Mobile

Waldo, a photo-sharing platform that has historically targeted businesses, schools, camps, sports leagues, and other organizations, is capitalizing on the growing anti-Facebook sentiment to promote its newly launched consumer product. The company today is introducing a service aimed at private photo-sharing among family and friends which it’s promoting as an “ad-free, non-toxic” and private alternative

Gift-giving is not always easy, but Goody wants to make it as easy as sending a text. The Miami-based company launched in December 2020 with a curated list of gifts from robes to cookies to succulents to spa treatments. You can choose a gift without having to know what size is needed, and the recipient

Runway, a startup that emerged from the challenges that faced Rent the Runway’s first iOS team, is now exiting beta and launching its service that simplifies the mobile app release cycle — or, as the team describes it, offers “air traffic control” for mobile releases. The company has additionally raised a $2 million round of

Nestled in Rivian’s S-1 IPO filings was a note that there the EV company’s “cornerstone investors” had “indicated an interest” in buying up to $5 billion worth of its stock at its IPO price. One of those parties was Amazon, and the American e-commerce giant appears to have pulled the trigger Friday afternoon on its

Instagram really wants you to post Reels — they’ll even pay you up to $10,000 for one, if you’re lucky. As TikTok surpasses the 1 billion monthly active users mark, competitor platforms like YouTube Shorts, Snapchat Spotlight and Instagram Reels are incentivizing users to post their short-form content on their apps instead. YouTube established a

In an effort to expand beyond music, Spotify has been investing hundreds of millions to build out its podcasts business. Now the company has set its sights on another form of audio, with today’s acquisition of digital audiobook distributor Findaway. Spotify declined to share the financial terms of the deal, which is expected to close

Instagram head Adam Mosseri announced today the comapny has begun testing a new feature this week called “Take a Break” which will allow users to remind themselves to take a break from using the app after either 10, 20 or 30 minutes, depending on their preferences. As an opt-in feature, however, the reminders may have

For many small businesses, trying to manage their employees’ Apple devices and keep them up-to-date is a huge challenge. These businesses tend to lack sophisticated IT departments, and when devices break down or users have questions, they are often left to figure out things on their own using Apple’s consumer support tools. Recognizing this issue,

Last week, Netflix launched its debut lineup of mobile games to Android users globally. Today, the games are expanding to users on iOS. The lineup, which includes two “Stranger Things” games and a few other casual gaming titles, will be delivered to iOS users the same way they are on Android. That is, they’re not

Earlier this year, Netflix launched a TikTok-like “Fast Laughs” feature in its app, offering short-form funny videos that would introduce members to its comedy programs, stand-up specials and more. Now, the company is developing a similar feature for kids with a Kids Clips feature discovered inside the app and confirmed by Netflix as launching this

Instagram earlier this year said it would explore the idea of creator subscriptions and was later spotted developing a feature that would offer exclusive Stories that were only visible to a creator’s subscriptions. Now, it seems, the company is poised to launch creator subscriptions into broader testing. According to two third-party app intelligence services, Instagram

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

Following the passage of the so-called “anti-Google law” in South Korea, Google has announced it will comply with the new mandate by giving Android app developers on Google Play the ability to offer alternative payment systems alongside Google’s own. The legislation represents the first time a government has been able to force app stores to

Today after the bell American ride-hailing giant Uber reported its third-quarter financial results. Critically, the long-unprofitable company managed to squeak $8 million worth of adjusted EBITDA — a very modified profit metric — while still posting net losses of more than $2 billion. The adjusted-profit result comes days after Lyft, Uber’s domestic rival, also recently

A new app called Push It is sitting at the top of the App Store promising little more than the ability to send “push notifications to your friends.” The app features only two screenshots — one of a big red button and another basic, black-and-red screen with text that says “sending.” So what is going

Alternative mobile browser Firefox today shipped its latest release for iOS and Android with an update aimed at helping users address common issues — like the visual clutter of having too many open tabs or needing to pick up where your left off the last time the app was closed, among other things. The changes

Tinder has already undergone a big revamp with its recent launch of “Explore,” a new section inside the app that will enable more interactive experiences, including the second “Swipe Night” series, real-time chat, interest-based matching, and more. Now, parent company Match Group is detailing its longer-term vision for Tinder and Explore, which will expand to

Apple is furthering its investment in Original Podcasts with today’s debut of the new true crime-focused Apple Original Podcast “Hooked.” The nine-part series will explore the story of a top engineer, Tony Hathaway, whose addiction to opioids led him to become one of the most prolific bank robbers in U.S. history. The podcast is produced

Nigeria’s lending startup Payhippo has raised $3 million in a seed round, funding the company plans to use in sourcing the talent needed to optimize its technology as it ramps up effort to extend speedy credit to more small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in the West African country.  The round was led by an array

After early tests in select markets, Netflix announced today its debut lineup of exclusive mobile games will begin rolling out to all members globally on Android devices, starting this week. In July, the streaming service first confirmed its plans to enter the mobile gaming market, calling games “another new content category” for the company to

Walmart is further investing in technology that will enable shopping via voice and chat with its latest acquisition. The retail giant announced it’s acquiring “select technology assets” from a startup called Botmock, which had developed a set of tools for designing, prototyping, testing, and deploying conversational applications across platforms. Founded in 2016, Botmock got off

Opibus, the first company in Kenya to commercially future-proof diesel and gasoline vehicles by converting them to electric, is set to embark on an ambitious plan to mass produce electric buses and motorcycles after unlocking $7.5 million in pre series A round. The Swedish-Kenyan company raised $5 million in equity and $2.5 million in grants

Ilia Kukharev Contributor Ilia Kukharev is the head of ASO at AppFollow and has been engaged in the localization of websites, mobile applications and ASO optimization for over a decade. The final version of iOS 15.0 was released on September 20. While there are no major changes in the OS itself, Apple touts this new

John S. Kim Contributor John S. Kim is the CEO of Sendbird, the leading API provider to embed chat, voice and video experiences inside of mobile apps. More posts by this contributor Social+ payments: Why fintechs need social features Netflix sees gaming as a big part of its future in the battle for consumer attention.

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.

Apple has now launched a beta version of its “App Privacy Report,” a new feature that aims to provide iOS users with details about how often their everyday apps are requesting access to sensitive information, and where that information is being shared. The feature was first introduced at Apple’s Worldwide Developer Conference in June, amid

Estonian on-demand transport firm Bolt is set to roll out electric taxi options in South Africa four months after introducing e-bike food delivery services in the country. Bolt’s plan follows the introduction of a ‘green category’ – which lets riders hail an electric or a hybrid vehicle. This comes as the company expands its services

Google today announced a preview of Android 12L, which may sound like a new version of Android, but Google calls it “a special feature drop that makes Android 12 even better on large screens.” The idea here is to provide users on tablets, foldables and Chrome OS laptops — anything with a screen above 600

In September, analysts at eMarketer predicted Spotify was poised to overtake Apple Podcasts in U.S. listenership sometime this year. Today, Spotify announced for the first time it may have succeeded on that front. During the company’s Q3 2021 earnings call, the company said that according to Edison Research and its own internal sources, it “recently

mPharma, a Ghanaian health startup, has taken a controlling stake in Uganda’s Vine Pharmacy for an undisclosed amount, marking the firm’s entry into its latest market in Africa. mPharma disclosed to TechCrunch that it has acquired a 55 percent stake previously held by  the Abraaj Group, a private equity firm that collapsed after investors, including