This Week in Apps: AI-powered productivity apps, US weighs TikTook ban, SVB crash boosts crypto apps

Welcome again to This Week in Apps, the weekly TechCrunch collection that recaps the newest in cell OS information, cell purposes and the general app financial system.

The app financial system in 2023 hit a couple of snags as shopper spending final yr dropped for the primary time by 2% to $167 billion, in keeping with knowledge.ai’s “State of Mobile” report. However, downloads are persevering with to develop, up 11% yr over yr in 2022 to achieve 255 billion. Consumers are additionally spending extra time in cell apps than ever earlier than. On Android gadgets alone, hours spent in 2022 grew 9%, reaching 4.1 trillion.

This Week in Apps provides a technique to sustain with this fast-moving trade in one place with the newest from the world of apps, together with information, updates, startup fundings, mergers and acquisitions, and rather more.

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Top Stories

Our Everyday Apps Get AI

While the announcement wasn’t essentially focused towards cell, the sweeping AI-fueled modifications which might be coming to the largest productivity apps from Microsoft and Google may have a wider impression on the productivity app trade. That is, they’re now elevating the stakes for what a productivity app ought to be capable to do. It will now not be sufficient to easily provide a chic, refined, and environment friendly note-taking instrument, docs editor, spreadsheet, slideshow maker, and so forth — the apps may even have to have baked-in AI smarts.

This week, in case you missed it, each Microsoft and Google introduced the brand new technology of their productivity software program merchandise. Microsoft, which calls its digital helper a “Copilot,” is bringing AI to on a regular basis instruments like Word, Excel, Outlook, PowerPoint, Teams, and extra. It’s integrating a brand new Business Chat characteristic that understands what a information employee has in their inbox, calendar, chats, and throughout their recordsdata, and could be prompted to do issues like create a standing report on a undertaking that’s then shared to the workforce. It’s even leveraging AI to assist staff construct their very own line-of-business apps utilizing pure language prompts.

Elsewhere, Microsoft-owned LinkedIn expanded its generative AI assistant to recruitment adverts and writing profiles. The firm’s AI-powered writing solutions are constructed on superior GPT fashions, together with GPT-4 (profiles) and GPT-3.5 (job descriptions).

Google, in the meantime, stated it could carry AI instruments to Workspace, its productivity suite that features Gmail, Docs, Sheets, Meet, Slides, and Chat. Though the corporate hasn’t absolutely shared its imaginative and prescient for Chat — saying solely that it’s going to “enable workflows for getting things done” — it’s possible aiming to maintain up with Microsoft’s plans. In addition, Google is leveraging generative AI to create auto-generated pictures, audio, and video in Slides, which is an attention-grabbing angle on fashionable productivity — and, probably, a menace to the one-off instruments constructed to handle every particular person generative AI use case.

These enhancements to customers’ on a regular basis apps, from emails to docs to spreadsheets and extra, will assist to carry AI to mainstream customers in a means {that a} ChatGPT-powered Bing alone can not. The new tech is now simply baked in, beneath the hood, providing extra performance to the tip consumer. It might finally even scale back the working hours required to finish numerous duties, as productivity customers lean extra on AI to jot down and edit for them, create shows, take assembly notes, handle inboxes, and extra.

But to what finish? Will staff now be anticipated to fill their newly freed hours with ever extra work or will know-how lastly fulfill its authentic promise of permitting us to steer extra snug lives? Do we nonetheless have to work 40 hours every week when AI can work for us?

TikTook’s destiny up in the air in U.S.

Will they or received’t they…ban TikTook? That’s the query positive to be on the minds of ByteDance execs as they weigh their choice to both spin off the U.S. operations of the TikTook app or threat being absolutely banned in the U.S. The anti-TikTook sentiment in Congress has uncommon bipartisan help at a time when the 2 sides can’t appear to agree on something, which makes the potential for a ban look extra possible. It’s not serving to ByteDance’s case that the FBI and DOJ are investigating ByteDance’s use of TikTook to spy on journalists, both.

Other Western markets are additionally taking steps to restrict TikTook’s menace, not simply the U.S. This week, New Zealand banned TikTook from authorities gadgets days after the U.Okay. did the identical. The strikes observe lawmakers’ banning of the app in Canada and Belgium and in the E.U.

TikTook, in the intervening time, is hoping to guarantee lawmakers of its security, even providing an audit by U.S. tech big Oracle.

But whereas a full ban might put an finish to lawmakers’ quick issues concerning the potential for CCP surveillance of U.S. residents or the potential to govern the populace with pro-China propaganda, the actual concern right here is lawmakers’ incapability to move rules over U.S. consumer knowledge privateness for all our apps, not simply these from China.

Expect subsequent week’s Congressional listening to with TikTook CEO Shou Zi Chew to be an attention-grabbing one to look at!

SVB meltdown hits app makers, boosts crypto apps

Silicon Valley Bank’s failure was the largest story of this week, as quite a few tech firms, massive and small, and their traders had funds tied up in the financial institution, which is now beneath regulator management and whose mother or father firm is formally submitting for chapter. Among the general public firms with publicity to SVB have been huge names like Roku, Roblox, Quotient, Vimeo, Rocket Lab, SoFi, Life360, Sezzle, Unity, AppLovin, Wish, and lots of others.

While there have been a number of elements that performed into the eventual financial institution run, from dangerous bets to dangerous choices, the means to stoke concern and panic on Twitter performed a notable position, with some traders tweeting in ALL CAPS that folks ought to be ABSOLUTELY TERRIFIED RIGHT NOW.

U.S. lawmakers have since taken discover of how dangerous actors on Twitter factored into the financial institution’s collapse, even going as far as guilty VCs and others for utilizing social media apps and on-line chats to coordinate their SVB withdrawals, successfully guaranteeing the financial institution’s failure.

“I’ve been supportive of the venture capital community — I was a venture capitalist before — but I think there were some bad actors in the VC community who literally started to spur this run by virtually crying fire in a crowded theater in terms of rushing all these deposits out,” stated Sen. Mark Warner (D-Va.) in a report by The Hill. 

“No matter how strong capital and liquidity supervision are, if a bank has an overwhelming run that’s spurred by social media or whatever so that it’s seeing deposits flee at that pace, the bank can be put in danger of failing,” Treasury secretary Janet Yellen additionally stated.

Whether the financial institution’s failure — and the next failures of crypto-friendly banks Signature and Silvergate — will result in new, retightened rules stays to be seen, however one class of apps did profit from the chaos.

Despite the seeming contagion to crypto banks, Apptopia reported the highest crypto apps’ downloads rose over 15% following SVB’s collapse. At the identical time, the highest 10 conventional banks and prime 10 “digital first” financial institution app downloads fell by about 5% and three%, respectively. This begs the query of whether or not the individuals shouting FIRE! final weekend have been additionally those that have been closely invested in crypto and due to this fact would have benefited from unfavourable public sentiment towards conventional banking.

Though the fed is making SVB’s depositors entire, the disaster additionally uncovered the attain of SVB’s tendrils past the Valley and the potential for a banking collapse to disproportionately impression some teams over others. The results have been felt as vast because the African startup ecosystem and highlighted the inequities in the broader tech trade. On one facet, you could have startups whose founders might self-fund their firms whereas ready on a decision, and on the opposite, there have been critical issues over lacking payroll and enterprise stoppage.

Many suspect we’ll see persevering with fallout from SVB in phrases of elevating enterprise debt, one thing SVB was identified for. Whether it opens up the ground to new entrants or drives up the price of enterprise debt is being debated, however we’re positive to really feel the impacts of this failure for months to return.

Platforms

Apple

• Apple rolled out its fourth developer betas for iOS 16.4, iPadOS 16.4, watchOS 9.4, and tvOS 16.4.
• Apple launched a brand new means to buy iPhones with assist from a reside specialist. The gross sales rep can not see you however you’ll be able to see them whereas asking questions on fashions, options, provides, trade-ins and extra.
• Apple is reportedly transferring ahead with its AR/VR headset this yr.
• Apple AI experiments? According to a brand new report from The New York Times, many groups at Apple, together with these working Siri, have been testing “language-generating concepts.” A former Apple engineer instructed the paper Siri’s improvement had been sluggish due to clunky code, which made it tougher to replace. It’s not identified if Apple is now constructing its personal LLMs or adopting an current mannequin.

Android

• Google debuted a brand new open supply program known as Open Health Stack aimed toward builders constructing health-related apps. The instruments embody a software program developer equipment (SDK) for Android and design pointers for well being apps. The Open Health Stack provides builders entry to Android FHIR SDK to construct safe apps that may additionally work offline, Google stated.
• The March Pixel Drop is out, bringing Fall Detection, sooner digital camera options (Night Sight), modifying instruments, security and wellness options, and extra.

• Google stated its Google Play Games for PC service, which brings Android video games to Windows customers, will roll out to Japan and to European markets and can acquire new titles and instruments for recreation builders. Over the subsequent couple of months, the service will add a number of common video games, together with Garena Free Fire, Ludo King (a well-liked board recreation in India), and MapleStory M. It may even introduce early entry to machine translation in the Play Console for translating video games into 8 languages.
• Missed the Google for Games Developer Summit? Google has a recap right here.

App News

Social Apps

• Snapchat added new parental controls that block “sensitive” and “suggestive” content material from viewing by youthful teenagers. The firm stated it’s introducing content material filtering capabilities that may permit dad and mom to limit teenagers from being uncovered to content material that’s not prohibited however shouldn’t be advisable to youthful customers throughout Stories (Discover) and Spotlight. The characteristic nonetheless requires dad and mom to entry these parental controls in the Family Center, which they could not know exists.
• Pinterest is partnering with America’s largest writer Dotdash Meredith on unique video content material from manufacturers corresponding to Better Homes & Gardens, Southern Living, Brides, Food & Wine, Serious Eats, Allrecipes and Martha Stewart. Pinterest just lately introduced an identical take care of Condé Nast.
• Meta is specializing in its “year of efficiency” by slicing one other 10,000 jobs.
• Meta additionally gave up on NFTs, shutting down the NFT and digital collectible options on Instagram and Facebook.
• Instagram exams a characteristic that makes it simpler to reshare Reels you despatched to mates.
• Meta launched paid verification on Instagram and Facebook in the U.S. Meta Verified is $11.99 monthly on the net or $14.99 monthly on cell. The characteristic delivers a verified badge, proactive impersonation safety and direct entry to buyer help.

• Twitter begins displaying what number of occasions a tweet has been bookmarked, initially on iOS. The firm guarantees it received’t show who’s bookmarking tweets, although. It’s not clear whether or not anybody cares what number of bookmarks a tweet has, however the objective is probably going aimed toward making Twitter look extra participating.
• Twitter’s API packages are getting dear. The firm’s new Enterprise Packages begin at $42,000/mo for 50 million tweets.

Entertainment & Streaming

• YouTube stated Trump can come again. (Which means he most likely purchased adverts.)
• TikTook entered a multiyear partnership with Major League Soccer. Fans will be capable to search “MLS” on TikTook and get entry to a brand new “MLS Hub,” that includes new content material from MLS golf equipment and gamers.
• TikTook additionally added a brand new “Refresh” button that lets customers reset their feed suggestions with contemporary content material when their FYP will get stale (SEE ABOVE). When the Refresh button is tapped, TikTook will floor content material as for those who had simply signed up for the app.
• And TikTook is including a brand new STEM content material feed alongside its FYP and Following feeds to U.S. customers.
• Twitch CEO Emmett Shear is stepping down. One of the unique founders of Justin.television, Shear has labored at Twitch for 16 years and is able to transfer on. Twitch president Dan Clancy will take the CEO position efficient instantly.
• U.S. workers at Epic Games–owned Bandcamp, a web based audio distributor, introduced their formation of a union.
• YouTube TV is mountaineering costs to $72.99 monthly on account of rising content material prices. Making up for the rise a bit, the service additionally introduced it’s starting to roll out multiview, which permits U.S. customers to look at as much as 4 streams concurrently, initially for sports activities content material.
• SiriusXM is planning to reboot itself as an app extra centered on streaming. The firm isn’t dropping satellite tv for pc radio simply but, however transferring towards a future the place the supply technique received’t be as related.
• Sling TV launched new options for sports activities followers, together with picture-in-picture mode and an iOS widget. The options embody a brand new “Side View” that lets net customers watch video games in a small display overlay on prime of no matter it’s they’re doing. There’s additionally a brand new customized widget for iOS gadgets and an up to date reside “Sports Scores” characteristic.
• Spotify stated HiFi will nonetheless come out “at some point.” We’ll consider it after we see it.
• FilmRise launched FilmRise For Her, which streams rom-coms, motion pictures with lead actresses, true crime, and extra.
• Kakao Entertainment will shut down the Korean department of Tapas Entertainment, its U.S.-headquartered storytelling platform, subsequent month.
• TuneIn, the radio service that enables customers to livestream information, sports activities, music and podcasts, rolled out an interactive map characteristic,TuneIn Explorer, to iOS and Android gadgets. The app now provides customers the flexibility to hearken to stations all over the world.

Gaming

• The FTC finalizes Epic’s $245 million settlement over sketchy Fortnite purchases. “Fortnite’s counterintuitive, inconsistent, and confusing button configuration led players to incur unwanted charges based on the press of a single button,” the FTC wrote. It additionally criticized Epic for permitting youngsters to make unauthorized purchases with out their dad and mom’ permission.
• Unreal Editor for Fortnite (UEFN) is ready to launch on March 22, in keeping with a tweet from an official Fortnite account.

AI

• Want to know extra about Spotify’s AI DJ and its AI future? We sat down with the corporate at its press occasion final week to debate.

• Be My Eyes, an app that enables blind and low-vision individuals to ask sighted individuals to explain what their cellphone sees, is gaining AI capabilities powered by GPT-4. The app’s new “Virtual Volunteer” will be capable to reply questions on pictures customers snap and supply instantaneous visible help for all kinds of duties.
• Language studying app Duolingo debuted a Max subscription for $30/month or $168/yr that gives GPT-4 options for English audio system taking Spanish and French programs. The AI characteristic is rolling out to iOS first.

• Google Photos seems to be readying a Video Unblur characteristic, probably for Pixel 8.
• Moon Photogate? Headlines circulated this week about how the Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra was taking “fake” moon footage after a Reddit consumer examined the Space Zoom characteristic by taking a photograph of an deliberately blurry moon picture solely to seek out Samsung’s AI and pc imaginative and prescient tech had optimized it prefer it had been shot with a high-res telescope. The debate across the characteristic is now main individuals to marvel how Apple will method the usage of its rumored periscope zoom lens, anticipated to be added to the iPhone 15 Ultra later this yr.
• Quora’s new chatbot app Poe added a paid tier that may allow you to ask inquiries to bots powered by newer fashions, together with OpenAI’s GPT-4 and Anthropic’s Claude. Subscriptions price $19.99 monthly or $199.99 per yr and can be found solely on iOS and Mac for now.
• Microsoft revealed that Bing has been utilizing GPT-4 all alongside. The firm had beforehand referred to it because the “next-generation” of the GPT mannequin.
• Hilarious climate app Carrot Weather’s new chatbot has been infused with ChatGPT to ship much more sass. Users also can change the chatbot’s character to be extra useful, sarcastic, loopy, drunken or irritated, amongst different issues.

• Discord had revoked a number of privateness coverage guarantees when it introduced new AI options, together with a promise to not acquire knowledge from display recordings and chats. People observed and bought mad, forcing Discord to revert the modifications.

Etc.

• WordPress.com proprietor Automattic acquired the WordPress plugin ActivityPub and employed its developer. The firm stated it desires to assist blogs combine with the Fediverse, together with apps like Mastodon.

• Apple’s 3D metropolis maps are now obtainable for Boston.
• Tinder will now let daters outline their “relationship type,” add pronouns to their profile. Borrowing a characteristic from Hinge, one other app owned by Tinder mother or father Match Group, Tinder customers will now be capable to point out on their profiles the kind of relationship they’re on the lookout for — which at the moment might contain numerous ideas round non-monogamy. It may even now permit members to show their pronouns on their profiles.

• The Verge coated a singular app, CowlScreen OS, that turns the Oppo Find N2 Flip’s 3.26-inch cowl show into a totally useful mini-phone.
• Reddit had a multihour outage that was stated to be an inside techniques difficulty that took some time to repair.
• Waze rolled out a brand new characteristic to assist EV homeowners discover a appropriate charger en route.
• Starbucks and DoorDash teamed up on a supply partnership in Canada.

Security Concerns

• Twitter’s dumb choice to make SMS 2FA a paid characteristic will kick in this weekend. Here’s tips on how to shield your self.
• Google warns customers to take motion to guard in opposition to remotely exploitable flaws in common Android telephones. Google’s safety analysis unit sounded the alarm a couple of set of vulnerabilities discovered in sure Samsung chips included in dozens of Android fashions, wearables and autos.
• Firefox launched Total Cookie Protection, which stops cookies from monitoring you across the net, to its Firefox Android app.

Funding and M&A

• Anonymous app Sidechat picks up rival Yik Yak…and customers aren’t joyful. A quiet acquisition involving two press-shy firms was unveiled by a writer identify change on the App Store and customers complained about being compelled to maneuver to Sidechat.
• NYC-based transportation startup Via will purchase London-based Citymapper, a Google Maps various for planning journeys in a metropolis utilizing public transportation. Citymapper has round 50 million world customers. Financial phrases will not be being disclosed however are a mixture of money and inventory. Sources stated the deal is generally a washout for traders.
• Walmart invested $200 million in Indian cell funds big PhonePe.
• Meal supply startup Entrée raised $2.5 million in pre-seed funding led by M25 with participation from traders, together with Hustle Fund, Pillar VC and The Community Fund. The app provides advantageous eating meals delivered to the house with a mean order quantity of over $60.
• Bloomberg studies that Abu Dhabi–based mostly G42 has acquired a $100 million+ stake in ByteDance at a ~$220 billion valuation. This valuation is down from the $300 billion valuation ByteDance set throughout a latest share buyback program.
• Ho Chi Minh City–based mostly prescription supply app Medigo raised $2 million in new funding from East Ventures, with participation from Pavilion Capital and Touchstone Partners.

Government, Policy and Lawsuits

• Use of Meta monitoring instruments discovered to breach EU guidelines on knowledge transfers. “Austria’s data protection authority has found that use of Meta’s tracking technologies violated EU data protection law as personal data was transferred to the US where the information was at risk from government surveillance,” reported TC’s Natasha Lomas.
• India reportedly is planning to power smartphone makers to permit customers to take away pre-loaded apps and can mandate screening OS updates through new safety guidelines.

Downloads

Camo 2

A preferred webcam app for PC and Mac is returning. Camo was initially launched in 2020 to permit iPhone customers to make use of their telephones as a webcam. Now, Camo 2 is out, providing help for any webcam, together with common webcams in addition to built-in gadgets, screens with built-in cameras, DSLR and mirrorless cameras, inputs from seize playing cards and HDMI dongles, motion cameras and different software program digital cameras.

Mavn

Reports Lauren Forristal: Mavn is “a new female-founded startup that connects content creators with brands and other businesses.” The new app provides customers “access to a variety of experiences, from PR packages and paid posts to campaigns, photoshoots, events, dining at fancy restaurants and more.” The app is offered for each iOS and Android.

Petey: AI assistant brings ChatGPT to the Apple Watch

The app was beforehand known as watchGPT, however Apple’s crackdown on GPT apps led the developer to have points getting the app authorised. So the identify was modified, and increase, the app went reside. As the identify implies, Petey provides a ChatGPT-like expertise out of your Watch, permitting customers to ask questions both with or with out typing and have the solutions learn out to you through text-to-speech. The app additionally features a complication so you’ll be able to rapidly open the assistant with a faucet in your watch face.

Ghost

A brand new startup known as Ghost believes that placing in additional guardrails across the nameless expertise will permit customers to have enjoyable, with out the standard downsides. To take a look at this idea, the corporate has launched its Ghost messaging app that enables customers to share an nameless message in a gaggle chat with mates in order to flirt, joke, or ask questions with out revealing their identification. The app additionally features a vary of different options, together with the flexibility to ask ChatGPT a query immediately inside the group chat, amongst different issues.