peacock NBCU's Peacock Outpaces Quibi in Early Mobile App Downloads NBCUniversal's new streaming service Peacock reaches 1.5 million mobile downloads in its first six days, beating Quibi's early performance but trailing far behind Disney+.
tiktok US Government Considers Banning Popular TikTok App Over Security Concerns Secretary of State Mike Pompeo announces the United States is looking at banning TikTok due to national security worries about user data sharing with China.
apple iOS 14 Clipboard Alerts Expose Widespread App Snooping Apple's new iOS 14 clipboard notification feature reveals that many popular apps secretly read user clipboard data. Companies like TikTok, Reddit, and LinkedIn face backlash and rush to fix their behavior.
disney plus Hamilton Musical Drives Record Disney+ Downloads Over Holiday Weekend The premiere of the hit musical "Hamilton" gives Disney+ a massive 74% boost in U.S. app downloads over the July 4th weekend. This launch easily becomes the streaming service's largest content release of 2020.
india India Targets Chinese Apps Like TikTok Amid Ongoing Border Tensions India bans 59 Chinese mobile applications, including the massively popular TikTok, citing threats to national sovereignty. The public move serves as a deliberate economic response to recent deadly border clashes with Beijing.
facebook Major iOS Apps Crash Due to Widespread Facebook SDK Glitch A sudden bug in Facebook's iOS software development kit causes massive crashing across popular apps like Spotify, TikTok, and Venmo. The social network resolves the issue quickly, highlighting its deep integration into the mobile app ecosystem.
quibi Quibi Reaches 300,000 Downloads on Launch Day, Falling Short of Disney+ Quibi installs 300,000 users on its first day, a figure that represents just 7.5% of Disney+'s record-breaking launch. The mobile streaming platform faces unique challenges as its on-the-go format collides with global stay-at-home orders.
netflix Netflix Introduces Smart Downloads to Automatically Manage Offline Episodes Netflix rolls out a new Smart Downloads feature that deletes watched episodes and automatically grabs the next one. The tool aims to save storage space and help users binge-watch offline without manual file management.
mobile apps Black Friday Drives Record Mobile Game Revenue as Android Security Improves This week in apps highlights a record-breaking $70 million in U.S. mobile game revenue on Black Friday alongside Google's announcement that 80% of Android apps now encrypt traffic by default.
disney plus Disney+ Reaches 10 Million Downloads as Apple Bans Vaping Apps Disney+ dominates the app charts with over 10 million downloads in its first few days, signaling a massive shift in the mobile streaming landscape. Meanwhile, Apple removes all vaping-related apps from its App Store over health concerns.
apple Apple Removes All Vaping Apps From App Store Amid Health Crisis Apple officially bans all vaping-related applications from its App Store, citing growing health concerns. The tech giant takes this proactive step to align with recent regulatory actions and public warnings.
google Google Forms App Defense Alliance to Combat Malicious Android Software Google partners with ESET, Lookout, and Zimperium to create the App Defense Alliance, an effort to better detect and block harmful apps before they reach users.
ios 13 iOS 13 Background Bug Frustrates Users as App Store Q3 Trends Emerge A persistent iOS 13 bug continues to aggressively kill background apps, causing major frustration for both users and developers. Meanwhile, the app industry remains a massive market with record downloads and consumer spending.
android Dozens of Android Apps Secretly Serve Adware to Millions of Users Security researchers discover 42 Android apps on the Google Play store that infect millions of devices with adware. The malicious apps hide their icons, mimic legitimate software, and actively avoid detection by Google's security systems.
google Google Launches Open-Source Digital Wellbeing Experiments to Curb Screen Time Google introduces a new platform of experimental, open-source apps designed to reduce smartphone screen time through unconventional methods like group challenges and notification delays.