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 […]
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Trending topics and news from the mobile software category
Back to news homeMusic app AmpMe lowers pricing after accused of being an App Store scammer
Around the same time Apple was touting its sizable App Store revenue growth this week, developer and noted App Store critic Kosta Eleftheriou brought to light what appeared to be […]
Instagram’s chronological feed is back
Instagram is making good on the promise it made last month to bring back the chronological feed. In a tweet Wednesday, Instagram head Adam Mosseri announced that the platform is […]
Instagram adds TikTok-like Text-to-Speech and Voice Effects tools to Reels
Instagram added two features to Reels yesterday: text-to-speech and voice effects. These features are popular already on TikTok, but now, creators can use them on Instagram too. This marks yet […]
New antitrust suit from Phhhoto alleges Facebook copied and killed the competition
A former upstart Instagram rival is suing Meta, formerly known as Facebook, over allegations that the company violated antitrust laws by cloning a competing product and ultimately killing its business. […]
Instagram is testing an in-app feature that will notify users of service outages
Instagram is testing a new feature that will notify users when the platform is experiencing an outage or technical issue. The notification will appear directly in users’ activity feeds. Instagram […]
Blue Fever, an anonymous social network, acquires Gen Z-founded Trill
With Senate hearings and leaked documents galore, teen mental health on social media is a hot topic right now. But Gen Z founders Georgia Messinger and Ari Sokolov have been […]
Instagram ditches the IGTV brand, combines everything but Reels into an ‘Instagram Video’ format
Instagram head Adam Mosseri recently said was “no longer a photo-sharing app,” noting the company was prioritizing a shift into video amid significant competition from TikTok and YouTube. Today, Instagram […]
News aggregator SmartNews raises $230 million, valuing its business at $2 billion
SmartNews, a Tokyo-headquartered news aggregation website and app that’s grown in popularity despite hefty competition from built-in aggregators like Apple News, today announced it has closed on $230 million in […]
Driven by live streams, consumer spending in social apps to hit $17.2B in 2025
The live streaming boom is driving a significant uptick in the creator economy, as a new forecast estimates consumers will spend $6.78 billion in social apps in 2021. That figure […]