announced this morning a new partnership with online GIF database GIPHY to enable discovery of new music through GIFs. No, the GIFs themselves won’t play song clips, if that’s what
Twitter tests Reddit-style upvote and downvote buttons
Twitter will test the use of Reddit-like upvote and downvote buttons as a way to better highlight the more interesting and relevant replies in a longer conversation thread. The company announced this
Amazon aims to inject new life into Alexa with release of developer tools and features
Amazon is giving its Alexa voice platform a shot in the arm after seeing further declines in skill growth over the past year, indicating lagging interest from third-party voice app developers. At the
YouTube to pilot test shopping from livestreams with select creators
YouTube will begin pilot testing a new feature that will allow viewers to shop for products directly from livestream videos. The feature will initially launch with just a handful of creators and brand
Twitter tests a TweetDeck revamp it hopes to make a subscription product
Twitter announced today it will begin testing a new set of features for TweetDeck, the company’s often-ignored social media dashboard aimed at Twitter’s power users, which Twitter may soon
Venmo removes its global, public feed as part of a major redesign
PayPal-owned payments app Venmo will no longer offer a public, global feed of users’ transactions, as part of a significant redesign focused on expanding the app’s privacy controls and bet
HBO Max to stream free episodes inside Snapchat for co-watching with friends
In a bid to boost sign-ups to its streaming service, HBO Max is partnering with Snap to bring free episodes from its original programing to Snapchat users in the U.S. The episodes will stream via a Sn
This Week in Apps: Android ad prices jump, TikTok resumes, Google Play’s antitrust lawsuit
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
SwoonMe uses avatars and audio for its ‘less superficial’ dating app
A new startup called SwoonMe aims to fix the problem with superficial dating apps, where users primarily make decisions based on how someone looks in their photos. Instead of swiping through profiles,
Repeat raises $6 million Series A for its service that makes reordering favorite products easier
Subscriptions have become a popular way to pay for digital services, like Netflix or Spotify, but they haven’t yet taken off as a means of reordering your everyday items or other household essen
Twitter shares its ideas around new privacy features, including a way to hide your account from searches
Twitter today has shared a few more ideas it’s thinking about in terms of new features around conversation health and privacy. This includes a one-stop “privacy check-in” feature tha
Amazon is now selling its own COVID-19 test kits for $39.99 in the U.S.
Amazon announced this morning it would begin to sell its own brand of COVID-19 at-home tests to Amazon shoppers in the U.S. The test retails for $39.99 on the Amazon.com website and is available to an
Roblox partners with Sony Music to connect artists with money-making activities in the metaverse
Video game platform Roblox announced this morning it has partnered with Sony Music Entertainment on a deal that will allow the two companies to work together to create music experiences for the Roblox
This Week in Apps: iOS 15 public beta arrives, Android App Bundles to replace APKs, app consumer spend hits new record
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
Twitter considers new features for tweeting only to friends, under different personas and more
Twitter has a history of sharing feature and design ideas it’s considering at very early stages of development. Earlier this month, for example, it showed off concepts around a potential “
Google update will allow digital COVID-19 vaccination cards and test results to be stored on Android devices
Google is making it possible to store digital versions of either COVID-19 test results or vaccination cards on users’ Android devices. The company on Wednesday announced it’s updating its
TikTok expands max video length to 3 minutes, up from 60 seconds
TikTok is embracing longer videos. The company announced this morning it will roll out the option to create videos of up to 3 minutes in length after first testing the change with a larger number of c
Women’s social network Peanut launches microfund StartHER to invest in pre-seed stage startups
Peanut, the maker of a social networking app for women, is entering into the investing space with today’s launch of a microfund called StartHER. As the name implies, the new fund will focus on
Common Sense Networks launches Sensical, a free, hand-curated streaming service for kids
Common Sense Media has made a name for itself among parents as a useful resource for vetting entertainment and technology in terms of its age-appropriateness. Now, the organization’s for-profit