{"id":15929,"date":"2023-04-29T18:00:47","date_gmt":"2023-04-29T18:00:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/entertainment.runfyers.com\/index.php\/2023\/04\/29\/this-week-in-apps-users-pan-snapchats-ai-bluesky-has-a-moment-apple-wins-antitrust-appeal\/"},"modified":"2023-04-29T18:00:47","modified_gmt":"2023-04-29T18:00:47","slug":"this-week-in-apps-users-pan-snapchats-ai-bluesky-has-a-moment-apple-wins-antitrust-appeal","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/entertainment.runfyers.com\/index.php\/2023\/04\/29\/this-week-in-apps-users-pan-snapchats-ai-bluesky-has-a-moment-apple-wins-antitrust-appeal\/","title":{"rendered":"This Week in Apps: Users pan Snapchat’s AI, Bluesky has a moment, Apple wins antitrust appeal"},"content":{"rendered":"


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Welcome back to This Week in Apps, the weekly TechCrunch series<\/a> that recaps the latest in mobile OS news, mobile applications and the overall app economy.<\/p>\n

The app economy in 2023 hit a few snags, as consumer spending last year dropped for the first time by 2% to $167 billion<\/a>, according to data.ai\u2019s \u201cState of Mobile\u201d report. However, downloads are continuing to grow, up 11% year-over-year in 2022 to reach 255 billion. Consumers are also spending more time in mobile apps than ever before. On Android devices alone, hours spent in 2022 grew 9%, reaching 4.1 trillion.<\/p>\n

This Week in Apps offers a way to keep up with this fast-moving industry in one place with the latest from the world of apps, including news, updates, startup fundings, mergers and acquisitions, and much more.<\/p>\n

Do you want This Week in Apps in your inbox every Saturday? Sign up here: techcrunch.com\/newsletters<\/a><\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

Bluesky is having a moment<\/h3>\n
<\/p>\n

Image Credits:<\/strong> Jose A. Bernat Bacete (opens in a new window)<\/span><\/a> \/ Getty Images<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

If anyone was waiting for a winner to emerge among the many Twitter alternatives, current signs are pointing to Bluesky<\/a> as a possible forerunner in the race. With its invite-only status, native mobile apps and ability to attract the always online, shitposting crowd,<\/a> the app has been getting buzz this past week as users invited their friends, bringing the network to somewhere around 40,000+ users.<\/p>\n

Bluesky today moves quickly, giving posters the dopamine rush of Twitter-level attention at times. People are vying to reach to its \u201cWhat\u2019s Hot\u201d feed and are arguing about whether or not these pseudo-tweets should be called \u201cposts\u201d or \u201cskeets<\/a>\u201d \u2014 the latter against the wishes of the CEO Jay Graber, who is begging<\/a> for anything else, even \u201cskoots.\u201d<\/p>\n

To what extent she\u2019ll have any sway over the matter remains to be seen. In one viral post, Graber essentially admits the users are now running amok.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Image Credits:<\/strong> Bluesky screenshot<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Blueskyers are also creating their own conventions for the site, dubbing the Bluesky \u201ctimeline\u201d the \u201cskyline,\u201d for example, and are laughing about Elon Musk\u2019s failures while posting their Bluesky memes.<\/p>\n

Much of the crowd is young \u2014 ranging from Gen Z to millennial \u2014 and some have been known to joke about their plan to bully cringey Gen X\u2019ers or any unwelcome bad actors off the app if they ever dare to join.<\/p>\n

This experience, naturally, is not for everyone.<\/p>\n

Despite there being a number of journalists on Bluesky, it\u2019s so far not a place where people are sharing their work or having thoughtful discussions about the news of the day. There aren\u2019t many (any?) right-wingers getting into arguments with leftists. There are few legit celebs or high-profile figures on board, beyond folks like Chrissy Teigen and AOC and a few others.<\/p>\n

Instead, Bluesky feels like a weird afterparty where everyone is a little too drunk, a little too tired and has lost their filter.<\/p>\n

This vibe may not last and neither may its appeal. It remains to be seen.<\/p>\n

While \u201cparty Twitter\u201d is a fun place to be for a time, it isn\u2019t necessarily a fulfilling meal \u2014 just a sugary snack. That could leave some people returning to more robust networks, like Twitter or Mastodon to engage in more thoughtful discussions. And it may turn off some potential Bluesky users who aren\u2019t a fan of the shitposting culture.<\/p>\n

For others, however, a place that\u2019s all brouhaha and no baggage may be just what they want.<\/p>\n

There are also things the app needs to address before it opens more publicly. For now, it\u2019s lacking many of the features people expect \u2014 like the ability to view your past likes, bookmark items, create lists, block users, use hashtags, DM others, perform advanced searches and more. This gives the network a bit of an ephemeral feeling, as posts \u2014 or skeets \u2014 quickly move down the feed, never to be seen again.<\/p>\n

Despite its issues, Bluesky recalls the early days of the social web where trying new apps was actually fun. That\u2019s the nature of its invite-only status, which is keeping the party small with a bouncer at the door.<\/p>\n

In the meantime, if you want to join us on Bluesky, give us a follow.<\/p>\n

TechCrunch team members on Bluesky include me \u2014 Sarah Perez<\/a> (@sarahp), Amanda Silberling<\/a> (@ralts), Brian Heater<\/a> (@bheater), Frederic Lardinois<\/a> (@fredericl), Romain Dillet<\/a> (@romain), Matthew Panzarino<\/a> (@panz), Darrell Etherington<\/a> (@darrelletherington.com), Ron Miller<\/a> (@ronmiller), Alex Wilhelm<\/a> (@alexwilhem), Becca Szkutak<\/a> (@becca), Ivan Mehta<\/a> (@methology), Bryce Durbin<\/a> (@dicebourbon), Henry Pickavet<\/a> (@pickavet), Miranda Halpern<\/a> (@mirandahalpern), Morgan Sung<\/a> (@morgansung), Natasha Mascarenhas<\/a> (@natashareporter) and Lorenzo Franceschi-Bicchierai<\/a> (@lorenzofb).<\/p>\n

(Those links should work when logged into the web app at staging.bsky.app<\/a>. We\u2019re all mostly on bsky.social so I didn\u2019t write out that part of these usernames! If you have any unwanted invites, email me the codes, haha, sarahp@techcrunch.com.)\u00a0\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

Currently, Bluesky has 245,000 downloads on iOS<\/a>, more than half of which came in April, indicating there\u2019s far more demand than there is access for the time being.<\/p>\n

Snapchat\u2019s My AI is getting panned<\/h3>\n
\"Snapchat<\/p>\n

Image Credits:<\/strong> Snap (modified by TechCrunch)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

The user reviews for Snapchat\u2019s \u201cMy AI\u201d feature are in \u2014 and they\u2019re not good<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Launched last week to global users after initially being a subscriber-only addition, Snapchat\u2019s new AI chatbot powered by OpenAI\u2019s GPT technology is now pinned to the top of the app\u2019s Chat tab where users can ask it questions and get instant responses. But following the chatbot\u2019s rollout to Snapchat\u2019s wider community, Snapchat\u2019s app has seen a spike in negative reviews amid a growing number of complaints shared on social media.<\/p>\n

Over the past week, Snapchat\u2019s average U.S. App Store review was 1.67, with 75% of reviews being one-star, according to data from app intelligence firm\u00a0Sensor Tower<\/a>. For comparison, across Q1 2023, the Snapchat average U.S. App Store review was 3.05, with only 35% of reviews being one-star.<\/p>\n

The number of daily reviews has also increased by five times over the last week, the firm noted.<\/p>\n

Another app data provider,\u00a0Apptopia<\/a>, reports a similar trend. Its analysis shows \u201cAI\u201d was the top keyword in Snapchat\u2019s App Store reviews over the past seven days, where it was mentioned 2,973 times. The firm has given the term an \u201cImpact Score\u201d rating of -9.2. This Impact Score is a weighted index that measures the effect a term has on sentiment and ranges from -10 to +10.<\/p>\n

Apptopia also said that Snapchat received around 3x more one-star ratings than usual on April 20, 2023. That\u2019s the day after\u00a0the My AI global release was announced<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Many Snapchat users aren\u2019t thrilled with My AI, which appeared inside their app without warning or their consent. For some, it\u2019s the chatbot\u2019s placement that\u2019s the cause of concern. My AI is pinned to the top of users\u2019 Chat feed inside the app and can\u2019t be unpinned, blocked or removed, as other conversations can be. Many are also pushing back at the fact that removing the My AI from their Chat feed requires a Snapchat+ subscription \u2014 effectively forcing them to pay to get their app back to normal.<\/p>\n

Other users found the AI creepy, as it seemed to know their location even if they hadn\u2019t explicitly shared it.<\/p>\n

In response to the ongoing complaints, Snap published an explainer<\/a>. It said the AI would have your location data if you were already using Snap Map and if you disabled location sharing, there could be a temporary delay (due to caching, we understand) before the AI would no longer have access to that data. Snap also said it made updates to My AI that clarify when it is aware of a Snapchatter\u2019s location, and when it isn\u2019t. Now, when users open My AI for the first time, they\u2019ll receive a notice explaining that it may use the information they share with Snapchat to personalize its responses.<\/p>\n

Apple and Meta beat antitrust lawsuits; Apple\u2019s battle was with Epic Games, Meta with state AGs<\/h3>\n
\"Apple<\/p>\n

Image Credits:<\/strong> Nicholas Kamm \/ AFP \/ Getty Images<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Apple this week won its antitrust-focused appeals<\/a> court battle with Fortnite maker Epic Games over its App Store policies, according to the opinion issued today by the U.S. Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals. The court largely upheld the district court\u2019s earlier ruling related to Epic Games\u2019 antitrust claims in favor of Apple, but it also upheld the lower court\u2019s judgment in favor of Epic under California\u2019s Unfair Competition Law.<\/p>\n

The ruling is a major setback for Epic Games and other developers who hoped the ruling could set a precedent for further antitrust claims and require Apple to open iOS devices to third-party app stores and payment systems. However, the one bright spot for developers is that the ruling upheld the lower court\u2019s prior decision on anti-steering changes.<\/p>\n

Noted Epic Games CEO Tim Sweeney: \u201cFortunately, the court\u2019s positive decision rejecting Apple\u2019s anti-steering provisions frees iOS developers to send consumers to the web to do business with them directly there. We\u2019re working on next steps.\u201d<\/p>\n

In addition to Apple, Meta also won an antitrust lawsuit<\/a>, under appeal, that had pitted the tech giant against dozens of state attorneys general, led by New York. The states alleged Meta had illegally maintained monopoly power in the social networking market through its acquisitions of photo-sharing app Instagram in 2012 and WhatsApp in 2014, and that it gained further power through data policies that harmed app developers.<\/p>\n

The U.S. District Court Judge James Boasberg originally ruled that states had waited too long to challenge Meta\u2019s acquisitions and that the policies they had cited were not illegal under antitrust law. The appeals court upheld this decision.<\/p>\n

Apple<\/h3>\n