In the U.K., a 12-month grace period for compliance with a design code aimed at protecting children online expires today — meaning app makers offering digital services in the market which are “likely” to be accessed by children (defined in this context as users under 18 years old) are expected to comply with a set […]
How a Vungle-owned mobile marketer sent Fontmaker to the top of the App Store
Does this sound familiar? An app goes viral on social media, often including TikTok, then immediately climbs to the top of the App Store where it gains even more new installs thanks to the heightened exposure. That’s what happened with the recent No. 1 on the U.S. App Store, Fontmaker, a subscription-based fonts app which […]
Facebook enters the fantasy gaming market
Facebook is getting into fantasy sports and other types of fantasy games. The company this morning announced the launch of Facebook Fantasy Games in the U.S. and Canada on the Facebook app for iOS and Android. Some games are described as “simpler” versions of the traditional fantasy sports games already on the market, while others […]
TikTok’s new Creator Marketplace API lets influencer marketing companies tap into first-party data
TikTok is making it easier for brands and agencies to work with the influencers using its service. The company is rolling out a new “TikTok Creator Marketplace API,” which allows marketing companies to integrate more directly with TikTok’s Creator Marketplace, the video app’s in-house influencer marketing platform. On the Creator Marketplace website, launched in late […]
TikTok owner ByteDance buys a top virtual reality hardware startup
TikTok parent company ByteDance seem to be looking to one-up Facebook anywhere it can. After taking over the mantle of most-downloaded social media app in the world with TikTok, ByteDance is coming for Facebook’s moonshot, buying up its own virtual reality headset maker called Pico. The deal first reported on by Bloomberg last week was […]
TikTok bans viral ‘milk crate challenge’ over safety concerns
TikTok has banned the popular “milk crate challenge” from its platform due to concerns that users participating in the trend could be seriously injured. The challenge saw TikTok users stacking milk crates into a pyramid and then attempting to climb across the unstable structure. A spokesperson from the company told TechCrunch in an email that […]
Milk crate challenge has doctors warning it’s ‘worse than falling from a ladder’
Experts say dangerous injuries can occur as videos of people falling off precariously stacked crates go viral on social mediaThe latest challenge to take the internet by storm involves milk crates, balance and some painful falls.In the milk crate chall…
TikTok is building its own AR development platform, TikTok Effect Studio
Both Facebook and Snap offer tools that allow developers to build out augmented reality (AR) experiences and features for their own respective family of apps. Now, TikTok is looking to do the same. The company recently launched a new creative toolset called TikTok Effect Studio, currently in private beta testing, which will allow its own […]
As ‘finfluencers’ spread through social media, beware the pitfalls
YouTube, Instagram and TikTok are full of finance ‘experts’ promising riches to the young and credulousDepending on where you look on social media, making money seems to be straightforward. Learning how to buy a property in the UK with no money, or get…
This Week in Apps: OnlyFans bans sexual content, SharePlay delayed, TikTok questioned over biometric data collection
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 […]