Following moves by major tech platforms to better protect minors using their platforms, Snapchat is preparing to introduce its own set of “family engagement” tools in the coming months. Snap CEO Evan Spiegel teased the planned offering during an interview at the WSJ Tech Live conference this week, where he explained that the new product […]
Amazon’s Fire TV news app now offers local channels in 60 more cities
Amazon announced on Wednesday that its news app on Fire TV is expanding local coverage to 158 cities across the U.S. The app, which launched last year, is a customizable news aggregator preinstalled on all Fire TV streaming media players and smart TVs in the U.S. It initially rolled out in 12 cities and expanded […]
What we can learn from China’s mobile gaming economy
Last year was a big one for China’s mobile scene as app publishers found new audiences and explored new advertising channels, many of which are here to stay.
Tinder is releasing a new ‘Plus One’ feature to help users find a wedding date
Tinder announced on Thursday that it’s rolling out a new way for its users to find a plus one for the upcoming end-of-year wedding season. Starting today, users will be able to join the “Plus One” option within the app to signal that they are either looking for a date to a wedding or are […]
WhatsApp now lets users encrypt their chat backups in the cloud
WhatsApp is beginning to roll out a new feature that will provide its two billion users the option to encrypt their chat history backup in iCloud or Google Drive, patching a major loophole that has been exploited by governments to obtain and review private communication between individuals. WhatsApp has long encrypted chats between users on […]
Memberful, a Patreon subsidiary, launches a newsletter product to challenge Substack
Between Facebook outages and Twitch data breaches, last week was bumpy for social platforms and the creators who build businesses on them. As internet creators look to diversify their income streams and retain ownership over their audiences, membership software maker Memberful is launching a newsletter feature today to add to its subscription membership services. While […]
FitOn pumps up its fitness platform with $18M in Delta-v Capital-led funding
Digital fitness and wellness company FitOn was created to provide 15- or 20-minute workouts aimed at getting people moving in whatever time they can make.
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 […]
Mobile gaming startup Homa Games raises $50 million
Just days after Voodoo acquired Beach Bum, another French mobile gaming company has news to share. Homa Games is raising a $50 million Series A round led by Northzone. The company partners with indie game studios and acts as a publisher. Other investors in today’s funding round include Singular, King, the founders of FuboTV and […]
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. […]