Apps

Stay up to date on the latest developments in the app industry, including news, updates, funding, mergers and acquisitions, and more.

“Introducing the All-New Password Manager App by Apple”

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Passwords were available from the Settings app on your Mac or iPhone. Now, the company is introducing the Passwords app at WWDC 2024. It will be available with the next major releases of iOS, macOS and visionOS, that is iOS 18, macOS Sequoia and visionOS 2. As a reminder, iCloud Passwords already support shared passwords, verification codes and a note field for every password entry. This new app will make it easier to get started and think about using iCloud Passwords to store your sensitive information.

“The Future Unveiled: Previewing WWDC 2024 and its Revolutionary Offerings: iOS 18, macOS 15, and the Power of AI”

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Following the collapse of its electric car project, Apple reportedly shuffled a number of employees into its internal generative AI efforts. iOS 18 with more AIImage Credits: Darrell EtheringtonAlong with that partnership, expect iOS 18 to be the centerpiece of the event. Siri will be getting a long-awaited refresh, courtesy of Apple’s generative AI work. Generative AI is even coming to emojis, allowing users to customize and create their own in Messages. A lot of the iOS updates should also make their way to macOS, including those in Siri, Notes and Safari.

Experience Apple’s Mesmerizing Kick-Off to WWDC 2024 – Live!

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Apple will kick off its weeklong Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC 2024) event today with the customary keynote at 1 p.m. ET/10 a.m. PT. There’s a stream on YouTube as well, but that has a tendency to lag a bit. The latest reports have put a name to Apple’s AI efforts: Apple Intelligence, along with the caveat that not all recent Apple devices will be able to use the new system. And you can bet that many of iOS 18’s AI features will make their way to macOS 15, as well. TechCrunch will be reporting on the ground at Apple Park, bringing you the news as it happens.

The Unexpected Downfall of India’s Most Successful Startup: From Riches to Ruin

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In a research note, HSBC estimates that the Indian edtech giant, once valued at $22 billion, is now worth nothing. The write-down in its estimation makes Byju’s one of the most spectacular startup slides in recent memory and follows a very rough year for what was India’s most valuable startup not long ago. After raising $100 million, AI mortgage startup LoanSnap is facing an avalanche of lawsuits and has been evicted from its main office. At least seven creditors, including Wells Fargo, have collectively alleged that the company owes them more than $2 million. Read MoreTurns out, AI models have favorite numbers: Engineers at Gramener performed an informal experiment where they asked several major LLM chatbots to pick a random number between 0 and 100.

Judge Robles finds Mike Lynch innocent of HP’s fraud trial

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He had been accused of falsely inflating revenues at the UK startup ahead of its $11 billion sale to HP in 2011. This verdict closes the book on a relentless 13-year effort to pin HP’s well-documented ineptitude on Dr Lynch. Mr Lynch made £500M from the sale of Autonomy to HP. Prosecutors accused Lynch and Chamberlain of illegally inflating revenues prior to the acquisition and hiding high-margin software revenues inside unprofitable hardware sales. In the trial, Lynch successfully argued that he had not been involved in accounting and contract matters, instead focusing on technical and marketing issues.

Tune in for the Start of WWDC 2024: Apple Reignites Excitement on Your Screens

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Apple will kick off its weeklong Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC 2024) event with the customary keynote at 10 a.m. ET/7 a.m. PT on June 10. There’s a stream on YouTube as well, but that has a tendency to lag a bit. The latest reports have put a name to Apple’s AI efforts: Apple Intelligence, along with the caveat that not all recent Apple devices will be able to use the new system. And you can bet that many of iOS 18’s AI features will make their way to macOS 15, as well. TechCrunch will be reporting on the ground at Apple Park, bringing you the news as it happens.

“K-12 Education Software Leader, PowerSchool, to Be Acquired Privately in Multi-Billion Dollar Transaction”

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Cloud-based education software vendor PowerSchool is being taken private by investment firm Bain Capital in a $5.6 billion deal. The announcement comes amid a swathe of take-private deals led by private equity firms seeking a bargain on under-performing enterprise software firms. Founded in 1997, PowerSchool is a web-based platform that helps educational institutions manage areas of their operations such as enrollment, grades, attendance, and communication with parents and students. The company went public on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) in 2021, after previously been acquired by private equity firms Onex and Vista.

Shopify’s Latest Acquisition: Threads (Don’t Get Confused!)

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Shopify has acquired Threads.com, the Seqiuoa-backed Slack alternative, Threads said on its website. The companies didn’t disclose the terms of the deal but said that the Threads.com team will join Shopify. It was thrown into the limelight after Meta launched Threads, its Twitter-like social network. Notably, Meta also had another product named Threads, an Instagram companion app that started in 2019 and was shut down in 2021. And on Android the app crossed the mark of a million lifetime downloads with just a few downloads prior to Meta launching its Threads social network.

Indie and Startup Creations Take the Spotlight: A Look at Apple’s Design Awards Victors

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With its list of Apple Design Awards winners, Apple is celebrating indie apps and startups over bigger tech firms — including those offering AI chatbots. There’s no ChatGPT to be found on Apple’s list of Design Awards finalists, for example. Instead, Apple’s list of finalists for its Design Awards favored small to midsize app makers like Copilot Money, SmartGym, recipe app Crouton, creative app Procreate Dreams, Gentler Streak, and others, as well as those from venture-backed startups like the creativity app Rooms and the reimagined web browser Arc Search. We're overjoyed– and, frankly, in disbelief– that Rooms is a finalist for Apple's 2024 Design Awards. An “Inclusivity” section also boosts Apple’s global app community, including members in the EU where regulation is underway via the Digital Markets Act.

“Unveiling the Potential of Apple’s AI-Driven iOS 18 at WWDC 2024”

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WWDC is for developers, and much of the focus will be on iOS 18. As the big event nears, all sorts of leaks have emerged about what iOS 18 and its rumored AI-powered apps and features have in store. AI recaps of missed texts will also be available. Users will also be able to change the color of app icons, perhaps as Apple’s answer to Google’s Material You. Maps with route creationMaps will support custom route creation in iOS 18, which lets users design their own routes for a trip.