This Week in Apps: Google, Apple, Pinterest, Android Updates

The Ever-Evolving World of Mobile Apps

Welcome back to This Week in Apps, the definitive TechCrunch series dedicated to recapping the latest developments in mobile operating systems, applications, and the broader app economy.

The app industry demonstrates continued expansion, achieving a record 218 billion downloads and $143 billion in global consumer expenditure during 2020. Consumers also dedicated 3.5 trillion minutes to utilizing apps on Android devices alone last year. Furthermore, app usage within the U.S. has surpassed the time spent viewing live television.

The Economic Impact of Apps

Apps are not merely a source of entertainment; they represent a substantial business opportunity. Companies prioritizing mobile platforms held a combined valuation of $544 billion in 2019, a figure 6.5 times greater than those without a mobile focus. In 2020, investors channeled $73 billion into mobile companies, marking a 27% year-over-year increase.

This Week in Apps provides a centralized resource for staying informed about this rapidly changing industry, offering the latest news, updates, startup funding announcements, merger and acquisition details, and recommendations for new apps and games.

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Top Stories

Google Adjusts Play Store Commissions

⭐️ Google is reducing its Play Store commissions. A significant change has been announced by Google, lowering commissions on subscription-based apps to 15% from the outset, a departure from the previous structure of 30% for the first year, followed by a reduction to 15% thereafter. Additionally, apps participating in the new Play Media Experience Program may see commissions lowered to as little as 10%.

This program encompasses applications where content costs constitute the majority of sales, including those offering video streaming, music, and e-books. Google, itself a competitor in these areas, faces increasing regulatory scrutiny globally and is currently involved in legal disputes concerning app store fees, including a case in the U.S. with Epic Games. These new fees will take effect on January 1, 2022, following Google’s earlier reduction of commissions from 30% to 15% on the first $1 million in developer earnings. Google states that 99% of developers will qualify for a service fee of 15% or less. Data from Sensor Tower indicates that Google Play generated $38.8 billion in overall consumer spending in 2020, resulting in $11.6 billion in in-app purchase revenue.

Apple Updates App Store Guidelines

⭐️ Apple has introduced a revised set of App Store Guidelines, incorporating three key modifications, including changes to anti-steering rules. One of these changes stems from a previously announced settlement agreement with a class of U.S. app developers. The updated guidelines clarify that developers are permitted to communicate with their customers regarding alternative payment methods available outside of their app.

Relatedly, another new guideline explains that apps may request customer information, such as name and email address, but this request must be optional for the user and should not impede their ability to use the app. The third guideline is independent of legal proceedings and simply details how developers can utilize a new App Store feature, called in-app events, which will be rolled out next week.

Trump Announces New Social Networking App

⭐️ Donald Trump has announced plans to launch a new social networking app, aptly named Truth Social. The former president was banned from major social platforms following the January 6th attack on the Capitol, due to his use of the platforms to incite violence.

According to a press release this week, Trump Media and Technology Group will merge with a SPAC called Digital World Acquisition Group to launch Truth. However, it has been revealed that the new network is actually a fork of the open-source Mastodon codebase. Mastodon is released under the AGPLv3 license, which mandates that the code and its modifications be made public. Truth has not complied with this requirement, despite evidence and investigations clearly referencing Mastodon. Instead, the Truth website falsely claims that all its source code is proprietary. This constitutes a violation of the Mastodon licensing agreement, and the organization is now seeking legal counsel. Ironically, Truth is beginning with a falsehood.

Android Apps on Windows 11

⭐️ Android applications are now available on Windows 11. Microsoft this week initiated testing of Android apps on Windows. The company has made approximately 50 Android apps available to Windows 11 Insider Program users, including the Amazon Kindle app, The Washington Post app, Clash of Kings, Coin Master, and Lego Duplo World. These apps will function on both AMD and Intel devices, utilizing the Windows Subsystem for Android (powered by Intel Bridge Technology). PCs will require virtualization enabled and must be running Windows 11, along with an Amazon account to access the Amazon Appstore. The crucial question now is: will users embrace these apps?

Google Launches Pixel 6 and Android 12

⭐️ Google has unveiled its new Pixel 6 smartphones and released Android 12 to the public. Android 12 represents a significant update to the look and feel of Android, introducing a themeable, personalized design language called Material You. This allows users to quickly and easily customize the entire appearance of their phone, including the lock screen, settings, notifications, widgets, and apps. It also incorporates enhanced accessibility and privacy features, new widgets, improved enterprise capabilities, and other tools.

Weekly News

Platforms: Apple

Apple introduced Tech Talks 2021, a series of over 100 online sessions and 1,500 office hours designed to assist developers building apps and games. These Tech Talks will be conducted over the next eight weeks and across various time zones. Office hours will focus on areas such as App Review, Evangelism, App Store Connect, and Developer Technical Support, offering developers 30-minute consultations to address issues and gain a better understanding of guidelines and tools. Participation in these sessions is free for members of the Apple Developer Program and the Apple Developer Enterprise Program.

Alongside its new Macs, Apple launched a $4.99/month version of its Apple Music service, accessible solely through Siri. This offering is likely intended primarily for use with HomePod (or potentially AirPods), providing subscribers with an Apple Music interface displaying suggestions based on their preferences and recently played music.

Apple will roll out software updates across all platforms next week. The company announced this in a press release for AirPods (third gen.), noting that iOS 15.1, iPadOS 15.1, watchOS 8.1, tvOS 15.1, and macOS Monterey will all be released in the coming week.

With the release of iOS 15.1, Apple announced that developers will be able to make their in-app events discoverable directly on the App Store. Developers can create these events in App Store Connect and schedule their appearance. This feature will provide app creators with a more effective way to showcase events such as game competitions, movie premieres, and livestreamed experiences, beginning on October 27.

Platforms: Google

Google also announced Pixel Pass, an all-inclusive subscription combining a new Pixel phone with access to Google’s premium services. Available at $45 per month for the Pixel 6 and $55 per month for the Pixel 6 Pro, the service includes YouTube Premium, YouTube Music Premium, 200 GB of cloud storage with Google One, Google Store discounts, and a Google Play Pass subscription for ad-free apps and games.

Among the new features debuting on Pixel 6 is an updated Phone app that displays estimated wait times for toll-free numbers and guides callers through business phone trees using Google Assistant to interpret options and present them as text.

Pixel 6 will also introduce Quick Tap, a feature adding a camera-only version of Snapchat directly to the device’s lock screen. This simplifies and accelerates photo capture for sharing on Snap, representing a unique approach to app pre-loads by integrating it as a device feature rather than bloatware.

Google Play now allows app developers to complete their “Data Safety” information for the section that will appear on the Play Store in February. Once live, users will be able to view details about the data collected by the app and how developers intend to use that data alongside the app’s listing.

E-commerce

WhatsApp rolled out a new Collections feature to streamline shopping within its app. Collections enable businesses to organize items in their catalogs by category, allowing customers to easily find what they’re looking for without scrolling through extensive lists.

Spotify partnered with Shopify to allow artists to sell their merchandise through their profiles in the Spotify app. This integration will enable artists to synchronize their product catalogs with Spotify and feature three items on their profiles. Spotify has a similar integration with Merchbar.

Walmart is testing shopping via text message. Walmart’s R&D group, Store Nº8, is piloting a feature called Walmart Text to Shop with customers in select markets to explore the potential of conversational commerce.

Augmented Reality

Snap announced the launch of Arcadia, a global creative studio dedicated to helping brands deliver AR advertising and experiences that can be shared across web platforms and app-based AR environments beyond Snapchat itself. This studio, functioning as a division of Snap, will collaborate 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 showcase AR experiences.

Fintech

Facebook launched its digital wallet app Novi into a pilot program enabling users to trade the Paxos Dollar (USDP), a stablecoin tied to USD created by Paxos. Coinbase will provide custody services for the program, initially available in the U.S. and Guatemala to facilitate cross-border money transfers. However, Novi will not initially utilize the Diem Association’s stablecoin Diem, as Facebook awaits regulatory approval. The app is available on iOS and Android.

Social

Pinterest is emulating TikTok and announcing $20 million in creator rewards. Pinterest has been repositioning itself as a hub for creators, not just a source of shopping inspiration. This week, it expanded these efforts with TikTok-inspired features, including a vertical video feed featuring 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,” along with expanded creator tools, support for the Amazon Associates affiliate program, and the launch of its own original content.

Snap shares dropped 22% after the app missed revenue expectations in its Q3 earnings. Snap generated $1.07 billion in revenue, falling short of the $1.10 billion forecast by Refinitiv. The company attributed its advertising business being more significantly impacted than anticipated by Apple’s privacy changes. DAUs increased to 306 million from 293 million in the prior quarter.

Instagram added “Collabs,” new music features, support for posting from the desktop web, and new fundraiser features in a series of updates. Collabs allow users to co-author both Feed posts and Reels. To do so, users can invite another account to collaborate from the tagging screen on Instagram. If the other person accepts, both accounts will appear in the post or Reel header, and content will be shared to both sets of followers. It also added new effects called Superbeat and Dynamic Lyrics. Superbeat intelligently applies special effects to music in sync with the song’s beat, while Dynamic Lyrics displays 3D lyrics.

Facebook is testing a new option for cross-posting Facebook Feed posts to Instagram. Users with this option will be able to cross-post single photos, single videos, or multi-photo albums (up to 10 photos) to Instagram. Formats like GIFs, polls, photo albums with more than 10 photos, Feed reshares, and text-only posts are not eligible for cross-posting.

Twitter rolled out the ability for anyone to host a Space on iOS and Android. Previously, hosting Spaces was limited to accounts with at least 600 followers. Twitter is also rolling out the dedicated Spaces tab to more users on iOS, but it is not yet available on Android. It also added the ability to subscribe to people’s Revue newsletters from the Timeline.

TikTok reported that its videos longer than 1 minute have received over 5 billion views globally, with videos exceeding 2 minutes averaging the most views. This format is most popular in Vietnam, Thailand, and Japan, while U.S., U.K., and Brazilian users 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 simultaneously. At launch, over 70 group effects are available, including a game where participants compete to build the best burger the fastest. Facebook says the feature will soon be available on Instagram.
• 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 become audio-only next month as part of a major update to the YouTube Music app. However, the music will continue to stream in the background when the app is minimized or the phone screen is off as part of the free service, while videos will become a paid feature.
• YouTube surpassed $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 existing headphones and select devices supporting 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 access to a new tool for creators, enabling 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 initially 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 content soon.

Gaming

• Google’s Stadia game-streaming service is transitioning to a white-label model. The company previously announced it would offer its services to partners, and now AT&T Wireless customers can stream “Batman: Arkham Knight” from their browser…but on their desktop, not phone (surprisingly). This is the first real-world example of Stadia’s white-labeling, with more likely to follow.
• App Annie updated 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 delivered entirely on a phone. The app is designed to help teens manage depression by encouraging them to track their feelings and schedule activities that promote well-being.

Travel & Transportation

• Bolt Mobility launched in-app navigation for its shared e-scooters. The system, called MobilityOS, is accessed via a smartphone mounted to and charged by the scooter. The mounts will roll out to the next-generation scooters, the “Bolt Two.”
• Lyft reported receiving over 4,000 reports of sexual assault, including 360 reports of rape, on its app from 2017-2019. These findings were revealed in the company’s first-ever safety report, 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 removed because it was being used to access news stories from media outlets 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 access prayer-related information.
• TikTok and Snap will testify before Congress for the first time next week as part of lawmakers’ investigation into the impact of Big Tech platforms on children’s safety. (Snap will likely discuss its plans for a new family center in its app, which will offer some 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 reported fixing a vulnerability that made some WeChat content accessible to Google and Bing, both of which are blocked in China. Prior to the announcement, there was speculation that Beijing regulators had achieved a victory in their efforts to prevent tech firms from creating walled gardens that restrict rivals from accessing data in each other’s services.
• Google’s Play Protect service is now a standalone app with Android 12. This safety service scans for malware on your device and may be easier to update as a separate application.

Funding and M&A

🤝 A Bloomberg report that Pinterest could be acquired by PayPal for $39 billion drove Pinterest stock up 19%. Investors appear to favor the idea of transforming the inspirational shopping platform into a payments pipeline.

🤝 Twitter acquired London-based group chat app Sphere. The app was founded by Tomas Halgas and Nick D’Aloisio — who previously founded news summary app Summly, which he sold to Yahoo at the age of 17 for a reported $30 million. Deal terms were not disclosed, but Sphere’s team of 20 will join Twitter, and the app will be shut down.

🤝 Pear Sports acquired the popular workout app Aaptiv, which has 13 million downloads and has seen over 36 million classes taken. The app will continue to operate, and Pear says it will further invest in the product by integrating it with Pear Training Intelligence and bringing it to employers. Deal terms were not shared.

💰 Customer engagement platform Batch raised $23 million in its first-ever round led by Expedition Growth Capital with Orange Ventures participating after years of bootstrapping. Batch originated from the same team behind AppGratis and began as a managed push notification platform for iOS, Android, and the web. It then expanded to become a martech platform that integrates with existing data sources, including CRM, CDP, and analytics products. The company now counts 300 enterprise clients.

💰 Indian social media app Lokal raised $12 million in a Series A funding round led by Tencent, according to a source. The hyperlocal app helps users connect, find jobs, and stay informed about local information.

💰 Venezuelan delivery super app Yummy raised $18 million in Series A funding led by Anthos Capital. The app combines food delivery and ridesharing and now has over 200,000 registered users.

💰 Indian fintech CRED, which helps users improve their credit by paying their credit cards on time, raised $251 million in Series E funding. The round was led by existing investors Tiger Global and Falcon Edge. Marshall Wace, Steadfast DST Global, Insight Partners, Coatue, Sofina, RTP, and Dragoneer also participated. The round values the business at $4.01 billion.

💰 Neobank Zopa raised $300 million in what it calls a pre-IPO round led by SoftBank that values the business at $1 billion. The bank offers a savings account along with credit and loan products and counts some 500,000 users in the U.K. The company’s current run rate is £85 million ($116 million), and expects to be profitable this year.

💰 Neobank N26 raised $900 million in Series E funding for its digital banking service that reaches 7 million clients in 25 countries.

💰 South Korean travel tech startup Yanolja acquired a 70% stake in a listed South Korean e-commerce company, Interpark, for approximately $250 million. Yanolja aims to compete with foreign travel tech platforms by building a “super app” that will include more lifestyle services alongside hotel, car, tickets, and other travel booking services.

💰 Mobile wallet provider Citcon raised $30 million in Series C funding led by Norwest Venture Partners and Cota Capital. The company allows merchants to accept payments online, in-store, or inside apps — the latter of which also includes chat integration and support for WeChat Pay, WhatsApp, and others.

💰 Mobile data intelligence startup Embrace raised $45 million in Series B funding led by NEA. The company’s Data Intelligence product helps organizations make their mobile data accessible and actionable by their business intelligence and data science teams so that other departments can use the data when making decisions about new products and marketing campaigns.

📈 Kakao Pay, South Korea’s largest payments app, raised 1.53 trillion won ($1.3 billion) in its IPO after pricing shares at the top of a marketed range. The company sold its shares at 90,000 won apiece, after originally marketing 17 million shares for 60,000 to 90,000 won each.

🤝 Mobile games company Scopely announced it’s acquiring GSN Games, a division of Game Show Network, LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Sony Pictures Entertainment, for approximately $1 billion. The deal is being paid half in cash and half in preferred equity. GSN Games operates a portfolio of free-to-play mobile and online games, including Solitaire TriPeaks, Bingo Bash, and others. It has 400 employees worldwide.

💰 Game development studio Kazoo Games, which focuses on casual and midcore mobile games, closed on $12 million in Series A funding led by Garena. The funds will be used to advance development, hire new talent, and prepare for the release of future titles for iOS and Google Play.

Downloads

Artiphon debuted an app called Orbacam that allows you to create “Musical Selfies.” The app is intended 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 costs $100. (Read the full review on TechCrunch)