This Week in Apps: Twitter, Clubhouse, Spotify Updates

The Ever-Evolving 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 continues to thrive, having experienced a record 218 billion downloads and $143 billion in global consumer spending in 2020. Current forecasts anticipate consumer expenditure will rise to $270 billion by 2025.

Last year, consumers devoted an impressive 3.5 trillion minutes to utilizing apps on Android devices alone. Furthermore, app usage in the U.S. has surpassed the time spent watching live television. Americans now average four hours daily on their mobile devices, compared to 3.7 hours watching live TV.

The Business of Apps

Apps are not merely a source of entertainment; they represent a significant commercial opportunity. Companies prioritizing mobile platforms achieved 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 into mobile companies, marking a 27% year-over-year increase.

This week’s focus includes the future direction of a leading social app – Twitter – Spotify’s latest announcements regarding podcasts and subscriptions, and the recent security concerns surrounding Clubhouse.

Top Stories

Twitter’s Strategic Shift

Twitter has historically been deliberate in implementing new features that significantly impact its platform. At one point, the company even developed a separate application solely to test innovative methods for linking conversational threads. This slower pace and a perceived failure to deliver desired features, such as an edit button, have left the platform feeling largely unchanged from its earlier iterations – essentially a modern, expanded SMS service.

This slower growth also prompted pressure from activist investors to replace CEO Jack Dorsey, who had plans to relocate to Africa while simultaneously managing Square. (He ultimately decided against the move, likely to retain his position.) Following increased scrutiny of Twitter’s operations, the company has recently accelerated its product development efforts.

Last year saw the global rollout of Fleets, a stories-like feature offering a space for ephemeral content. Development also began on Twitter Spaces, a Clubhouse competitor that is rapidly evolving with updates and new functionalities. Furthermore, the company initiated Birdwatch, a community-driven effort to combat misinformation.

Twitter has also strategically acquired several companies to bolster its product teams, including social app Squad, stories template creator Chroma Labs, and podcasting app Breaker. More recently, the platform purchased newsletter platform Revue, which is now integrated into the Twitter website.

And further developments were announced this week. A new product, “Super Follow,” represents Twitter’s inaugural paid feature. The concept allows creators to monetize their fanbase through a subscription service, granting fans access to exclusive perks like newsletters, videos, discounts, community access, and paywalled content, including tweets, Fleets, and audio chats within Twitter Spaces.

Alongside this, Twitter introduced “Communities,” which, in addition to facilitating social networking around shared interests, provides Super Follow creators with a dedicated space to organize their private networks.

Tools to automatically block and mute disruptive users are also in development. 🙌

This strategy signifies a substantial shift for Twitter’s platform. It not only challenges competitors like Facebook, Discord, Patreon, Substack, and Clubhouse, but also positions Twitter’s new features as versatile tools enabling anyone to build and cultivate their own communities in a manner of their choosing.

A notable omission is the lack of a dedicated social video app, following the discontinuation of both Vine and Periscope. While Twitter supports video content, the closure of Vine created a market gap now filled by TikTok. Sharing TikTok links on Twitter currently provides a suboptimal experience, displaying only previews that redirect users to the TikTok app.

Twitter anticipates these changes will lead to a doubling of revenues by 2023 and an increase in daily active users to 315 million, up from the current 192 million.

Spotify’s Subscription Strategy

Twitter isn’t the only company exploring new subscription models. Spotify also announced several updates this week, including Spotify HiFi, a premium add-on for higher-quality music streaming.

The company also confirmed its plans to test paid podcast subscriptions. The core idea is that certain podcasts, due to their compelling content and loyal audience, will attract listeners willing to pay for access, or for exclusive content. These offerings will effectively transition from being “podcasts” to paid audio programs, with testing beginning within Spotify’s creation app, Anchor, this spring.

However, an overzealous implementation of paywalls by podcasters struggling to generate revenue from advertising could drive users towards social audio platforms like Clubhouse and Twitter Spaces, where content remains free and engagement is more interactive. Anchor is responding with Q&A features and polls, but these may not be enough to compete with the direct interaction offered by live audio platforms.

Clubhouse Security Concerns

The demand for Clubhouse access is so high that individuals are actively seeking ways to circumvent the system, as reported by TechCrunch this week. A developer discovered a method to broadcast Clubhouse audio feeds in real-time to users without official access. While Clubhouse subsequently blocked this effort, the fact that access to the audio feeds was possible highlights potential security vulnerabilities.

Researchers have also identified methods for “ghost listening” to rooms without displaying user profiles, effectively eavesdropping on conversations. Furthermore, users in China appear to be able to access room conversations through Clubhouse’s service provider, Agora, using a VPN, despite the app being officially banned in the country.

Clubhouse’s appeal stems from its unrecorded social audio spaces, fostering a sense of authenticity and privacy. The expectation is that conversations are limited to the listening audience, with no transcript or recording available. However, these security breaches demonstrate that this perception of privacy is not entirely accurate.

Weekly News

Platforms: Apple

• Apple provided guidance for app developers to complete App Store privacy labels, including details about data types like email, messages, and gameplay content.
• Apple’s “Sign in with Apple” button is now part of the U.S. DoJ antitrust investigation, as it requires the option on all apps offering sign-in buttons from other companies, potentially hindering user switching.
• Applications opened for the Apple Entrepreneur Camp for female founders and developers, offering online sessions from July 20-29, 2021.
• Apple tweaked the subscription “buy sheet” in iOS 14.5 beta to clarify subscription pricing.
• Apple hid an Easter egg in its Apple Store app to celebrate its 10-year anniversary.

Platforms: Google

• Google announced upcoming Android features for spring 2021, including a password checkup tool and scheduled text messaging.
• Google launched an Android Sleep API for health and wellness apps, utilizing phone sensors to analyze sleep patterns.

Food & Drink

• DoorDash stock declined after its first earnings report, despite exceeding revenue expectations.
• Food delivery apps experienced a surge in China during the Lunar New Year due to COVID-19 travel restrictions.

Augmented Reality

• The app Museum Alive, reviewed by The Verge, features narration by Sir David Attenborough and interactive AR exhibits of extinct animals.

Fintech

• Robinhood reported 6 million new customers on Robinhood Crypto this year.
• Google emailed users of the old Google Pay app about the April 5 deadline to switch to the updated version.

Social

Snap projected 50% annual revenue growth for the next several years, citing its core features as potential multibillion-dollar revenue streams.

Instagram added Reels to its Instagram Lite app in emerging markets.

TikTok partnered with Portland Timbers and Thorns FC in its first U.S. soccer deal.

TikTok owner ByteDance agreed to a $92 million privacy settlement with U.S. users.

TikTok’s transparency report for H2 2020 revealed the removal of over 300,000 election misinformation videos.

The Washington Post reported Rebekah Mercer now controls two of three board seats at Parler.

Twitter banned 100 accounts linked to Russian troll farms.

Facebook tested new tools to combat child exploitation.

Social apps supported National Eating Disorders Awareness Week with new features promoting body inclusivity.

Photos

• Flickr released a widget for iOS and Android, displaying rotating photos from Explore on the home screen.

Messaging / Communications

• Telegram added an auto-delete option for all messages, with options for 24-hour or 7-day deletion.
• WhatsApp detailed the consequences of not agreeing to privacy changes by May 15.
• Google Hangouts users are being migrated to Google Chat.

Streaming & Entertainment

YouTube announced parental control features for tweens and teens, allowing graduated access to the platform.

Disney’s Star channel launched outside the U.S. to Disney+ subscribers.

South Korea’s prime minister joined Clubhouse.

Gaming

Google’s GameSnacks are being integrated into Chrome on iOS and Android Pay in select emerging markets.

Chinese mobile games generated $5.8 billion in revenue in Q2 2020.

Epic Games is attempting to locate Scott Forstall for testimony in its legal battle with Apple.

A U.K. court blocked Epic Games’ challenge to Apple’s Fortnite ban.

Epic Games is sending V-Bucks to settle its Fortnite loot box lawsuit.

Amazon’s Luna cloud gaming service launched on Fire TV devices.

App Annie announced new features for gaming launch discovery and performance measurement.

A floating gaming toolbar was found in the Android 12 Developer Preview.

Coin Master surpassed $2 billion in lifetime player spending.

Zynga is building its own ad tech walled garden.

Health & Fitness

• New York’s DFS reported Facebook has taken steps to prevent unauthorized data collection about medical conditions.

Media

• Australia’s ABC News app topped the App Store charts following Facebook’s news ban.

Funding and M&A

• 💰 David Dobrik’s retro photo app raised $20 million in a Series A round.
• 💰 memmo, a celebrity video platform, raised $10 million in a Series A round.
• 💰 Snack, a TikTok-like dating app, raised $3.5 million.
• 💰 Otter, an AI-powered transcription service, raised $50 million in a Series B round.
• 💰 Spain’s Wallapop raised $191 million at an $840 million valuation.
• 🤝 App Radar acquired TheTool.
• 💰 Indian edtech startup Doubtnut raised $31 million.
• 🤝 Canva acquired Kaleido and Smartmockups.
• 🤝 Acast bought RadioPublic.
• 💰 Podimo, a podcast subscription service, raised €11.2 million.
• ❓ Yuanfudao, a Chinese tutoring app, is reportedly raising funding at a $20 billion+ valuation.
• 📈 Roblox shares began trading on March 10.

Downloads

Quill

A new Slack competitor, Quill, launched this week, offering apps for web, Mac, Windows, Linux, Android, and iOS. Quill addresses shortcomings in Slack with features like structured channels, automatic conversation prioritization, improved pinning, and side-by-side video and chat.

ANDY’s apps

Andy Allen, former head of Product at WeTransfer, and Mark Dawson, a graphics engineer from Allen’s previous company, created ANDY, a set of redesigned “default” apps – weather, calculator, and timer. These apps are built using a game engine, offering a unique user experience and customizable skins through a subscription model.

YouWidget YouWidget, spotted by iMore, delivers a YouTube iOS widget that displays a live video feed and channel statistics on the home screen, appealing to both YouTubers and fans.