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Spotify says support for external payments on iOS has already boosted subscriptions

Spotify says its ability to direct its customers to external payment links in its iOS app has already had a positive impact on sales. In a newly filed amicus brief in support of Epic Games in its ongoing legal battle with Apple over external payments on the App Store, Spotify claims its internal data indicates […]
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After adding its own billing option on iOS, Apple asks Patreon to move it to an external browser

Creator platform Patreon has to modify its app to comply with Apple’s guidelines after a recent update allowed U.S. users to make purchases via the web. The company says that its own web-based checkout option is now the default for U.S. fans, but it has to update its app so that this checkout option opens in […]
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Epic Games says Apple is blocking Fortnite from the US and EU App Stores

Epic Games claims that Apple is blocking its Fortnite app from the U.S. and EU App Stores. After winning a decisive victory for app developers in a legal battle with Apple, forcing the tech giant to allow external payments in its U.S. App Store without charging commission, Epic Games attempted to resubmit Fortnite to the […]
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Epic Games and Spotify test Apple’s new App Store rules

Fortnite maker Epic Games and Spotify are testing Apple’s new App Store policies by submitting apps for review that would have previously never been allowed. On Friday, both companies submitted new versions of their respective apps to Apple’s App Review. For Epic Games, it would mean the return of Fortnite to the App Store. Apple […]
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Appfigures: Apple made over $10B from US App Store commissions last year

Over $10 billion — that’s how much revenue Apple’s U.S. App Store raked in last year, according to a new analysis by app intelligence provider Appfigures. The firm’s estimates indicate that U.S. App Store revenue from commissions more than doubled between 2020 and 2024. In 2020, Apple’s share of App Store commissions was approximately $4.76 […]
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Instagram Threads is getting video ads

Instagram Threads will begin testing video ads, Meta announced on Thursday. The test, which will make Threads look more like its competitor X, is an expansion of Threads’ advertising initiatives, which began last month with the opening up of ads to global advertisers. The news was announced at Meta’s presentation at the IAB NewFronts, where […]
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Pinterest updates visual search with more AI-powered features

Pinterest is upgrading its visual search feature with a handful of new capabilities. On Monday, the company announced it’s rolling out new functionality to improve its feature that allows users to search using an image instead of text. This includes new tools to more precisely narrow and refine searches, as well as those that make […]
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YouTube support affected by European power outages, too

YouTube’s support team is experiencing an outage, too. The company says the widespread power outages in Spain and Portugal have knocked some of YouTube’s customer support team offline, including those who offer support in related European languages. The company did not share how many employees are unable to work because of the outages, or how […]
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Google shifts Android news to a virtual event ahead of its I/O developer conference

News about Android is being relegated to a side show at Google’s annual developer conference, Google I/O, next month. On Monday, the company announced it would share information about the latest updates coming to the Android ecosystem at an upcoming virtual event called “The Android Show: I/O Edition,” airing on May 13. The decision to […]
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Instagram Edits topped 7M downloads in first week, a bigger launch than CapCut’s

Instagram Edits, Meta’s newly released video creation app, had a bigger debut than its direct competitor, ByteDance’s CapCut, once did. The new app, which today helps users craft videos for Instagram reels, stories, and other social posts, was downloaded an estimated 702,900 times on iOS devices during its first two days on the market. That’s […]
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Wait, how did a decentralized service like Bluesky go down?

It turns out that decentralized social networks can go down, too. On Thursday evening, the decentralized social network Bluesky experienced a significant outage, leaving users unable to load the app on both the web and mobile devices for roughly an hour. According to a message on Bluesky’s status page, the company was aware of the […]
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Meta’s Threads opens up ads to global advertisers

Months after first testing ads in select markets, including the U.S., Meta on Wednesday announced that its Instagram Threads app would now expand ads to all advertisers worldwide. The expansion will allow eligible advertisers to reach Threads’ over 320 million monthly active users, and it will include access to an inventory filter to control the sensitivity level […]
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