Heena Sharma Blog

  Homegrown instant messaging app Hike Messenger , later known as Hike Sticker Chat, has been officially shut down. The company's chief executive officer Kavin Bharti Mittal announced the shutdown of its operations recently. "Today we are announcing that we will be sunsetting StickerChat in Jan'21. We thank you all for giving us your trust. We wouldn't be here without you. All your data will be available to download in the app," Mittal tweeted. Kavin Mittal is the son of India's second largest telco Bharti Airtel's founder and chairman Sunil Mittal. The app has been removed from Playstore and Apple's App store. Users can download their data inside the application. However, the announcement does not mean an end to other apps in development by the company. Read More

  Consumers around the globe spent an estimated $407.6 million across Apple's App Store and Google Play on Christmas, a year-over-year growth of nearly 35 per cent per cent from approximately $303 million in 2019, according to a new report by data analytics firm Sensor Tower. Between the two platforms, Apple's App Store captured the bulk of the spending at $278.6 million, while Google Play saw $129 million in revenue, said the report. This is in line with the massive growth in worldwide spending on mobile apps and games in 2020 which passed $100 billion in a single year for the first time ever in November. The majority of the holiday spending was on mobile games, which climbed 27 per cent from $232.4 million on Christmas 2019 to $295.6 million this year, said the report. Tencent's Honor of Kings was the category leader with approximately $10.7 million in consumer spending, up 205.7 per cent year-over-year from $3.5 million on the same day in 2019. Read More

  Apple Inc on Wednesday announced its App Store Best of 2020 winners. Video conferencing app Zoom and health and fitness app Wakeout! are amongst the 15 apps and games shortlisted by the American technology giant. Zoom is recognised as the iPad app of the year, and Wakeout! is recognised as the iPhone app of the year. According to Apple Inc, the winner apps and games proved to be essential for making life easier, healthier, and more connected this year. “Notable for their high quality, creative design, usability, and innovative technology, these apps and games are equally celebrated for their positive cultural impact, helpfulness, and importance,” Apple Inc said in a statement. Here are the Apple’s App Store Best of 2020 winners: Best Apps of 2020 iPhone App of the Year: Wakeout!, developed by Andres Canella iPad App of the Year: Zoom Mac App of the Year: Fantastical, developed by Flexibits Apple TV App of the Year: Disney+ Apple Watch App of the Year: Endel Read M

  Apple has extended its deadline for requiring in-app purchases for online group events within iOS apps from December to June 30 next year. The tech giant earlier temporarily waived its customary 30 per cent App Store fee on in-app purchases for paid online events by small businesses on Facebook. The company said on Monday that as the world fights Covid-19, it recognises that adapting experiences from in-person to digital continues to be a top priority. "Although apps are required to offer any paid online group event experiences (one-to-few and one-to-many realtime experiences) through in-app purchase in accordance with App Store Review guideline 3.1.1, we temporarily deferred this requirement with an original deadline of December 2020," Apple said in a statement. "To allow additional time for developing in-app purchase solutions, this deadline has been extended to June 30, 2021". Read More

Apple's App Store has removed Chinese video app Zynn, a clone of the hugely popular video app TikTok , following accusations of plagiarism. The app was taken down from Googles Play Store last week. A spokesperson for Zynn told The Verge that its issues with plagiarism were minor, and that the company was "in communication with both Google and Apple to ensure compliance with their guidelines and regulations." Zynn arrived on iOS and Android in early May and quickly reached the top of the download charts. By the end of May, the app had become the most downloaded free iOS app and a top 10 download in the Google Play Store. Read More

TikTok has surpassed two billion downloads worldwide on the App Store and Google Play. The latest milestone comes just five months after TikTok surpassed 1.5 billion downloads. In Q1 2020, it generated the most downloads for any app ever in a quarter, accumulating more than 315 million installs across the App Store and Google Play. TikTok's latest surge comes amid the global Covid-19 pandemic, which has seen consumers drawn to their mobile devices more than ever as they look for new ways to shop, work, and connect with others. In India, the short video making app leads the chart with more than 600 million downloads or about 30.3 per cent of all unique installs. China is the second leading country for installs, accumulating 196.6 million to date, or 9.7 per cent of all downloads, for its version of the app, known as Douyin, reported mobile intelligence firm Sensor Tower. Read More

US-based technology behemoth Apple on March 25 announced Apple Arcade , the world’s first game subscription service for mobile, desktop and the living room. The service that will be launched later this year, will feature over 100 new and exclusive games, including original releases from creators Hironobu Sakaguchi, Ken Wong, Will Wright and dozens more. Apple Arcade will be launched as a dedicated tab in the App Store. It will have access to a collection of brand new games that will not be available on any other mobile platform or in any other subscription service. Being a game subscription service, the Apple Arcade would give gamers the opportunity to try any game before purchase and get access to the full experience by paying subscription amount, which would include all game features, content and future updates, and no additional in-game purchases. Every game that will be available in Arcade will support offline play. It will also feature games with support for game controll