This Week in Apps: Elon buys Twitter, new App Retailer guidelines, playing advertisements backlash

Welcome again to This Week in Apps, the weekly series that recaps the most recent in cellular OS information, cellular functions and the general app financial system.

World app spending reached $65 billion within the first half of 2022, up solely barely from the $64.4 billion throughout the identical interval in 2021, as hypergrowth fueled by the pandemic has slowed down. However general, the app financial system is constant to develop, having produced a record variety of downloads and client spending throughout each the iOS and Google Play shops mixed in 2021, in keeping with the latest year-end reports. World spending throughout iOS and Google Play final 12 months was $133 billion, and shoppers downloaded 143.6 billion apps.

This Week in Apps gives a technique to sustain with this fast-moving business in a single place with the most recent from the world of apps, together with information, updates, startup fundings, mergers and acquisitions, and way more.

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Musk buys Twitter

It’s official, Elon Musk now owns Twitter. In typical Musk trend, the transition has been nothing however chaotic, with the deal closing simply forward of the deadline set by the Delaware Chancery Courtroom — the court docket the place Musk was planning to attempt to exit the deal by claiming Twitter had misled him in regards to the variety of bots on the platform. (He was actually trying to get the value down, after all!) In any occasion, the Telsa and SpaceX exec now has a brand new toy and everyone seems to be ready to see what comes subsequent. Earlier, Musk had hinted at layoffs, then later retracted his statements, saying he wouldn’t fire 75% in any case. Nevertheless, he did instantly filter out the C-suite, together with CEO Parag Agrawal, CFO Ned Segal, Basic Counsel Sean Edgett and Head of Authorized, Belief and Security Vijaya Gadde — an indication that he’s planning to fill out Twitter’s high ranks with execs who will do his personal bidding and never combat for the Twitter of days previous.

Nonetheless, Musk’s discuss a Twitter that’s extra permissive of “free speech” doesn’t fairly align with his message to advertisers posted shortly after the deal’s shut: He promised entrepreneurs that Twitter can’t flip right into a “free-for-all hellscape.” That’s clearly a tacit acknowledgment on Musk’s half that advertisers don’t need to submit their content material subsequent to hate speech-filled tweets. And regardless of Musk’s plans to develop Twitter’s subscription enterprise, around 90% of Twitter’s income right now comes from promoting. Given what he needed to pay to personal Twitter, Musk most likely doesn’t need to need to pay to maintain it operating, too.

App Retailer Evaluation Pointers now give Apple a minimize of NFTs, in-app promoting

Together with the launch of iOS 16.1, Apple additionally introduced new App Retailer Evaluation Pointers. Among the many main adjustments had been two new rules designed to offer Apple a much bigger slice of the NFT market and Meta’s core promoting enterprise.

The corporate stated apps will likely be allowed to listing, mint, switch and let customers view their very own NFTs, however clarified that proudly owning an NFT couldn’t be a shortcut to unlocking any extra options in an app. In different phrases, the possession of an NFT shouldn’t be a technique to route round Apple’s in-app purchases. As well as, Apple stated NFT apps can’t show exterior hyperlinks or different calls-to-action to buy NFTs — that may solely happen by means of Apple’s personal in-app purchases system, as properly.

This modification is just not all that stunning. Because the web3 market grows, Apple wished to discover a technique to stake its declare on the income and transactions which are occuring inside these new apps. Plus, it’s a greater client expertise for NFT market apps to not simply perform as a showcase for customers’ purchases, however as a spot the place customers can truly transact.

The opposite large rule adjustment, nonetheless, is a little more startling. In a daring transfer, Apple basically stated it deserves a minimize of Meta’s advertisements enterprise in addition to some other social app. The brand new rule round social media apps now states that purchases of “boosts” need to move by means of Apple’s in-app buy system.

This might influence any app that sells the power to spice up a submit to a wider viewers, like Meta (Fb, Instagram), TikTok, Twitter, relationship apps and others. Meta, after all, took significant issue with this change, saying that Apple’s coverage undercuts others within the digital financial system after Apple had beforehand stated it wouldn’t take a share of developer advert income. Whereas Meta isn’t precisely a sympathetic participant right here, it’s regarding that Apple has determined it will possibly now tax promoting inside iOS apps on the identical time it runs its personal increasing advertisements enterprise. That looks as if a transfer regulators might want to look into asap.

App Retailer playing advertisements backlash

Talking of Apple’s advertisements enterprise…The corporate’s App Retailer advertisements platform expanded this week to incorporate new advert slots like the primary Right now tab and a “You May Additionally Like” part on the backside of particular person app listings. The slots can be found in all international locations as of October 25, besides China. The advertisements have a blue background and an “Advert” label to distinguish them from different listings.

Builders, nonetheless, had been instantly disturbed by the instant deluge of playing advertisements that appeared marketed alongside their very own, together with towards youngsters’ functions and, in no less than one case, a playing habit restoration app. This was a poor search for Apple. In spite of everything, the playing class itself is already controversial — many builders would slightly not share an app market with these typically predatory apps within the first place, a lot much less have them marketed alongside their very own.

Apple no less than moved rapidly to reply to the backlash by “pausing” playing advertisements and some different classes on App Retailer product pages, however the firm didn’t say how lengthy this pause would final or what it deliberate to do in regards to the scenario in the long run.

Spotify accuses Apple of anti-competitive habits, this time round audiobooks

Simply forward of its Q3 earnings, Spotify printed a blog post that once more accused Apple of anti-competitive habits with regard to its launch of audiobooks within the U.S. On an accompanying website, Spotify famous that its app replace to incorporate the audiobook enlargement was rejected thrice with out “clear path” as to what wanted to be modified to return into compliance. The location particulars Spotify’s criticisms of Apple’s platform, explaining how Apple requires audiobook purchases to make use of Apple’s personal in-app purchases — or, if promoting elsewhere, prevents Spotify from telling customers why, the place or find out how to make these purchases outdoors of iOS.

As a result of Spotify needs to keep away from the 30% IAP fee, it doesn’t let customers purchase audiobooks in its app. As an alternative, customers choose the e book they need to buy and are emailed a hyperlink that factors to a web site the place they will full the transaction.

“The Audiobooks buy move that Apple’s guidelines pressure us to supply shoppers right now is much too difficult and complicated — complicated as a result of they modify the foundations arbitrarily, making them unimaginable to interpret,” Spotify’s weblog submit acknowledged.

The corporate has recurrently battled with Apple over its App Retailer insurance policies however is usually seen as an unsympathetic sufferer attributable to its measurement, revenues and its function in transferring the music business to streaming, which artists say doesn’t pay.

Platforms: Apple

• Apple released iOS 16.1, iPadOS 16.1, macOS Ventura and watchOS 9.1. The up to date software program delivers new options like iCloud Shared Picture Library, Continuity Digicam, Stage Supervisor for the Mac and iPad, Reside Actions, Apple Health+ for iPhone and extra.
• Apple expanded its App Retailer advertisements platform to incorporate the primary Right now tab and a “You May Additionally Like” part on the backside of particular person app listings in all international locations on October 25, besides China. The advertisements have a blue background and an “Advert” label to distinguish them from different listings.
• SKAdNetwork 4.0, which lets advertisers measure advertisements’ success, became available in iOS 16.1 and iPadOS 16.1 this week.
• Apple additionally launched the primary betas of macOS Ventura 13.1, iOS 16.2, and iPadOS 16.2 which included the brand new Freeform app, introduced at WWDC. The app is a whiteboard app that permits you to create sketches notes, information, paperwork and extra, which might be accessed throughout gadgets.
• Apple reported its This autumn earnings with iPhone income up 9.67% YoY to $42.63 billion, Mac up 25.4% to $11.51 billion, however iPad income down 13.06% to $7.17 billion. Wall Avenue was anticipating iPhone income of $43.21 billion, sending the inventory down in late buying and selling. Different merchandise had been $9.65 billion (up 9.95%) and the Providers division, which incorporates the App Retailer, was up 4.98%.

Platforms: Google

• Google filed a quick opposing Epic and Match’s recent motion to amend and expand their antitrust claims within the ongoing antitrust lawsuit towards the Android maker. In it, Google disputes that its incentive program for builders to publish to the Play Retailer would prohibit builders from creating competing app shops, as alleged. It additionally famous the movement from Epic and Match comes too late, after the December 3, 2021 modification deadline.
• Google hosted its Android Developer Summit the place it introduced the first stable release of Compose Material 3, the library that permits builders to construct Jetpack Compose UIs with Materials Design 3.
• The corporate additionally announced updates throughout three essential areas of Jetpack: structure libraries and steerage, utility efficiency and person interface libraries and steerage. It famous that 90% of the highest 1,000 apps use Android Jetpack.
• Google launched a Gradle Invoice of Supplies (BOM) specifying the secure model of every Compose library. The primary BOM launch, Compose October 22, accommodates Materials Design 3 parts, lazy staggered grids, variable fonts, pull to refresh, snapping in lazy lists, draw textual content in canvas, URL annotations in textual content, hyphenation and LookAheadLayout. And it launched the first alpha of Compose for Android TV.
• Android Studio received updates, too, together with up to date templates for Put on OS. And Google launched a secure Android R emulator system picture for Put on OS.

E-commerce & Meals Supply

• The FTC sanctioned Uber-owned Drizly, an alcohol supply service, and its CEO Jason Rellas for knowledge safety abuses that noticed the private info of the corporate’s 2.5 million prospects uncovered. Drizly should implement a safety program, destroy pointless knowledge, implement new safety controls and prepare workers and cybersecurity.
• Amazon started letting choose U.S. prospects pay with Venmo on its web site and in its cellular app, with plans to roll out the help to all U.S. prospects by Black Friday.

Blockchain

• Twitter started testing a blockchain-agnostic software that permits customers to show their NFTs in tweets in partnership with Dapper Labs, Magic Eden, Rarible and Bounce.commerce. The characteristic is simply out there to pick customers right now.

Fintech

• PayPal added support for Apple Passkeys on iOS, iPadOS and macOS, with extra platforms to return. Passkeys are a brand new business commonplace created by the FIDO Alliance and the World Vast Internet Consortium — in partnership with Apple, Google and Microsoft — which are designed to exchange passwords.

Social

• New evaluation signifies India’s homegrown TikTok clones, like Moj and Josh, haven’t been able to replicate TikTok’s success within the nation following its ban, leaving Instagram and YouTube to take over the short-form video market domestically.
• Meta added Reels to Facebook Groups, noting that almost all Fb customers are members of no less than 15 lively teams and that there are 100 million-plus group joins daily.
• Snap reported its slowest quarterly income development ever within the third quarter. The social app maker missed analyst expectations with $1.13 billion in income, versus $1.14 billion anticipated, leading the stock to drop from $11 to $8 in late buying and selling on the day of the earnings announcement. DAUs, nonetheless, had been up 19% YoY (up 53 million) to 363 million in Q3. The corporate stated it additionally plans to close its San Francisco office, which was solely calmly used attributable to distant work insurance policies.
• The Snapchat app rolled out Director Mode, a characteristic providing TikTok-like instruments together with a inexperienced display screen, fast edit and digital camera velocity options, in addition to a BeReal-like twin digital camera mode.
• Pinterest reported its Q3 revenue was up 8% YoY to $684.6 million, above estimates of $666.7 million. Nevertheless, international MAUs remained flat YoY at 445 million, above estimates of 437.4 million. The inventory jumped 11% on the information.
• Meta announced its Q3 earnings with income down 4% YoY to $27.7 billion, web earnings down 52% YoY to $4.4 billion, DAUs throughout its apps up 4% YoY to 2.93 billion. The stock dropped 25% on the revenue decline as traders voiced issues about how a lot Meta is spending on its metaverse ambitions.

Relationship

• Bumble open sourced its AI, Private Detector, which the app makes use of to detect unsolicited nude photographs. (Get it?) The app offers the person the selection as as to whether or to not open the picture when a doubtlessly lewd picture is detected. Now different apps can entry the identical expertise.
• Match-owned relationship app Hinge will add a profile verification feature in November that can ask customers to take a video selfie within the app as a part of a crackdown on scammers.

Messaging

• Telegram stated it plans to auction usernames by way of the TON blockchain, a transfer impressed by an public sale for pockets usernames that noticed some promoting for as excessive as $200,000. Founder Pavel Durov urged different components of the Telegram ecosystem might turn into part of this market sooner or later, together with channels, stickers or emoji.
• Apple’s communication platforms, iMessage and FaceTime, went down on Tuesday afternoon, following an earlier more than two-hour outage from WhatsApp, making it a fairly dangerous day for making an attempt to textual content and name.
• WhatsApp now has 2+ billion DAUs, Meta introduced throughout its Q3 earnings.

Streaming & Leisure

• Apple raised prices for Apple Music, Apple TV+ and its Apple One bundle within the U.S. Apple TV+, which is getting its first worth hike, will enhance by $2 month-to-month and $10 yearly. Subscribers will likely be charged $6.99 per 30 days or $69 per 12 months. Apple Music is getting a worth enhance of $1 for particular person subscribers and $2 for households. The person plan will now be $10.99 per 30 days and the household plan will likely be $16.99 per 30 days. And the Apple One bundle will value $16.95/month, $22.95/month and $32.95/month, respectively, for the person plan, household plan and Premier plan.
• YouTube is raising the rates for its Premium Subscription for families throughout a number of international locations, together with the U.S., U.Okay., Canada and Argentina, efficient November 21. Within the U.S., the value goes up from $17.99 to $22.99. The plan permits as much as 5 relations to observe ad-free movies, obtain movies for offline entry and play movies within the background.
• Deezer additionally bumped its month-to-month premium worth to $10.99 within the U.S.
• Given the opponents’ will increase, Spotify’s CEO Daniel Ek famous on the earnings name that the company is considering a price hike as properly. Spotify’s revenue in Q3 was up 21% YoY to €3.04 billion, MAUs had been up 20% YoY to 456 million, and Premium subscriptions had been up 13% YoY to 195 million. However Spotify’s inventory dropped 6% after earnings attributable to a miss on promoting development.
• YouTube’s mobile app on iOS and Android got a makeover that features a new look, exact in search of, new buttons, ambient mode, darker darkish mode and a “pinch to zoom” characteristic to see extra particulars in a video. Later, the corporate rolled out an update across platforms that separated long-form, Shorts and Reside movies into their very own tabs on channel pages.

Gaming

• Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella stated that more than 20 million people have now streamed video games by means of Xbox Cloud Gaming, up from 10 million in April 2022. The gaming subscription service permits shoppers to stream video games to their cellphone by way of an internet browser. This 12 months, Microsoft introduced the favored sport Fortnite to the platform.
• TikTok is increasing additional into video games, according to the FT, which stated the app would add a devoted gaming tab by November 2, which might characteristic ad-supported cellular video games and in-app purchases.

Authorities & Coverage

• The U.Okay.’s Monetary Conduct Authority stated it plans to research Apple, Amazon, Google and Meta’s strikes into retail monetary companies over competitors and client hurt issues, the FT reported.
• Turkey’s competitors authority fined Meta 346.72 million lira ($18.6 million) for combining person knowledge throughout Fb, WhatsApp and Instagram.
• India’s antitrust watchdog, the Competitors Fee of India, fined Google $113 million for abusing the dominant place of its Google Play Retailer. It ordered the corporate to let app builders use third-party funds for in-app purchases or for buying apps and to drop any anti-steering tips. Google has three months to conform.

Safety & Privateness

• Sq. guardian firm Block was reported to be selling access to customers’ email addresses used to obtain receipts. Whereas not unlawful, privateness consultants argue this implies of promoting advertising and marketing info is “strolling a high-quality line,” per Protocol’s report.
• Apple patched a bug in iOS 16.1 and macOS Ventura that might have allowed apps with Bluetooth entry to document customers’ conversations with Siri with out requiring microphone entry.
• ’s Zack Whittaker supplied an inside look into TheTruthSpy, the stalkerware operation that’s spying on 1000’s of individuals worldwide, together with within the U.S., by way of Android apps planted by somebody with bodily entry to an individual’s machine. Leaked knowledge from the operation contains name logs, texts, location knowledge and different private information.

💰Free banking app Crowded raised $6 million in seed funding led by Storage, with participation from Deel co-founder Philippe Bouaziz, Innoventure Companions’ Michael Marks and a gaggle of former financial institution executives. The app targets member-based nonprofits, like fraternities, sororities and booster golf equipment.

💰Onward, an app designed to assist co-parents navigate and managed their shared bills, raised $9.7 million in Collection A funding led by Atlanta-based TTV Capital.

💰Joro, an app that helps folks monitor and cut back their carbon footprints, raised a $10 million Series A led by present traders Sequoia Capital and Amasia. Additionally taking part had been Norrsken, Nest co-founder Matt Rogers’ Incite, Jay-Z’s Arrive and Mike Einziger, the lead guitarist of Incubus.

Duolingo Math

Language-learning firm Duolingo formally launched its math app to the general public this week, following beta trials. The app represents the primary enlargement past language studying and literacy for the corporate. The app permits customers to decide on between an elementary model that focuses on fundamental ideas like multiplication and division and an grownup model that’s extra optimized for “mind coaching” workout routines that put expertise into observe. A future model might even develop into higher-level math, like linear algebra or college-level math. The app is remaining free to make use of in the interim.

Pixel Friends

Apollo developer Christian Selig thought he’d have a bit enjoyable with the brand new iOS 16 characteristic, Dynamic Island, so he added a characteristic to his standard Reddit shopper known as “Pixel Pals” that allow customers accumulate and take care of small, animated pets that run atop the black bar on the high of the display screen. The characteristic took off as folks adopted their pixelated pets, fed them and performed with them to earn their love.

Taking a cue from customers’ curiosity, Selig launched a standalone app for Pixel Friends, which now permits pet house owners to do extra with their animated mates, together with pinning them to the House Display screen as clear widgets, including them to the Lock Display screen as animated widgets and having fun with them by means of iOS 16’s Reside Actions, amongst different issues. If something, the app works to exhibit iOS 16’s new options in a intelligent and entertaining manner. Customers appear to get pleasure from the brand new expertise, too — as Selig famous this week, the app hit the highest 3 within the Graphics & Design class on the App Retailer.