Mobile

The number of emoji subscription purchases on the South Korean messaging app KakaoTalk has dropped by a third over the year, parent firm Kakao said in quarterly earnings call Thursday, blaming Google’s new in-app payment policy, which forces apps to use Android-maker’s own billing system. KakaoTalk’s Emoticon Plus subscription service, which costs approximately $3.8 per

A new app for iPhone users can help you browse the web without being constantly bothered by pop-up panels that beg you to use the company’s app instead. The app, called Banish, is an Safari extension that helps remove the “open in app” banners from various websites and other popups that block content across a

A popular anonymous social app that was misleading its users with fake messages has been forced to change. The top-ranked app NGL, which became the No. 1 app on the U.S. App Store in June, quietly rolled out an update yesterday that sees it now informing users when they receive messages that aren’t from their

It has become something of a tradition: Samsung announces an Unpacked and all or most of the big products get teased out in leaks in the weeks leading up to event. Sometimes the leaks come before the event announcement, sometimes after, but any hope of keeping its biggest news under wraps appears to have largely

ByteDance may be preparing for a global launch of TikTok Music service, according to trademarks filed in several countries found by TechCrunch. The China-based conglomerate has filed TikTok Music trademark in countries like the U.K., Singapore, New Zealand, Mexico, Malaysia and Costa Rica. This comes after a Business Insider report last week, which pointed toward a

Starbucks will unveil its web3 initiative, which includes coffee-themed NFTs, at next month’s Investor Day event. The company earlier this year announced its plans to enter the web3 space, noting its NFTs wouldn’t just serve as digital collectibles, but would provide their owners with access to exclusive content and other perks. At the time, Starbucks

Twitter is developing an updated version of its audio chat rooms product known as Spaces, TechCrunch learned and Twitter confirmed. The company said it’s currently working a new experiment for the Twitter Spaces tab in its app, but declined to discuss the specifics of that change. However, screenshots of one of the earlier versions of

Way back in March, Samsung joined a growing number of hardware makers announcing self-repair initiatives. The list, which includes similar offers from both Apple and Google, finds companies proactively reacting to potential right to repair legislation. Both Samsung and Google teamed up with popular repair site iFixit for their offerings, providing low-cost tools to fix

Dating giant Match Group announced a series of changes to Tinder’s management team alongside the announcement of disappointing second-quarter earnings on Tuesday. Notably, Tinder CEO Renate Nyborg will be departing the company after less than a year in the top job. Match Group is also killing Tinder’s plans to adopt new technology, like virtual currencies

Instagram may be worried about TikTok’s threat to its business, but in the near-term, it’s still far ahead when it comes to the influencer marketing dollars spent on its platform in the U.S. According to a new analyst report, Instagram is on track to capture nearly 3x the amount of influencer marketing spend compared to

Pinterest may be best known for shopping inspiration and design ideas, but the company’s newest product wants to inspire its users to tap into their own creativity. The company has quietly launched a new iOS app called Shuffles for putting together collages using photos, image cutouts and other animated effects. The app is currently in

If Pinterest is a bellwether of consumer spending, things are not looking up just yet. Still, investors in the social network rallied as Q2 revenue came in roughly in line with expectations and user declines were not as horrible as they thought. That’s not to say Pinterest’s earnings were good. Pinterest missed on earnings and

Spotify is updating its app to address a long-standing user complaint with music playback — but it’s asking customers to pay for the fix. The company announced today it will introduce, at last, a separate Play Button and a Shuffle Button at the top of albums playlists to make it easier to play the music

Today, digital world maker Stadium Live Studios, Inc. announced its $10 million Series A funding round to continue its mission of bringing fantasy sports to a younger generation. The Canadian startup was founded in 2020 by Kevin Kim and Paul Xu with the goal of gamifying the sports fandom and building a “digital playground” of

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. Global app spending reached $65 billion in the first half of 2022, up only slightly from the $64.4 billion during the same period in 2021, as hypergrowth fueled by

New numbers from Counterpoint Research paint a rough picture for China’s smartphone market. Things show a steady climb, dating back to the iPhone 5’s 2012 launch, before peaking in December 2016 and beginning their descent back down to Earth. Sales in China dropped sharply in Q2 at 14.2%, year over year. The numbers are now

TikTok wants to determine its users’ appetite for mobile gaming with the launch of “mini-games” that can be played inside the social video app and discovered through creators’ videos. TechCrunch learned and has now confirmed TikTok’s new gaming pilot quietly launched just weeks ago with a variety of new partners, including game developers Vodoo, Nitro

Amazon’s consumer-focused storage service, Amazon Drive, will wind down over the next year, Amazon announced today. In an email to users, the company said that it was taking the opportunity to “more fully focus” its efforts on Amazon Photos, Amazon’s answer to iCloud Photos and Google Photos. Amazon Drive customers have until December 31, 2023

Twitter is starting a new test that allows users to post images, videos, and GIFs in one multimedia tweet. Until now, users could post only one form of media per tweet. But this new format will shake things up and let people combine multiple formats in one tweet. The company confirmed the test and said

Snapchat’s recent move into premium subscriptions has gained a bit of traction in its first weeks on the market. Though the social app maker just last week reported a disappointing second quarter with an earnings miss amid a weak advertising landscape, its brand-new subscription Snapchat+ has already helped the app rake in over $5 million

YouTube wants to quickly ramp up the number of short-form “Shorts” videos available on its platform in order to better compete with TikTok. To aid with this effort, the company is today rolling out a new creator tool that turns existing YouTube videos into Shorts in a matter of moments. The update, now available on

Snapchat has launched a new in-app game called Ghost Phone designed to showcase the company’s AR technology by allowing players to discover the secrets of an abandoned phone and hunt supernatural beings around them. To launch the game, users can either head to Snapchat’s Lens Explorer and find the Lens called Ghost Phone, tap the

Today, the National Football League launched its streaming service NFL+ which has been officially priced at $4.99 per month or $39.99 per year. However, with this launch, the outgoing NFL Game Pass will no longer be offered in the United States. The NFL+ subscription will include all live out-of-market preseason games, live local and primetime

Google is again delaying plans to phase out Chrome’s use of third-party cookies — the files websites use to remember preferences and track online activity. In a blog post, Anthony Chavez, Google’s VP of Privacy Sandbox, said that the company is now targeting the “second half of 2024” as the timeframe for adopting an alternative

A new report detailing the cost of mobile data in different markets across the world, bears the evidence of why internet use in most of Africa remains low despite the growing broadband internet coverage. The Worldwide Mobile Pricing 2022 report, which surveyed 233 countries, shows that five of the 10 most expensive countries to buy

Butlr, an MIT Media Lab spinout developing sensors that use body heat to estimate office occupancy, today announced that it raised $20 million in a Series A round with participation from Carrier Global Corporation (a strategic investor), Tiger Global, Primetime Partners, E14, Unionlabs, Hyperplane and Tectonic Ventures. Co-founder and CEO Honghao Deng said that the

Datch, a company that develops AI-powered voice assistants for industrial customers, today announced that it raised $10 million in a Series A round led by Blackhorn Ventures. The proceeds will be used to expand operations, CEO Mark Fosdike said, as well as develop new software support, tools and capabilities. Datch started when Fosdike, who has

Cordial, a cross-channel marketing and data management platform, today announced that it closed a $50 million Series C funding round led by NewSpring, with participation from new investor ABS Capital. Jeremy Swift, Cordial’s CEO and co-founder, said that the fresh capital will be used to expand the company’s global footprint, launch new platform features and

Tuned, Meta’s social app for couples, is winding down a little over two years after it launched. Users, including this reporter, began receiving a notification about the impending shutdown last week, advising them to download their data before September 19 when the app will cease to work. Tuned was a project under Meta’s New Product

When Charles Onu’ cousin was both born with birth asphyxia and later developed a hearing condition, the seed for Ubenwa, an audio biometric company geared at identifying neurological disorders in infants, was also planted.  Onu, CEO and co-founder, said he hopes Ubenwa will change the way physicians provide care to infants.  “We’re trying to bring