At TechCrunch’s Detroit City Spotlight this week, I sat down with Rae Witte, the journalist behind the StockX EC-1.

TechCrunch’s EC-1 push allows individual authors to go deep on a particular company. And as StockX has been headquartered in Detroit since its inception, we took the chance to dig into our reporting in front of our friends from Motor City.

Witte has been covering the now-unicorn, and the larger sneaker beat, for a half decade. That experience helped enrich her reporting arc, giving her more insight into the company’s business model, founding story and recent growth.

StockX is a behemoth today, having recently been valued at $3.8 billion in a round that was announced this month.

But even before the company added another billion dollars to its valuation, TechCrunch was impressed at its business progress.

Back when the company was worth a mere $2.8 billion, we called its then-current round of capital “pre-IPO money.”

And, of course, we asked Witte at the end of the conversation when we should expect to see not just an EC-1 from StockX, but an S-1 as well. Soon, we reckon.

Hit play above to enjoy a behind-the-scenes chat about the company. For more, here’s the EC-1 itself, which Witte absolutely crushed.

 

At TechCrunch’s Detroit City Spotlight this week, I sat down with Rae Witte, the journalist behind the StockX EC-1.

TechCrunch’s EC-1 push allows individual authors to go deep on a particular company. And as StockX has been headquartered in Detroit since its inception, we took the chance to dig into our reporting in front of our friends from Motor City.

Witte has been covering the now-unicorn, and the larger sneaker beat, for a half decade. That experience helped enrich her reporting arc, giving her more insight into the company’s business model, founding story and recent growth.

StockX is a behemoth today, having recently been valued at $3.8 billion in a round that was announced this month.

But even before the company added another billion dollars to its valuation, TechCrunch was impressed at its business progress.

Back when the company was worth a mere $2.8 billion, we called its then-current round of capital “pre-IPO money.”

And, of course, we asked Witte at the end of the conversation when we should expect to see not just an EC-1 from StockX, but an S-1 as well. Soon, we reckon.

Hit play above to enjoy a behind-the-scenes chat about the company. For more, here’s the EC-1 itself, which Witte absolutely crushed.

 

At TechCrunch’s Detroit City Spotlight this week, I sat down with Rae Witte, the journalist behind the StockX EC-1.

TechCrunch’s EC-1 push allows individual authors to go deep on a particular company. And as StockX has been headquartered in Detroit since its inception, we took the chance to dig into our reporting in front of our friends from Motor City.

Witte has been covering the now-unicorn, and the larger sneaker beat, for a half decade. That experience helped enrich her reporting arc, giving her more insight into the company’s business model, founding story and recent growth.

StockX is a behemoth today, having recently been valued at $3.8 billion in a round that was announced this month.

But even before the company added another billion dollars to its valuation, TechCrunch was impressed at its business progress.

Back when the company was worth a mere $2.8 billion, we called its then-current round of capital “pre-IPO money.”

And, of course, we asked Witte at the end of the conversation when we should expect to see not just an EC-1 from StockX, but an S-1 as well. Soon, we reckon.

Hit play above to enjoy a behind-the-scenes chat about the company. For more, here’s the EC-1 itself, which Witte absolutely crushed.

 

At TechCrunch’s Detroit City Spotlight this week, I sat down with Rae Witte, the journalist behind the StockX EC-1.

TechCrunch’s EC-1 push allows individual authors to go deep on a particular company. And as StockX has been headquartered in Detroit since its inception, we took the chance to dig into our reporting in front of our friends from Motor City.

Witte has been covering the now-unicorn, and the larger sneaker beat, for a half decade. That experience helped enrich her reporting arc, giving her more insight into the company’s business model, founding story and recent growth.

StockX is a behemoth today, having recently been valued at $3.8 billion in a round that was announced this month.

But even before the company added another billion dollars to its valuation, TechCrunch was impressed at its business progress.

Back when the company was worth a mere $2.8 billion, we called its then-current round of capital “pre-IPO money.”

And, of course, we asked Witte at the end of the conversation when we should expect to see not just an EC-1 from StockX, but an S-1 as well. Soon, we reckon.

Hit play above to enjoy a behind-the-scenes chat about the company. For more, here’s the EC-1 itself, which Witte absolutely crushed.

 

After years of sustained growth, the pandemic supercharged the outdoor recreation industry. Startups that provide services like camper vans, private campsites and trail-finding apps became relevant to millions of new users when COVID-19 shut down indoor recreation, building on an existing boom in outdoor recreation.

Startups like Outdoorsy, AllTrails, Cabana, Hipcamp, Kibbo and Lowergear Outdoors have seen significant growth, but to keep it going, consumers who discovered a fondness for the great outdoors during the pandemic must turn it into a lifelong interest.

Social media, increased environmentalism and high urbanization were already fueling a boom in popularity. There was a 72% increase in people who camp more than three times a year between 2014 and 2019, mostly spurred by young millennials, young families with kids and nonwhite participants.

But 2020 was a different animal: After months of shelter-in-place orders, widespread shutdowns and physical distancing, outdoors became the only location for safe socializing. In South Dakota, the Lewis and Clark Recreation Area saw a 59% increase in visitors from 2019 to 2020. In the pandemic year, consumers spent $887 billion on outdoor recreation according to the Outdoor Industry Association, more than pharmaceuticals and fuel combined.

And it’s going to continue to grow. Hiking equipment alone is supposed to reach a $7.4 billion market size by 2027, a 6.3% compound annual growth rate. Camping and caravanning is having an even more drastic moment. Without international travel, vacations shifted from flights to exotic resorts to domestic road trips, self-contained rentals and camping. In 2020, the market for camping and caravanning was almost $40 billion and is predicted to rise 13% to just over $45 billion this year.

After the initial and extreme drop-off in engagement early as national parks closed, private camping sites shut down and domestic travel ceased, many outdoor startups have had a breakout year. Outdoorsy, the peer-to-peer camper van rental marketplace, said it saw 44% of all bookings in the company’s history in 2020.

Campsite booking platform Hipcamp said it sent three times as much money to landowners in 2020 as compared to 2019. And it’s not just experienced outdoor veterans taking advantage of the work-from-home lifestyle: in 2020, Cabana, a camper van rental startup, said 70% of its customers had never rented a camper van or an RV before and another 26% had only done it once.

But a report commissioned by the Outdoor Industry Association showed that the most popular outdoor activities were ones that people could do close to home, not the traveling kind Hipcamp, Cabana and Outdoorsy traffic in. The three most popular outdoor activities for newbies: walking, running and bicycling.

But the pandemic did create a small boost for camping, climbing, backpacking and kayaking; fueled by an increase in women, younger, more ethnically diverse, urban and slightly less wealthy people pushing into the outdoors. This class of outdoor startups will need to engage the new demographic shift to capitalize on the pandemic’s outdoor boom because, according to the report, a quarter of those who started new outdoor activities during the pandemic don’t plan on continuing once it’s over.

Startups are increasing accessibility to the outdoors

But getting into the outdoors can be overwhelming: there’s gear to buy, skills to learn, exploring unfamiliar areas and the added stressor of safety. Outdoor startups are working to lower the barrier to entry to help grow their businesses.

“I think anytime you have like 2,000 articles with two dozen tips on how to use a product, that tells me that it is really, really too hard to use,” said Cabana founder Scott Kubly. “To me, that says there’s nothing but friction in this process. If you want to build something that’s mainstream, you need to make it super consistent and really easy to use.”

Kubly said only half a percent of the U.S. population takes a rental van or RV trip each year. Planning an outdoor adventure can be time-consuming — choosing a location, finding an open campsite, planning meals and water, and figuring out dump stations for trash or septic. That planning is multiplied tenfold if you are going for a road trip or backpacking and need to find new places every other night.

After years of sustained growth, the pandemic supercharged the outdoor recreation industry. Startups that provide services like camper vans, private campsites and trail-finding apps became relevant to millions of new users when COVID-19 shut down indoor recreation, building on an existing boom in outdoor recreation.

Startups like Outdoorsy, AllTrails, Cabana, Hipcamp, Kibbo and Lowergear Outdoors have seen significant growth, but to keep it going, consumers who discovered a fondness for the great outdoors during the pandemic must turn it into a lifelong interest.

Social media, increased environmentalism and high urbanization were already fueling a boom in popularity. There was a 72% increase in people who camp more than three times a year between 2014 and 2019, mostly spurred by young millennials, young families with kids and nonwhite participants.

But 2020 was a different animal: After months of shelter-in-place orders, widespread shutdowns and physical distancing, outdoors became the only location for safe socializing. In South Dakota, the Lewis and Clark Recreation Area saw a 59% increase in visitors from 2019 to 2020. In the pandemic year, consumers spent $887 billion on outdoor recreation according to the Outdoor Industry Association, more than pharmaceuticals and fuel combined.

And it’s going to continue to grow. Hiking equipment alone is supposed to reach a $7.4 billion market size by 2027, a 6.3% compound annual growth rate. Camping and caravanning is having an even more drastic moment. Without international travel, vacations shifted from flights to exotic resorts to domestic road trips, self-contained rentals and camping. In 2020, the market for camping and caravanning was almost $40 billion and is predicted to rise 13% to just over $45 billion this year.

After the initial and extreme drop-off in engagement early as national parks closed, private camping sites shut down and domestic travel ceased, many outdoor startups have had a breakout year. Outdoorsy, the peer-to-peer camper van rental marketplace, said it saw 44% of all bookings in the company’s history in 2020.

Campsite booking platform Hipcamp said it sent three times as much money to landowners in 2020 as compared to 2019. And it’s not just experienced outdoor veterans taking advantage of the work-from-home lifestyle: in 2020, Cabana, a camper van rental startup, said 70% of its customers had never rented a camper van or an RV before and another 26% had only done it once.

But a report commissioned by the Outdoor Industry Association showed that the most popular outdoor activities were ones that people could do close to home, not the traveling kind Hipcamp, Cabana and Outdoorsy traffic in. The three most popular outdoor activities for newbies: walking, running and bicycling.

But the pandemic did create a small boost for camping, climbing, backpacking and kayaking; fueled by an increase in women, younger, more ethnically diverse, urban and slightly less wealthy people pushing into the outdoors. This class of outdoor startups will need to engage the new demographic shift to capitalize on the pandemic’s outdoor boom because, according to the report, a quarter of those who started new outdoor activities during the pandemic don’t plan on continuing once it’s over.

Startups are increasing accessibility to the outdoors

But getting into the outdoors can be overwhelming: there’s gear to buy, skills to learn, exploring unfamiliar areas and the added stressor of safety. Outdoor startups are working to lower the barrier to entry to help grow their businesses.

“I think anytime you have like 2,000 articles with two dozen tips on how to use a product, that tells me that it is really, really too hard to use,” said Cabana founder Scott Kubly. “To me, that says there’s nothing but friction in this process. If you want to build something that’s mainstream, you need to make it super consistent and really easy to use.”

Kubly said only half a percent of the U.S. population takes a rental van or RV trip each year. Planning an outdoor adventure can be time-consuming — choosing a location, finding an open campsite, planning meals and water, and figuring out dump stations for trash or septic. That planning is multiplied tenfold if you are going for a road trip or backpacking and need to find new places every other night.

Welcome back to This Week in Apps, the weekly TechCrunch series that recaps the latest in mobile OS news, mobile applications and the overall app economy.

The app industry is as hot as ever, with a record 218 billion downloads and $143 billion in global consumer spend in 2020.

Consumers last year also spent 3.5 trillion minutes using apps on Android devices alone. And in the U.S., app usage surged ahead of the time spent watching live TV. Currently, the average American watches 3.7 hours of live TV per day, but now spends four hours per day on their mobile devices.

Apps aren’t just a way to pass idle hours — they’re also a big business. In 2019, mobile-first companies had a combined  $544 billion valuation, 6.5x higher than those without a mobile focus. In 2020, investors poured $73 billion in capital into mobile companies — a figure that’s up 27% year-over-year.

This week, the news is heavily Apple-centric. The company is hosting an event next week, where we may get some new devices and form factors, as well as AirTags (maybe!). Plus, Apple’s App Tracking Transparency is still top of mind for many developers. So this week, we’re looking at some initial ATT data that has some surprises, among other things.

This Week in Apps will soon be a newsletter! Sign up here: techcrunch.com/newsletters

Top Stories

Apple’s Spring Loaded event arrives next week

Apple this week announced its plans to host a “Spring Loaded” event on April 20th, where it’s expected to make a handful of updates. While nothing is for certain — this is Apple, after all — rumors are pointing toward an updated iPad Pro lineup, perhaps with Apple’s Mini LED displays. A new iPad Mini could also be on the way, as it’s not been refreshed for two years.

Bloomberg had earlier reported new iPads were coming this spring, with a refreshed iPad Pro line sporting a faster processor and better cameras, in 11 and 12.9-inch sizes, as well as an iPad mini will a larger screen size.

But there are also hints that we might finally see Apple’s AirTags’ unveiling at long last. This not-so-secretive initiative was already found referenced in iOS code and in one of Apple’s own YouTube videos. And it’s been the subject of congressional hearings, as competitor Tile argued that Apple was leveraging the power of its ecosystem to give its own products an advantage. As a concession, Apple opened up access to the “Find My” app, which AirTags will also use, to third-party manufacturers. But Tile was not among the partners Apple introduced as the program and updated Find My app officially rolled out. We understand that’s because Tile wants to continue to own the relationship between its customers via its own iOS app, not have a third-party in between — and especially not Apple. There’s still a lot that’s not confirmed about Apple’s AirTags — like price point, or even what final design Apple may have settled on, so this could be a fun unveiling.

Apple may use the time to add on more surprises, too, like a third-generation version of AirPods or refreshed Apple TV. We expect Apple will also officially launch iOS 14.5, the big update with App Tracking Transparency, which has been a longer beta cycle.

A surprising report on ATT consent rates

A new report on App Tracking Transparency (ATT) has yielded some interesting results. The new iOS 14 privacy feature will pop up a permissions request on users’ devices, asking them if they’d allow the app to track their activity. Most expected that users would almost universally say “No” to this request, which is why the mobile adtech industry is in chaos, with some companies even trying to figure out if they could work around the change that makes the existing ad identifier, the IDFA, obsolete.

But an AppsFlyer study found that opt-in rates for being tracked were much higher than anyone would have expected. The industry was forecasting opt-in rates anywhere from 2% to 20%, but were figuring things would more likely be in the single digits. So imagine everyone’s surprise when AppsFlyer found that opt-in rates were at a 28% average per app and a median of 32% (meaning about half the apps were exceeding 32%!).

The study was not a small sampling, either. The company counted 13,260,824 times when a prompt was shown to the end-user and found that 5,495,084 times (or 41%) the user tapped the “Allow” button. This took place in March 2021 across over 300 apps in multiple categories, including both apps and games.

Of the 7,765,740 cases when tracking was denied, AppsFlyer said it was actually counting implicit “No’s” from users who previously enabled Limit Ad Tracking (LAT) on their devices in previous iOS versions. Since they had already said they wanted to limit ads, they don’t see the ATT prompt and are classified as denied.

The report found the opt-in rates were very different between apps and games, at 42% and 30%, respectively. This is due to lower brand affinity in gaming, it said. Larger apps also had higher opt-in rates. The top 10% (by device count) had a 50% higher rate than the bottom 10%.

Of course, we should caution that this initial data is preliminary and based off data collected from early adopters. This may not represent the industry at large. In other words, opt-in rates could certainly still change when Apple begins to officially enforce ATT with the release of iOS 14.5.

However, what could be working here is the use of something known as the pre-ATT prompt, which basically means gating Apple’s dialogue between the developer’s own prompt, that they can show at an appropriate time with their own messaging. By explaining to users that by opting in they may see more relevant content or help to keep the app free, users may be more likely to opt in, AppsFlyer suggested.

Weekly News

Apple

Apple device rumors! Analyst Ming-Chi Kuo says 2022 iPhones will feature a 48-megapixel camera, 8K video and come in only 6.1″ and 6.7″ sizes (no more 5.4″ Mini). Also predicted is an AR headset with 15 cameras.

Apple’s legal battle with Epic Games in Australian courts was temporarily put on pause while the U.S. case proceeds. Apple argued that the matter should be settled in the original jurisdiction in the U.S., while Epic says Apple’s anti-competitive behavior should be tried under Australian law as well. A judge ordered the case to be temporarily suspended for three months while the U.S. suit is underway.

Senate Judiciary Committee leaders Senators Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) and Mike Lee (R-UT) put pressure on Apple to provide a witness for an upcoming hearing on app store competition after it looked like Apple might bow out. But this week, the company committed to sending a representative to the Senate antitrust hearing, which Google will also attend. The hearing will focus on the tech giants’ control over “the cost, distribution, and availability of mobile applications on consumers, app developers, and competition.”

Apple filed an expert witness report for its U.S. legal battle with Epic Games where the witness stated that Apple would have to redesign its hardware and software in order to make the iPhone interoperable with alternative app stores outside of its own. Epic Games founder Tim Sweeney tweeted the statement was “baloney” and noted that Apple already has a program that allows users to install apps from the web, the Apple Enterprise Program. Only contractual obligations prevent such a mechanism from being used for consumer apps.

Google

Due to U.S. trade restrictions, China manufacturer Huawei isn’t able to use Google Mobile Services (GMS) on their smartphone, so the company came up with an alternative, Huawei Mobile Services (HMS). Now it’s launched an open-source Choice SDK that will allow app developers to turn their GMS apps into HMS apps more easily. The SDK currently supports features like location, sign-in, analytics, maps and messaging.

Google Assistant, which is integrated with Android devices and available as a standalone app, this week rolled out new features. The AI voice assistant is now able to locate and ring misplaced and silenced iPhones instead of just Android devices. To do so, the device places a regular call to your mobile numbers. It can also complete restaurant takeout orders and design Routines.

Android leaks! Reportedly, Android 12 may bring enhanced privacy controls, according to XDA Developers and a set of leaked Android 12 screenshots they published. Specifically, Google is copying the iOS feature that alerts you when an app you’re using is accessing the clipboard. It’s also working on enhanced notification permissions that let you choose what type of alerts you want to receive, like “real-time” or “conversations.”

E-commerce

TikTok plans to launch a range of new e-commerce-focused ad products, including Collection Ads, which will enable brands to combine their product catalog listings and branded videos; and Dynamic Product Ads, which will automatically retarget users with relevant products according to their actions on publishers’ apps and websites.

Amazon-owned Zappos teamed up with streaming startup BuyWith to add livestream shopping, led by influencers.

Google’s Shopping app for Android and iOS is shutting down, as Google has expanded shopping features in Search and on YouTube in the two years since the Express app was rebranded as Shopping.

Augmented Reality

Gucci Beauty launched a new Snapchat lens that lets users virtually try-on its Rouge De Beauté Brilliant hybrid lipstick and other makeup, including foundation and eyeshadows.

Snap also launched an interactive Lens in the main Snapchat Lens Carousel for all Snapchatters in the U.S. that highlights five AR monuments from the Monumental Perspectives project. The company had brought artists and Snap Lens Creators together to create the five AR monuments to celebrate diverse histories across Los Angeles, in an effort to offer more inclusive perspectives from communities across the region.

Fintech

A joint report by App Annie and marketing firm Liftoff found that downloads of finance apps grew 15% year-over-year in 2020 to 4.6 billion, and time spent in apps rose to 16.3 billion during the year, up 45% from 2019. In the popular category of investing apps, U.S. users spent 135% more time in the top five apps in this space, year-over-year.

A separate report by Sensor Tower found that finance app installs jumped 34% year-over-year in Q1 in the U.S. and Europe.

Social

Instagram is launching a new test that will allow you to choose if you want to hide “Likes,” and a Facebook test will follow. In the test, users will get to decide what works best for them — either choosing to see the Like counts on others’ posts, or not. Users will also be able to turn off Like counts on their own posts, if they choose. Facebook additionally confirmed it will begin to test a similar experience on its own social network. The test aims to balance the feedback from those who rely on Likes as a metric that enables them to prove their value to advertisers, and those who are impacted by the anxiety of chasing Likes.

Discord announced a policy change that says all adult content should be kept behind an NSFW warning and that all NSFW communities and channels will be blocked on iOS devices.

Reddit is said to be exploring a Clubhouse-like voice chat feature, Mashable reported. The development is said to be in the early stages. Reddit didn’t reply to requests for comments, the report said.

Facebook says it will test new business discovery features in the U.S. News Feed. When live, users tap on topics they’re interested in underneath posts and ads in their News Feed in order to explore related content from businesses.

Thirty-five consumer advocacy groups and 64 child development experts co-signed a letter to Facebook asking the company to reconsider its plans to launch an Instagram version for children under the age of 13, arguing that social media has several risk factors for children and adolescents, related to both physical health and overall well-being.

They also launched a petition anyone can sign. Despite the concerns being raised, Instagram’s plans to compete for younger users will not likely be impacted by the outcry. Already, Instagram’s top competitor in social media today — TikTok — has developed an experience for kids under 13. In fact, it was forced to age-gate its app as a result of its settlement with the U.S. Federal Trade Commission, which had investigated Musical.ly (the app that became TikTok) for violations of the U.S. children’s privacy law COPPA.

Facebook, too, could be in a similar situation where it has to age-gate Instagram in order to properly direct its existing underage users to a COPPA-compliant experience. At the very least, Facebook has grounds to argue that it shouldn’t have to boot the under-13 crowd off its app, since TikTok did not. And the FTC’s fines, even when historic, barely make a dent in tech giants’ revenues.

Streaming & Entertainment

Clubhouse rolls out payments to over 60K creators following its initial test launched earlier this month. To send a payment, users can visit a creator’s profile, then tap on the button at the bottom that says “Send Money.” Clubhouse says 100% of the payments go directly to creators.

The TV version of the Google Play Movies & TV app will shut down on Roku, LG, Samsung and Vizio TVs in June, while users’ purchases will be migrated to YouTube.

Health & Fitness

Apple filed for dismissal of an $800 million lawsuit brought on by a developer who claimed the App Store rejected a coronavirus app for “no good reason.” The App Store policy says it’s only accepting coronavirus apps from “recognized institutions such as government, hospital, insurance company, NGO, or a university.” The developer argues they had a medical doctor (a former NASA cardiologist) on their team.

TikTok funded its first episodic public health series, “VIRAL,” from NowThis. The series will feature interviews with public health experts and a live Q&A session focused on answering questions about the pandemic. The partnership represents TikTok’s first-ever funding of an episodic series from a publisher, though TikTok has previously funded creator content.

Google’s Digital Wellbeing app added a new feature called “Heads Up” in its Settings which will remind Pixel device owners to look up when they’re using their phone while out walking. The app requires permission to users’ physical activity and location.

Facebook began sharing state vaccine info in the News Feed to let people know when they’re eligible to get a COVID-19 vaccine in their state, when the general public is eligible in their state and links to their state health department and Facebook’s Vaccine Finder.

Dating apps

Match-owned dating app Hinge launched “video prompts” in its virtual dating feature. The prompts help daters gauge compatibility with debate topics, which can help break the ice and make the virtual dating experience feel less awkward.

Leading dating app Tinder hires former Yum Brands (Pizza Hut and KFC) CMO George Felix as its new chief marketing officer. Tinder CEO Jim Lanzone says Felix “delivers iconic brand positioning and outstanding results” but does so “in new ways with very different brands.”

Security

Gay dating site and app Manhunt, which has 6 million members, confirmed a data breach in February where a hacker gained access to the company’s accounts database. The hacker was able to acquire usernames, emails and passwords for a subset (11%) of its users.

Researchers discovered a WhatsApp security risk that allows a remote hacker to deactivate WhatsApp on your phone and stop you from getting back in, even if you had two-factor enabled.

Clubhouse CEO Paul Davison said the recent report of a data breach was false and that user data was not leaked, calling the article that reported it “clickbait.”

Security researchers found that the popular APKPure app, which helps users install older or discontinued Android apps from outside the Play Store, contained malicious adware. The most recent app version was siphoning data from users’ devices and pushed ads to the lockscreen and in the background to generate fraudulent revenue for adware operators.

Joker malware impacted over 500,000 Huawei users’ devices after they downloaded infected apps from the company’s official Android app store. Researchers found 10 seemingly harmless apps in AppGallery — like virtual keyboards, a camera, a launcher, a messenger, a sticker collection and more — that were infected with the malicious code.

Customer data from the ParkMobile mobile parking app was discovered being sold online. The data included customer email addresses, dates of birth, phone numbers, license plate numbers, hashed passwords and mailing addresses for 21 million customers. ParkMobile attributed the breach to “a cybersecurity incident linked to a vulnerability in a third-party software that we use.”

Privacy

In legal settlements, Disney, Viacom and 10 adtech firms, including Twitter’s MoPub, agreed to remove certain advertising software from children’s apps due to privacy violations. The companies had placed tracking software in kids’ apps without parents’ knowledge or consent, the class-action cases had stated. SDK defendants also include AdColony, Chartboost, Flurry, InMob, ironSource, Tapjoy, Vungle, Unity Technologies, Comscore (Full Circle Studies), and Upsight.

Funding and M&A

Messaging app Wire raised $21 million Series B led by UVC Partners for its end-to-end encrypted messaging app and service. The company redirected its focus from consumers to the enterprise market a couple of years ago and now has 1,800 customers, up 50% year-over-year.

Ordering app and website Slice raised a $40 million Series D to power the marketing and ordering for independent pizzerias. The round, partially aimed at getting Twitter’s former CEO Dick Costolo and former COO Adam Bain on board, was led by Cross Creek and follows last year’s $43 million Series C.

 Triller acquired AI-based customer engagement platform, Amplify.AI, whose co-founder Mahi de Silva will now become TrillerNet’s CEO. Existing CEO Mike Lu will transition to president of TrillerNet and will focus on investor relations. The company separately announced the acquisition of FITE TV, a live event and pay-per-view combat sports streaming platform which will now become home to Triller Fight Club.

Streaming media company Plex, which has apps for web, TV and mobile, raised a $50 million growth round to fuel its ad-supported streaming business and launch new services, including a TV and movie rentals (and maybe purchases) marketplace, and a subscription channels store.

Epic Games, the company behind Fortnite, Houseparty and Unreal Engine, raised a massive $1 billion round, valuing the business at $28.7 billion. The round included a $200 million Sony Group Corporation investment. Other investors included Appaloosa, Baillie Gifford, Fidelity Management & Research Company LLC, GIC, T. Rowe Price Associates-managed accounts, Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan Board, BlackRock managed accounts, Park West, KKR, AllianceBernstein, Altimeter, Franklin Templeton and Luxor Capital.

French on-demand pediatrics app Biloba added support for prescriptions and raised a $1.7 million seed round for its app that lets parents reach a general practitioner and a nurse when they have medical questions about their child.

U.K. climate-focused investing app Clim8 raised $8 million from 7pc Ventures. The app allows consumers to invest in companies and supply chains that focus on tackling climate change, and competes with startups including Tickr, Helios and Yova.

Downloads

Avatarify

Avatarify, reviewed here by TechCrunch, is a new startup for making deepfake videos on your phone. The app processes user’s photos, then turns them into short videos by animating faces, using machine learning algorithms and adding sounds. The user can also select the effects and music they want to use, then tap to animate the photo. This resulting short video can then be shared to Instagram, Facebook or TikTok. The app has a freemium subscription model that costs $34.99/year or $2.49/week.

Feels

French startup Feels has launched a new dating app that wants to rethink the typical dating app profile, which today is more like browsing a catalog of people. In Feels, users can record videos, add text and stickers, answer questions, share photos and more. It also changes how users interact with profiles, ditching the binary thumbs up/down or swipe left/right for a feed of videos where you can react to users’ content or just swipe up to move on. There’s also no “Like” button here.

FCC Speed Test App

The U.S. Federal Communications Commission launched its own speed test app for both iOS and Android that aims to measure internet speeds across the country in order to better determine what areas need better access to broadband. The FCC’s current data on broadband speeds come from ISPs like Verizon and AT&T who will exaggerate their coverage, drawing criticism.

Welcome back to This Week in Apps, the weekly TechCrunch series that recaps the latest in mobile OS news, mobile applications and the overall app economy.

The app industry is as hot as ever, with a record 218 billion downloads and $143 billion in global consumer spend in 2020.

Consumers last year also spent 3.5 trillion minutes using apps on Android devices alone. And in the U.S., app usage surged ahead of the time spent watching live TV. Currently, the average American watches 3.7 hours of live TV per day, but now spends four hours per day on their mobile devices.

Apps aren’t just a way to pass idle hours — they’re also a big business. In 2019, mobile-first companies had a combined  $544 billion valuation, 6.5x higher than those without a mobile focus. In 2020, investors poured $73 billion in capital into mobile companies — a figure that’s up 27% year-over-year.

This week, the news is heavily Apple-centric. The company is hosting an event next week, where we may get some new devices and form factors, as well as AirTags (maybe!). Plus, Apple’s App Tracking Transparency is still top of mind for many developers. So this week, we’re looking at some initial ATT data that has some surprises, among other things.

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Top Stories

Apple’s Spring Loaded event arrives next week

Apple this week announced its plans to host a “Spring Loaded” event on April 20th, where it’s expected to make a handful of updates. While nothing is for certain — this is Apple, after all — rumors are pointing toward an updated iPad Pro lineup, perhaps with Apple’s Mini LED displays. A new iPad Mini could also be on the way, as it’s not been refreshed for two years.

Bloomberg had earlier reported new iPads were coming this spring, with a refreshed iPad Pro line sporting a faster processor and better cameras, in 11 and 12.9-inch sizes, as well as an iPad mini will a larger screen size.

But there are also hints that we might finally see Apple’s AirTags’ unveiling at long last. This not-so-secretive initiative was already found referenced in iOS code and in one of Apple’s own YouTube videos. And it’s been the subject of congressional hearings, as competitor Tile argued that Apple was leveraging the power of its ecosystem to give its own products an advantage. As a concession, Apple opened up access to the “Find My” app, which AirTags will also use, to third-party manufacturers. But Tile was not among the partners Apple introduced as the program and updated Find My app officially rolled out. We understand that’s because Tile wants to continue to own the relationship between its customers via its own iOS app, not have a third-party in between — and especially not Apple. There’s still a lot that’s not confirmed about Apple’s AirTags — like price point, or even what final design Apple may have settled on, so this could be a fun unveiling.

Apple may use the time to add on more surprises, too, like a third-generation version of AirPods or refreshed Apple TV. We expect Apple will also officially launch iOS 14.5, the big update with App Tracking Transparency, which has been a longer beta cycle.

A surprising report on ATT consent rates

A new report on App Tracking Transparency (ATT) has yielded some interesting results. The new iOS 14 privacy feature will pop up a permissions request on users’ devices, asking them if they’d allow the app to track their activity. Most expected that users would almost universally say “No” to this request, which is why the mobile adtech industry is in chaos, with some companies even trying to figure out if they could work around the change that makes the existing ad identifier, the IDFA, obsolete.

But an AppsFlyer study found that opt-in rates for being tracked were much higher than anyone would have expected. The industry was forecasting opt-in rates anywhere from 2% to 20%, but were figuring things would more likely be in the single digits. So imagine everyone’s surprise when AppsFlyer found that opt-in rates were at a 28% average per app and a median of 32% (meaning about half the apps were exceeding 32%!).

The study was not a small sampling, either. The company counted 13,260,824 times when a prompt was shown to the end-user and found that 5,495,084 times (or 41%) the user tapped the “Allow” button. This took place in March 2021 across over 300 apps in multiple categories, including both apps and games.

Of the 7,765,740 cases when tracking was denied, AppsFlyer said it was actually counting implicit “No’s” from users who previously enabled Limit Ad Tracking (LAT) on their devices in previous iOS versions. Since they had already said they wanted to limit ads, they don’t see the ATT prompt and are classified as denied.

The report found the opt-in rates were very different between apps and games, at 42% and 30%, respectively. This is due to lower brand affinity in gaming, it said. Larger apps also had higher opt-in rates. The top 10% (by device count) had a 50% higher rate than the bottom 10%.

Of course, we should caution that this initial data is preliminary and based off data collected from early adopters. This may not represent the industry at large. In other words, opt-in rates could certainly still change when Apple begins to officially enforce ATT with the release of iOS 14.5.

However, what could be working here is the use of something known as the pre-ATT prompt, which basically means gating Apple’s dialogue between the developer’s own prompt, that they can show at an appropriate time with their own messaging. By explaining to users that by opting in they may see more relevant content or help to keep the app free, users may be more likely to opt in, AppsFlyer suggested.

Weekly News

Apple

Apple device rumors! Analyst Ming-Chi Kuo says 2022 iPhones will feature a 48-megapixel camera, 8K video and come in only 6.1″ and 6.7″ sizes (no more 5.4″ Mini). Also predicted is an AR headset with 15 cameras.

Apple’s legal battle with Epic Games in Australian courts was temporarily put on pause while the U.S. case proceeds. Apple argued that the matter should be settled in the original jurisdiction in the U.S., while Epic says Apple’s anti-competitive behavior should be tried under Australian law as well. A judge ordered the case to be temporarily suspended for three months while the U.S. suit is underway.

Senate Judiciary Committee leaders Senators Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) and Mike Lee (R-UT) put pressure on Apple to provide a witness for an upcoming hearing on app store competition after it looked like Apple might bow out. But this week, the company committed to sending a representative to the Senate antitrust hearing, which Google will also attend. The hearing will focus on the tech giants’ control over “the cost, distribution, and availability of mobile applications on consumers, app developers, and competition.”

Apple filed an expert witness report for its U.S. legal battle with Epic Games where the witness stated that Apple would have to redesign its hardware and software in order to make the iPhone interoperable with alternative app stores outside of its own. Epic Games founder Tim Sweeney tweeted the statement was “baloney” and noted that Apple already has a program that allows users to install apps from the web, the Apple Enterprise Program. Only contractual obligations prevent such a mechanism from being used for consumer apps.

Google

Due to U.S. trade restrictions, China manufacturer Huawei isn’t able to use Google Mobile Services (GMS) on their smartphone, so the company came up with an alternative, Huawei Mobile Services (HMS). Now it’s launched an open-source Choice SDK that will allow app developers to turn their GMS apps into HMS apps more easily. The SDK currently supports features like location, sign-in, analytics, maps and messaging.

Google Assistant, which is integrated with Android devices and available as a standalone app, this week rolled out new features. The AI voice assistant is now able to locate and ring misplaced and silenced iPhones instead of just Android devices. To do so, the device places a regular call to your mobile numbers. It can also complete restaurant takeout orders and design Routines.

Android leaks! Reportedly, Android 12 may bring enhanced privacy controls, according to XDA Developers and a set of leaked Android 12 screenshots they published. Specifically, Google is copying the iOS feature that alerts you when an app you’re using is accessing the clipboard. It’s also working on enhanced notification permissions that let you choose what type of alerts you want to receive, like “real-time” or “conversations.”

E-commerce

TikTok plans to launch a range of new e-commerce-focused ad products, including Collection Ads, which will enable brands to combine their product catalog listings and branded videos; and Dynamic Product Ads, which will automatically retarget users with relevant products according to their actions on publishers’ apps and websites.

Amazon-owned Zappos teamed up with streaming startup BuyWith to add livestream shopping, led by influencers.

Google’s Shopping app for Android and iOS is shutting down, as Google has expanded shopping features in Search and on YouTube in the two years since the Express app was rebranded as Shopping.

Augmented Reality

Gucci Beauty launched a new Snapchat lens that lets users virtually try-on its Rouge De Beauté Brilliant hybrid lipstick and other makeup, including foundation and eyeshadows.

Snap also launched an interactive Lens in the main Snapchat Lens Carousel for all Snapchatters in the U.S. that highlights five AR monuments from the Monumental Perspectives project. The company had brought artists and Snap Lens Creators together to create the five AR monuments to celebrate diverse histories across Los Angeles, in an effort to offer more inclusive perspectives from communities across the region.

Fintech

A joint report by App Annie and marketing firm Liftoff found that downloads of finance apps grew 15% year-over-year in 2020 to 4.6 billion, and time spent in apps rose to 16.3 billion during the year, up 45% from 2019. In the popular category of investing apps, U.S. users spent 135% more time in the top five apps in this space, year-over-year.

A separate report by Sensor Tower found that finance app installs jumped 34% year-over-year in Q1 in the U.S. and Europe.

Social

Instagram is launching a new test that will allow you to choose if you want to hide “Likes,” and a Facebook test will follow. In the test, users will get to decide what works best for them — either choosing to see the Like counts on others’ posts, or not. Users will also be able to turn off Like counts on their own posts, if they choose. Facebook additionally confirmed it will begin to test a similar experience on its own social network. The test aims to balance the feedback from those who rely on Likes as a metric that enables them to prove their value to advertisers, and those who are impacted by the anxiety of chasing Likes.

Discord announced a policy change that says all adult content should be kept behind an NSFW warning and that all NSFW communities and channels will be blocked on iOS devices.

Reddit is said to be exploring a Clubhouse-like voice chat feature, Mashable reported. The development is said to be in the early stages. Reddit didn’t reply to requests for comments, the report said.

Facebook says it will test new business discovery features in the U.S. News Feed. When live, users tap on topics they’re interested in underneath posts and ads in their News Feed in order to explore related content from businesses.

Thirty-five consumer advocacy groups and 64 child development experts co-signed a letter to Facebook asking the company to reconsider its plans to launch an Instagram version for children under the age of 13, arguing that social media has several risk factors for children and adolescents, related to both physical health and overall well-being.

They also launched a petition anyone can sign. Despite the concerns being raised, Instagram’s plans to compete for younger users will not likely be impacted by the outcry. Already, Instagram’s top competitor in social media today — TikTok — has developed an experience for kids under 13. In fact, it was forced to age-gate its app as a result of its settlement with the U.S. Federal Trade Commission, which had investigated Musical.ly (the app that became TikTok) for violations of the U.S. children’s privacy law COPPA.

Facebook, too, could be in a similar situation where it has to age-gate Instagram in order to properly direct its existing underage users to a COPPA-compliant experience. At the very least, Facebook has grounds to argue that it shouldn’t have to boot the under-13 crowd off its app, since TikTok did not. And the FTC’s fines, even when historic, barely make a dent in tech giants’ revenues.

Streaming & Entertainment

Clubhouse rolls out payments to over 60K creators following its initial test launched earlier this month. To send a payment, users can visit a creator’s profile, then tap on the button at the bottom that says “Send Money.” Clubhouse says 100% of the payments go directly to creators.

The TV version of the Google Play Movies & TV app will shut down on Roku, LG, Samsung and Vizio TVs in June, while users’ purchases will be migrated to YouTube.

Health & Fitness

Apple filed for dismissal of an $800 million lawsuit brought on by a developer who claimed the App Store rejected a coronavirus app for “no good reason.” The App Store policy says it’s only accepting coronavirus apps from “recognized institutions such as government, hospital, insurance company, NGO, or a university.” The developer argues they had a medical doctor (a former NASA cardiologist) on their team.

TikTok funded its first episodic public health series, “VIRAL,” from NowThis. The series will feature interviews with public health experts and a live Q&A session focused on answering questions about the pandemic. The partnership represents TikTok’s first-ever funding of an episodic series from a publisher, though TikTok has previously funded creator content.

Google’s Digital Wellbeing app added a new feature called “Heads Up” in its Settings which will remind Pixel device owners to look up when they’re using their phone while out walking. The app requires permission to users’ physical activity and location.

Facebook began sharing state vaccine info in the News Feed to let people know when they’re eligible to get a COVID-19 vaccine in their state, when the general public is eligible in their state and links to their state health department and Facebook’s Vaccine Finder.

Dating apps

Match-owned dating app Hinge launched “video prompts” in its virtual dating feature. The prompts help daters gauge compatibility with debate topics, which can help break the ice and make the virtual dating experience feel less awkward.

Leading dating app Tinder hires former Yum Brands (Pizza Hut and KFC) CMO George Felix as its new chief marketing officer. Tinder CEO Jim Lanzone says Felix “delivers iconic brand positioning and outstanding results” but does so “in new ways with very different brands.”

Security

Gay dating site and app Manhunt, which has 6 million members, confirmed a data breach in February where a hacker gained access to the company’s accounts database. The hacker was able to acquire usernames, emails and passwords for a subset (11%) of its users.

Researchers discovered a WhatsApp security risk that allows a remote hacker to deactivate WhatsApp on your phone and stop you from getting back in, even if you had two-factor enabled.

Clubhouse CEO Paul Davison said the recent report of a data breach was false and that user data was not leaked, calling the article that reported it “clickbait.”

Security researchers found that the popular APKPure app, which helps users install older or discontinued Android apps from outside the Play Store, contained malicious adware. The most recent app version was siphoning data from users’ devices and pushed ads to the lockscreen and in the background to generate fraudulent revenue for adware operators.

Joker malware impacted over 500,000 Huawei users’ devices after they downloaded infected apps from the company’s official Android app store. Researchers found 10 seemingly harmless apps in AppGallery — like virtual keyboards, a camera, a launcher, a messenger, a sticker collection and more — that were infected with the malicious code.

Customer data from the ParkMobile mobile parking app was discovered being sold online. The data included customer email addresses, dates of birth, phone numbers, license plate numbers, hashed passwords and mailing addresses for 21 million customers. ParkMobile attributed the breach to “a cybersecurity incident linked to a vulnerability in a third-party software that we use.”

Privacy

In legal settlements, Disney, Viacom and 10 adtech firms, including Twitter’s MoPub, agreed to remove certain advertising software from children’s apps due to privacy violations. The companies had placed tracking software in kids’ apps without parents’ knowledge or consent, the class-action cases had stated. SDK defendants also include AdColony, Chartboost, Flurry, InMob, ironSource, Tapjoy, Vungle, Unity Technologies, Comscore (Full Circle Studies), and Upsight.

Funding and M&A

Messaging app Wire raised $21 million Series B led by UVC Partners for its end-to-end encrypted messaging app and service. The company redirected its focus from consumers to the enterprise market a couple of years ago and now has 1,800 customers, up 50% year-over-year.

Ordering app and website Slice raised a $40 million Series D to power the marketing and ordering for independent pizzerias. The round, partially aimed at getting Twitter’s former CEO Dick Costolo and former COO Adam Bain on board, was led by Cross Creek and follows last year’s $43 million Series C.

 Triller acquired AI-based customer engagement platform, Amplify.AI, whose co-founder Mahi de Silva will now become TrillerNet’s CEO. Existing CEO Mike Lu will transition to president of TrillerNet and will focus on investor relations. The company separately announced the acquisition of FITE TV, a live event and pay-per-view combat sports streaming platform which will now become home to Triller Fight Club.

Streaming media company Plex, which has apps for web, TV and mobile, raised a $50 million growth round to fuel its ad-supported streaming business and launch new services, including a TV and movie rentals (and maybe purchases) marketplace, and a subscription channels store.

Epic Games, the company behind Fortnite, Houseparty and Unreal Engine, raised a massive $1 billion round, valuing the business at $28.7 billion. The round included a $200 million Sony Group Corporation investment. Other investors included Appaloosa, Baillie Gifford, Fidelity Management & Research Company LLC, GIC, T. Rowe Price Associates-managed accounts, Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan Board, BlackRock managed accounts, Park West, KKR, AllianceBernstein, Altimeter, Franklin Templeton and Luxor Capital.

French on-demand pediatrics app Biloba added support for prescriptions and raised a $1.7 million seed round for its app that lets parents reach a general practitioner and a nurse when they have medical questions about their child.

U.K. climate-focused investing app Clim8 raised $8 million from 7pc Ventures. The app allows consumers to invest in companies and supply chains that focus on tackling climate change, and competes with startups including Tickr, Helios and Yova.

Downloads

Avatarify

Avatarify, reviewed here by TechCrunch, is a new startup for making deepfake videos on your phone. The app processes user’s photos, then turns them into short videos by animating faces, using machine learning algorithms and adding sounds. The user can also select the effects and music they want to use, then tap to animate the photo. This resulting short video can then be shared to Instagram, Facebook or TikTok. The app has a freemium subscription model that costs $34.99/year or $2.49/week.

Feels

French startup Feels has launched a new dating app that wants to rethink the typical dating app profile, which today is more like browsing a catalog of people. In Feels, users can record videos, add text and stickers, answer questions, share photos and more. It also changes how users interact with profiles, ditching the binary thumbs up/down or swipe left/right for a feed of videos where you can react to users’ content or just swipe up to move on. There’s also no “Like” button here.

FCC Speed Test App

The U.S. Federal Communications Commission launched its own speed test app for both iOS and Android that aims to measure internet speeds across the country in order to better determine what areas need better access to broadband. The FCC’s current data on broadband speeds come from ISPs like Verizon and AT&T who will exaggerate their coverage, drawing criticism.

Squarespace is going public, Apple shares some music payment details and Twitter bans the founder of the right-wing media organization Project Veritas. This is your Daily Crunch for April 16, 2021.

The big story: Squarespace files to go public

Squarespace has filed to go public via direct listing on the New York Stock Exchange, under the ticker symbol SQSP. The company behind the popular website builder has seen its revenue grow 28% year-over-year, from $484.8 million in 2019 to $621.1 in 2020. And it reported net income of $30.6 million last year.

Also worth noting: The majority of voting power still rests with founder and CEO Anthony Casalena.

The tech giants

Apple Music streaming revenue detailed in letter to artists — Things start at around a penny-per-stream, which is about double what Spotify pays out.

Google misled consumers over location data settings, Australia court finds — The case relates to personal location data collected by Google through Android mobile devices between January 2017 and December 2018.

Twitter bans James O’Keefe of Project Veritas over fake account policy — O’Keefe has already said that he will sue the company for defamation.

Startups, funding and venture capital

Level raises $27M from Khosla, Lightspeed ‘to rebuild insurance from the ground up’ — Level aims to give companies a more flexible way to offer benefits to employees.

Oxbotica raises $13.8M from Ocado to build autonomous vehicle tech for the online grocer’s logistics network — Ocado is treating this as a strategic investment to develop AI-powered, self-driving systems that will work across its operations.

Soona raises $10.2M to make remote photo and video shoots easy — Customers ship their products to Soona, then watch the shoot remotely and offer immediate feedback.

Advice and analysis from Extra Crunch

The IPO market is sending us mixed messages — Summing up the IPO news from UiPath, Coinbase, Grab, AppLovin and Zenvia.

Data scientists: Bring the narrative to the forefront — In our collective infatuation with data, what’s often overlooked is the role that storytelling plays in extracting real value from it.

Enterprise security attackers are one password away from your worst day — Exabeam’s Ralph Pisani argues that the world has changed, but cybersecurity hasn’t kept pace.

(Extra Crunch is our membership program, which helps founders and startup teams get ahead. You can sign up here.)

Everything else

Reform the US low-income broadband program by rebuilding Lifeline — America’s Lifeline program is a monthly subsidy designed to help low-income families afford critical communications services.

GM’s second $2.3B battery plant with LG Chem to open in late 2023 — The plant will supply the automaker with the cells needed for the 30 electric vehicle models it plans to launch by mid decade.

Pakistan temporarily blocks social media — The Pakistani government ordered the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority to block social media platforms including Twitter, Facebook, WhatsApp, YouTube and Telegram for several hours today.

The Daily Crunch is TechCrunch’s roundup of our biggest and most important stories. If you’d like to get this delivered to your inbox every day at around 3pm Pacific, you can subscribe here.

Third-party hardware integration can be a tricky thing. Peloton this week raised some eyebrows by dropping Apple GymKit compatibility for its Bike Bootcamp program. Users were, naturally, quick to react. The situation left some wondering whether the move was a direct response to Apple’s recent entry into the home exercise market with Fitness+.

A Peloton spokesperson offered the following statement to TechCrunch, “Apple GymKit is designed to work with equipment-based cardio workouts. However, Peloton recently implemented GymKit with Bike Bootcamp, a multi-disciplinary class type that combines strength and cardio, which the feature does not support. Members can still use GymKit to sync their cycling-only workouts to their Apple Watch from the Bike+.”

The comment appears to reflect one of the bigger issues with its initial GymKit implementation. Designed with the gym in mind, Apple’s program engages with specific exercise equipment. In other words, use the integration on the treadmill and the Watch specifically goes to work tracking run metrics. Use it with a bike and it tracks cycling.

A program like Bike Bootcamp complicates things, adding to the mix things like weightlifting. Likely that didn’t quite mesh with the third-party guidelines around GymKit implementation. The bigger issue for Peloton owners is that GymKit was a primary distinguisher between the standard Peloton bike and the Bike+ — two products with a $500 gulf between them.

Truth is, for now at least, working together is still a net positive for both parties. Apple may have its own fitness platform, but Peloton has a huge footprint — one that likely has significant overlap with Apple Watch users. GymKit may have been developed with gyms in mind, but people haven’t visited the gym much in the past year, and there’s a reasonable expectation that the industry might never entirely bounce back.

For Peloton’s part, it’s probably good to play nice with the company that utterly dominates the smartwatch category.