This Week in Apps: Google I/O, Snap, and Parler

The App Landscape: A Weekly Recap

Welcome back to This Week in Apps, the regular TechCrunch series dedicated to recapping the latest developments in mobile operating systems, applications, and the broader app economy.

The app industry demonstrates continued expansion, achieving a record 218 billion downloads and $143 billion in global consumer spending in 2020. Android devices alone saw 3.5 trillion minutes of app usage last year. Furthermore, app usage in the U.S. now surpasses the time spent watching live television. Currently, the average American dedicates 3.7 hours daily to live TV, contrasted with four hours spent on mobile devices.

Apps are not merely a source of entertainment; they represent a significant business opportunity. Mobile-first companies held a combined valuation of $544 billion in 2019, a figure 6.5 times greater than those without a mobile focus. In 2020, investors channeled $73 billion in capital into mobile companies, marking a 27% year-over-year increase.

This week’s focus includes a review of Google’s I/O developer event, an overview of the latest announcements from Snap’s partner summit, and an examination of Parler’s return to the App Store, among other topics.

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Top Stories

Google I/O: A Relatively Quiet Event

It’s fair to say that this year’s Google I/O event lacked the excitement of previous years. The absence of new hardware announcements contributed to a less impactful event, particularly considering last year’s cancellation due to COVID-19. There was no unveiling of an affordable Pixel 5a or 6 smartphone, nor any news regarding a Pixel Watch, Pixel chips, or smart home devices. Even the Pixel Buds A-Series, which Google accidentally tweeted about beforehand, was absent.

Instead, Google I/O featured numerous product updates that could have been communicated through blog posts, such as improvements to Google Workspace and new features for Google Maps and Photos. While a life-size 3D video calling booth is innovative, its practical application for most users remains limited.

However, this doesn’t diminish Google’s technical progress. The event did highlight advancements, but attendees might have hoped for more than just improvements to conversational AI or less biased cameras (particularly given recent firings of AI ethics researchers). The desire for a groundbreaking new product was palpable.

Ultimately, Android 12 emerged as the most noteworthy announcement.

The updated mobile OS directly addresses a current weakness of iOS: customization. While iOS 14 introduced widgets and an App Library, Apple appeared somewhat unprepared for the ensuing personalization trend. The company had to quickly address issues with app shortcuts, which users were employing to meticulously customize their home screen icons.

Android 12 directly caters to this demand for personalization. When users set a new wallpaper, the system automatically generates a custom color palette for the Android theme, incorporating both dominant and complementary colors. This theme is applied throughout the OS, including Quick Settings, lock screen buttons, and widgets. Google refers to this as “Material You,” which emphasizes the ability to personalize the phone’s appearance.

Material You also introduces refreshed widgets with interactive controls and easier personalization options, smoother transitions, enhanced animations, and a privacy dashboard. This dashboard allows users to monitor which apps are accessing their location, microphone, and camera. The cohesive integration of these elements results in a genuinely fresh Android experience.

ICYMI: A Google I/O Roundup

• Stats: Android now powers 3 billion devices globally, an increase from 2.5 billion in May 2019. This includes 250 million active tablets as of last year.
• Foldables: Google announced Android 12 updates supporting foldable screens. (Could a foldable Pixel be on the horizon?)

• Design: “Material You” is Android’s new adaptive design language, fully embracing the home screen personalization trend. It allows users to create themes based on their chosen wallpaper.

• Wearables: Google and Samsung are collaborating on a unified wearable platform to compete with Apple’s watchOS. The goal is to combine the strengths of both Android Wear OS and Samsung’s Tizen, resulting in faster app launches and longer battery life. Features from Fitbit, such as health tracking and goal celebrations, will also be integrated. Updates include a Tiles API, a watch face designer from Samsung, redesigned Maps, Assistant, and Pay.
• Auto: Google is working with BMW and others to enable Android smartphones to unlock and start vehicles using Ultra Wideband (UWB) technology. Developers can now create apps that support both Android OS and Android Auto.
• AR: Google reports 850 million ARCore-compatible devices on the market. It also added Raw Depth & Recording/Playback APIs to ARCore for more immersive experiences.
• Flutter: Google’s cross-platform UI toolkit now powers 200K Play Store apps, including those from WeChat, ByteDance, BMW, Grab, and Didi. Flutter 2.2 offers reliability, performance improvements, a payment plugin for in-app purchases, and a streamlined process for bringing Flutter apps to Windows, macOS, and Linux.
• Android Studio: Google announced Arctic Fox, the next version of its Android Studio IDE, focusing on integrating more tooling directly into the IDE. A key feature is Jetpack Compose, a toolkit for building modern Android UIs.

• Google Play: Google is adjusting its commission rates (from 30% to 15%) and adding resources like an SDK website and a dedicated Policy and Programs section in Play Console. Apps will soon be able to monetize in new ways, including multi-quantity purchases, multi-line subscriptions, and prepaid plans.
• Ads: Google’s App campaigns on Android will expand to the desktop versions of Google.com and the Google Display Network. Users clicking desktop ads will be directed to the Play Store website to install the app on their linked device. The Google Analytics for Firebase SDK now allows event creation and modification without app updates. A deep link validator and impact calculator have also been introduced.

Snap’s Partner Summit: AR, E-commerce, and More

Snap, with 500 million monthly active users, hosted a partner event this week, unveiling new developer tools, AR updates, shopping features, and more.

A highlight was Snap’s Scan product, powered by computer vision, which analyzes content in the camera feed to identify matching products, similar to efforts by Pinterest and Google. AR updates and partnerships with brands like Farfetch and Prada will enable virtual try-on of clothes using AR. (However, it’s worth questioning whether Prada shoppers are primarily using Snapchat.)

Snap also announced Story Studio, a new app providing creators with powerful editing tools for trimming shots, adding captions, stickers, and music. Creators can publish content to Snapchat Spotlight and other platforms.

Snap Map is receiving an update with Layers, allowing users to add data from Snap’s developer partners to personalize their experience. For example, a Ticketmaster Layer will display nearby concert venues.

The company also provided an update on its creator funding efforts, stating it had distributed over $130 million to more than 5,400 creators on Spotlight since November. It will no longer offer a $1 million daily payout to incentivize creator adoption.

Weekly News

E-commerce

Facebook launched “Live Shopping Fridays” across its web and mobile apps to encourage consumers to shop for beauty, skincare, and fashion items from brands like Abercrombie & Fitch, Bobbi Brown, Clinique, Sephora, and Dermalogica.

Shein surpassed Amazon this week to become the most downloaded app on iOS and Android in the U.S. The company’s control over its production chain allows it to rapidly produce products tailored to different regions and tastes, earning it the nickname “TikTok for e-commerce.”

Vodacom, Africa’s largest carrier, developed Africa’s first super-app with assistance from Alibaba. The app will offer a range of services, including e-commerce, banking, and mobile payments.

Adtech

Android ad spending increased by 21% following Apple’s IDFA changes, according to Liftoff. This growth occurs as 63.5% to 83.2% of iOS users opt out of tracking.

Apple released iOS 14.5.1, fixing the ATT bug that had grayed out the App Tracking Transparency toggle for some users.

Fintech

Google Pay’s app was redesigned to simplify finding businesses in the U.S., India, and Singapore, with new discovery features, branded experiences, money organization tools, and spending insights. Google Pay APIs for Web and Android were also introduced, along with a loyalty enrollment and sign-in API.

Social

✨ Parler has returned to the App Store. After being removed from app stores and its web host for inciting violence before the January 6 Capitol riots, Parler is now available on the App Store. Posts labeled as hate speech will not be visible on iPhones. The company prefers to give users control over filtering such content, referring to the iOS version as “Parler PG.” The app is currently ranked No. 10 in the News category on iPhone.

Apple required Parler to adhere to App Store guidelines, including content moderation. Parler, however, prefers a toggle for viewing hate speech rather than complete removal. Pinterest introduced Idea Pins, a video-first evolution of its Story Pins feature, aimed at creators. These Pins allow creators to publish videos up to 60 seconds per page, with a total of 20 pages per Pin, and include stickers, music, and detailed information.

Snap Map is being updated with Layers, allowing users to add data from Snap’s developer partners to personalize their experience. For example, a Ticketmaster Layer will show nearby concert venues.

The company also provided an update on its creator funding efforts, stating it had distributed over $130 million to more than 5,400 creators on Spotlight since November. It will no longer offer a $1 million daily payout to incentivize creator adoption.

Photos

Reface’s face-swapping app now allows users to upload their own source material for face swaps and animations, utilizing GAN algorithms. The app has surpassed 100 million installs.

Google Photos added new Memories, a Locked Folder, and previews of Cinematic moments, which animate a series of photos.

Utilities

Google Maps is adding several updates this year, including routing updates for safety, Live View enhancements, expanded detailed street maps to 50 more cities, a new “area busyness” feature, and a more personalized experience based on location and time of day.

Chrome for Android is bringing back RSS feeds. A new feature in Chrome Canary allows users to follow websites and blogs directly within the browser.

Messaging

WhatsApp rivals, including Telegram and Signal, experienced nearly 1,200% growth ahead of WhatsApp’s privacy policy deadline, according to Sensor Tower.

India requested WhatsApp to withdraw its new privacy policy terms, or face potential government action.

WhatsApp is testing disappearing messages with TestFlight users.

Streaming & Entertainment

Spotify launched a virtual concert series featuring The Black Keys and other artists. Pre-recorded streams cost $15 each, with a portion of the revenue shared with the artists.

Spotify is adding automatic transcripts to its Original and Exclusive podcasts, with plans to expand to all shows over time.

Apple announced lossless audio streaming for Apple Music in June, as a free upgrade. This includes support for Dolby Atmos and lossless audio files. The Android version will support lossless but not Dolby Atmos at launch. Lossless audio does not work on AirPods, AirPods Pro, or AirPods Max, even when wired, or on HomePod devices.

Amazon announced its Amazon Music HD service would also be upgraded to lossless audio for free for Amazon Music Unlimited subscribers.

Deezer technically beat Spotify to offer offline listening on Apple Watch this week, but Spotify quickly followed suit. Spotify also added offline listening to Android Wear.

Android 12 will add built-in remote control features for controlling Android TV devices.

HBO Max will introduce an ad-supported streaming option at $9.99 per month.

Clubhouse launched globally. Twitter’s Spaces is showcasing Ticketed Spaces and taking a 20% cut of sales.

https://twitter.com/Clubhouse/status/1395533533230284804

Books

Wattpad expanded its publishing arm with a new adult fiction imprint, W by Wattpad Books, following its acquisition by Naver.

Spotify is partnering with Storytel to enter the audiobook market. This partnership leverages Spotify’s Open Access Platform (OAP) to extend the reach of audiobooks.

Gaming

The Epic-Apple trial revealed that Apple generated at least $100 million in revenue from Fortnite’s time on the App Store from 2018 to 2020. Sensor Tower estimated the figure to be around $354 million.

Security & Privacy

Citizen sparked a $30,000 manhunt for the wrong person after its real-time feature broadcasted information about a suspect in an LA wildfire. The individual identified was not the actual perpetrator.

The Epic trial also revealed 130 types of Mac malware since last May, a level Apple deems unacceptable. This was used to defend the necessity of the iOS App Store.

Funding and M&A

💰 Indonesia’s BukuKas raised $50 million in Series B funding for its app digitizing small businesses. The startup expanded from bookkeeping to include online payments and an e-commerce platform, serving 6.3 million businesses.

💰 Ethel’s Club founder Naj Austin raised $3.75 million in seed funding for Somewhere Good, a Clubhouse-like app connecting people across interests.

💰 Mobile-first car ownership “super app” Jerry raised $57+ million to date, including a new $28 million Series B led by Goodwater Capital. The Palo Alto-based startup launched a car insurance comparison service and now has nearly 1 million U.S. customers.

💰 Egyptian digital banking app Telda raised $5 million in pre-seed funding to grow its business focused on helping Egyptians save, send, and spend money.

💰 U.K.-based Robinhood rival Stake raised $30 million from Tiger Global and partners of DST Global to expand into Europe. The app has grown 6x since its U.K. launch in early 2020 and now has over 330K customers.

🤝 Snap acquired AR startup WaveOptics for over $500 million, its largest acquisition to date. WaveOptics provides the waveguides and projectors used in Snap’s AR glasses, Spectacles.

📈 Jam City filed to go public via a SPAC at a $1.2 billion valuation. The Harry Potter: Hogwarts Mystery publisher will use proceeds to acquire mobile game publisher Ludia for $175 million.

Downloads

Halide for iPad

The popular third-party camera app Halide launched on iPad this week, with an interface designed specifically for the iPad, featuring controls near the screen’s edge, composition features, custom icons, and support for both right- and left-handed users. The app is free with in-app purchases.

Silk + Sonder (Soft Launch)

AAPI, female-founded Silk + Sonder was created by Meha Agrawal to offer an analog-first approach to mental wellness. The company launched its first mobile app after growing its membership business to tens of thousands of subscribers and raising $4+ million in seed funding.

The app offers curated self-care experiences, daily affirmations, a community club, a private memories feature, and more, complementing the company’s analog journals/planners. The app’s calming pink and white design guides users through their wellness journey. Since its soft launch this month, it has added thousands of users, with over 50% engaging regularly.

The app is initially available only to active subscribers, with a waitlist for others.

Herd (Beta)

Female-founded Herd has been building demand for its non-toxic Instagram alternative via TikTok. The app is now live on iOS as a beta.

Herd aims to provide a safer, community-focused social space, prioritizing connection over influence and data collection. Users can customize their home feed by interest and control what they see. The app currently offers basic photo-sharing functionality. While lacking the advanced features of other social apps, Herd’s mission resonates with users, reaching No. 18 in the Social category on the App Store on launch day and remaining in the top 50.

However, sustained success requires continuous UI/UX improvements to match the app’s innovative ideals.

Reading Rec’s

• The Verge: Apple’s Phil Schiller Gives Epic iPhone Testimony
• Wired: Online Dating Apps are Actually Kind of a Disaster
• Protocol: Free-to-play is the future. Not everyone is on board.
• Not Boring: Shein: The TikTok of Ecommerce
• The Information: Apple’s Blissful Ignorance on App Store Profits

Tweets

https://twitter.com/nickstatt/status/1394363213932863488

https://twitter.com/Megan_Nicolett/status/1395773714235629578