YouTube announced earlier this year it would begin pilot testing livestream shopping with a handful of select creators. Now, the company is ready for a larger test of its live shopping platform with plans to host a week-long live shopping event, “YouTube Holiday Stream and Shop,” starting on November 15. The event will allow viewers […]
Tile unveils its new product lineup, including its upcoming Apple AirTag rival, Tile Ultra
Following Tile’s recent close on $40 million in debt financing, the company today is introducing its latest lineup of lost-item trackers, including the long-promised ultra wideband powered tracker aimed to compete with Apple AirTag, Tile Ultra. This product, though being officially announced, is not yet available for purchase. Instead, the company’s first updates include the […]
One-time TikTok rival Byte relaunches as Clash, an app for video creators and their top fans
When the Trump administration announced it would ban TikTok in the U.S., a number of alternative short-form video apps began to flourish, as users hedged their bets on a potential TikTok exit. Among these was Byte, an app co-created by Vine co-founder Dom Hofmann, which topped 1.3 million downloads in its first week alone. But […]
This Week in Apps: Facebook outage boosts rivals, Apple’s best and worst apps, ‘Report a Problem’ returns to App Store
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. […]
Epic Games CEO Tim Sweeney calls out Apple for promoting its services in the iPhone Settings screen
Epic Games CEO Tim Sweeney, whose high-profile antitrust lawsuit against Apple is now under appeal, is today calling out the iPhone maker for giving itself access to an advertising slot its competitors don’t have: the iPhone’s Settings screen. Some iOS 15 users noticed Apple is now advertising its own services at the top of their […]
Welcome debuts a smarter city guide app on iOS, backed by $3.5M led by Accel
When you’re exploring a city — whether one you’re visiting on your travels or your own — there are a number of tools that can help you find out where to go, what to see and what to do, like Google Maps, Yelp, TripAdvisor and others. But a startup called Welcome thinks that today’s set […]
In hopes of App Store changes, Paddle develops an alternative to Apple’s payments system
Paddle, a solutions provider subscription-based businesses, is betting on a future where App Store developers are able to use third-party payment systems — and it wants to be among the first to market with an alternative once such a system is permitted. The company today announced a new in-app purchasing (IAP) system aimed at iOS […]
Instagram ditches the IGTV brand, combines everything but Reels into an ‘Instagram Video’ format
Instagram head Adam Mosseri recently said was “no longer a photo-sharing app,” noting the company was prioritizing a shift into video amid significant competition from TikTok and YouTube. Today, Instagram is taking another step towards its larger goal of making video a more central part of the Instagram experience with news that it will now […]
Mark Cuban-backed live entertainment app Fireside launches to creators
Amid a deluge of new creator platforms, a startup called Fireside is launching today with what it believes will be a compelling proposition for professional creators in need of a more robust set of tools for content creation, distribution, measurement, and monetization. The service, which offers a platform for live and interactive shows, had been […]
Stories as a service: Storyteller lets anyone add Stories to their own apps or website
Pioneered by Snapchat and cloned by Instagram, the “Stories” feature has become a staple for modern-day mobile apps from Google search to Pinterest to streaming apps and more. And while the addition doesn’t work for everyone — LinkedIn and Twitter recently shuttered their Stories features, for example — there’s enough demand for Stories out there […]