Category: Apps

Epic Games, the maker of Fortnite, announced on Friday that it has officially launched its rival iOS app store in the European Union. The Epic Games Store is also launching on Android worldwide.

The app store is launching with games including Fortnite, Rocket League Sideswipe and Fall Guys. The company says it’s working with developers to launch their games on the Epic Games Store in the future.

Epic Games is also bringing its games to independent mobile store AltStore PAL, which announced yesterday that its app store would be available for free thanks to a grant from Epic Games.

In the future, Epic Games plans to bring its games to Aptoide’s iOS store in the EU and ONE Store on Android, the company said.

Fortnite’s return to iOS comes over four years after Apple first removed the game from its App Store. Its return follows years of legal battles between the two companies, in addition to regulatory changes brought by EU’s Digital Markets Act, which is forcing Apple to open up to new rivals.

“The tide is turning and the mobile ecosystem is finally opening up to competition,” said Epic Games CEO Tim Sweeney in a statement. “We are grateful to the European Commission for making it possible to launch the Epic Games Store and offer our games to iOS users in the European Union. Now European iOS users and all Android users can access our store and games, as they’ve always been able to do on open platforms like PC and Mac. The fight is far from over, but this is tangible progress for developers and consumers who can begin to benefit from competition and choice.”

The company has published videos to guide users through the steps they have to take to install the Epic Games Store on iOS and Android.

Epic Games says that for now, “the process of installing the Epic Games Store on iOS and Android is lengthy due to Apple and Google introducing intentionally poor-quality install experiences laden by multiple steps, confusing device settings, and scare screens.”

The launch of the Epic Games Store marks the first time Apple is having to face a notable rival looking to challenge its App Store dominance.

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In the last few months, Twitter alternatives — new and old — have found an audience willing to try out a new text-based social network. Mastodon, Bluesky, Spill and T2 are some of the social media platforms people are trying out. Now, Meta has stepped into the game with a big launch tied to Instagram.

What is Threads? How do you create an account?

Threads is Meta’s text-based Twitter rival. It is tied to your Instagram account, so you can create an account by logging in using your Instagram credentials.

How is it different from Twitter?

Currently, there are no paid tiers and ads on the app. However, your verification mark from Instagram is carried over — even if you have paid for Meta Verified. Users can take advantage of their Instagram network to find people to follow.

The app has just launched, but it doesn’t have Twitter-like features such as long video, direct messages and live audio rooms.

How do you use Threads?

The platform is currently available on iOS and Android in more than 100 countries. However, due to privacy concerns, the app was not currently available in the EU until December 2023. At that time, Meta launched Threads in the region with an option for users to browse the social network without an account sans the ability to publish or interact with other posts.

Because you are logging in through your Instagram account, you will be able to follow all folks that you follow. You will also import your username, name and settings, like block list.

How many users does this thing have?

As of August 2024 — almost 13 months after the launch — Threads has more than 200 million users.

Within hours of launch, Threads crossed the mark of 10 million signups and it passed 30 million signups within 24 hours. Threads reached 100 million users within just five days of launch.

Mark Zuckerberg noted on the first day that the app attracted 2 million signups in two hours, 5 million signups in four hours and 10 million registered users in seven hours. The next morning, the CEO of Meta noted that more than 30 million people had signed up to try the new app. Threads’ growth is noteworthy given that it hasn’t even launched in the EU yet because of privacy reasons.

What are the limitations of posting on Threads?

Users can post 500 characters in one post on the app. The post supports images, videos and GIFs. A Thread post supports up to 10 media items. As of July 17, Threads announced that it has to tighten up on rate limits, or limits on how may posts users can view, due to spam attacks.

Can you use Threads on the web?

Yes, you can view posts and also publish from Threads.net.

What are the latest Threads updates?

Threads’ first update brings a handful of small changes, added features and various bug fixes, including support for the recently released iOS 17 public beta. The update includes the following, released by Instagram Software Engineer Cameron Roth:

iOS 17 crashes

Double tap on Search tab to search

Facepile pill polish

Expand pics on profiles

Extra tall photos are now fully viewable

Trimmed the binary size

Random images are fixed on the thread line

Better scroll dismiss

How do you delete your Threads account?

You can deactivate or delete your Threads account. Until the end of 2023, you had to delete your Instagram account, according to Meta’s “Supplemental Privacy Policy” to delete your Threads account. Meta keeps your data for 30 days after the initial deletion request. If you change your mind, you can cancel deletion within 30 days.

Can you DM people on Threads?

You can’t send a message to users on the app. Instagram head Adam Mosseri said that the goal is to “not build yet another inbox and instead let people send threads to other apps.”

Does Threads have an API?

After testing the API with select partners for a few months, Threads finally launched the public API in June 2024. Developers can build tools to publish posts of users and retrieve their own posts and gain insights about engagement. These tools can’t yet help you delete your posts.

Does that mean we will have third-party clients?

At this time, Threads API has limitations, like not allowing developers to fetch timeline data. So it is not possible to create an alternative clients for Threads.

Is Threads part of the fediverse?

Partially. Earlier this year, Threads started an experiment to let users share their posts to the fediverse. So if users turn on fediverse sharing, people on other compatible ActivityPub networks like Mastodon can follow them and see their posts. Threads also allows users on the fediverse to like Threads posts. The company is also planning to share your posts to the fediverse even if you publish them through a tool using Threads API.

What are some features that are currently missing from Threads?

Full Fediverse integration

Scheduling posts (coming soon)

Direct messages

Support for lists

Support for third-party clients

What are Threads’ data collection practices?

Because you are using an Instagram account to log in to Threads, Meta says that “it is part of your Instagram account.” Users have already raised questions about the app’s data collection, given the privacy labels mentioned in the App Store.

In answer to queries about the app’s privacy labels on the App Store, Meta’s deputy chief privacy officer Rob Sherman said that these labels are similar to the company’s other apps.

“The labels are similar to the rest of our apps, including Instagram, in that our social apps receive whatever info (including the categories of data listed in the App Store) you share in the app,” he said in a Threads post.

This story originally published July 6, 2023, and was updated to include recent updates.

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Social networking startup Bluesky is benefiting from a surge of new users from the U.K., following Elon Musk’s controversial statements over the U.K. riots in recent weeks. Although the X exodus wasn’t yet visible in the app install or usage data for X’s biggest rival, Instagram Threads, Bluesky has been touting an increase in signups and a 60% jump in activity from U.K.-based accounts, it said earlier this week. The company on Wednesday repeated these claims, showing a chart displaying a sharp increase in U.K. activity on its network that’s spiking past all other countries on Bluesky right now.

Image Credits: Bluesky

The startup also noted on Tuesday that the U.K. had driven more Bluesky signups than any other country for five out of the past seven days.

Despite the influx of U.K. users to the decentralized social networking app and X alternative, other new data indicates that it’s still Meta’s Threads, not Bluesky, that’s better poised to challenge X, the Musk-owned social network formerly known as Twitter.

Image Credits: Similarweb

According to a new analysis from digital market intelligence company Similarweb, the impact of U.K.-based users joining Bluesky is still fairly small.

On August 11, Bluesky saw 67,800 U.K.-based daily active users, which although a recent peak, was not the highest-ever usage Bluesky has seen from U.K. users. In January of this year, for example, Bluesky’s app saw more than 100,000 daily active users, making this recent surge less remarkable in that broader context, the firm said.

In addition, Bluesky’s U.K.-based monthly active users were unchanged from June to July, whereas monthly active users were up a slight 8.6% for Threads in the U.K. (Overall, however, the firm had earlier reported that X’s fluctuations in daily and weekly usage were still within normal ranges, despite reports of users fleeing X.)

Meanwhile, the impact of this U.K.-driven shift on X is underwhelming. Though August 11 was one of X’s weakest days of the year, Similarweb said, the Musk-owned app still had 6 million daily active users from the U.K. — far more than either Threads or Bluesky, the data indicates.

Image Credits: Similarweb

Generally speaking, X’s userbase tends to fluctuate, but monthly active users from June to July were up 2.6% in the U.K. and 3.4% in the U.S. That may not be the best time frame to analyze, though, since the stabbing attack that triggered the U.K. riots, which were fueled by online misinformation, took place near the end of July, but Musk’s comments riled up X users and U.K. officials in August.

Still, Similarweb’s analysis of Android data worldwide shows that X is still far ahead of Threads and Bluesky even as of August 12, with 91.0 million global daily active users compared with 34.9 million and 594,700 global daily actives for Threads and Bluesky, respectively. On the web, X.com saw 192.5 million daily web visits on August 12, compared with just 3.7 million for Threads and 616,200 for Bluesky.

That said, X’s lead is wider in the U.S. than it is in the U.K.

X is 5.9 times larger than Threads in the U.S. and just a little more than three times larger in the U.K. in terms of monthly active users. That narrower lead could potentially make it easier for a competitor like Bluesky or Threads to win the U.K. demographic if the switching trend were to grow over time.

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Meta’s X rival Threads announced a number of new features today, including the ability to store multiple drafts, a way to rearrange columns on the desktop and insights into the user’s audience. Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg also mentioned that the company plans to add a post-scheduling feature soon.

The company noted that these new features mark the first anniversary of Threads launching its web version in August 2023.

Threads initially began testing drafts in February this year and rolled it out to all users weeks later in March. Now, the platform will allow you to save multiple drafts with a limit of 100 drafts per account.

Image Credits: Meta

Meta is also rolling out a new user Insights screen that shows the age, gender and location of people who view and engage with you. The screen also shows total views and interactions with your posts bifurcated by followers and non-followers.

The company introduced a TweetDeck-like multicolumn view on desktop in May, which allows users to pin searches, liked posts, activity, saved posts, the profile page and Insights. Now, the company is letting users rearrange these columns in different order. However, you can’t move the “For You” column from its default place as the first column on the left side.

Both Insights screen and column-rearrangement features have been available to select users for the past few weeks.

Image Credits: Meta

Threads has also been testing a multi-feed experience on iOS with select users, but it didn’t specify if users will be able to reorder the feeds.

Earlier this month, Threads crossed the milestone for 200 million monthly active users — almost 13 months after its initial launch. For comparison, Threads’ prime rival X (formerly Twitter) had more than 600 million monthly users back in May, as per Elon Musk. Another decentralized social network, Bluesky, hit the 5 million user mark in February.

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X, formerly known as Twitter, has announced that it’s rolling out support for passkeys on Android. The launch comes as the social network rolled out support for passkeys to all iOS users back in April.

Passkey logins make it harder for bad actors to remotely access your accounts since they would also need physical access to your phone. Unlike standard logins, passkeys use Face ID or Touch ID, a PIN, or a physical security authentication key to validate logins.

Passkeys are a relatively new technology that removes the need to rely on username and password combinations, which can be susceptible to phishing and other issues.

X is one of many tech companies to introduce passkey support in the past year or so. Other big names that have done so include Apple, Microsoft, Amazon, Google, PayPal, TikTok, WhatsApp and GitHub.

On X, the addition of passkey support could help users who previously relied on SMS 2FA, an option that X removed for free users last year.

You can enable passkeys on X by logging into the app, clicking “Your account” in the navigation bar and then selecting “Settings and privacy.” Next, you need to click “Security and account access,” and then “Security.” Under the “Additional password protection” options select “Passkey.” Click the “Add a passkey” option and then follow the prompts to enable the feature.

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Binance, the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange, has resumed operations for users in India after a seven-month hiatus imposed by local authorities for operating “illegally” in the country.

The exchange said Thursday it has registered as a reporting entity with India’s Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU), a government agency tasked with scrutinizing financial transactions.

India blocked nearly a dozen foreign crypto exchange services, including Binance, Kraken, Kucoin and Mexc, late last year at the recommendation of the FIU. The FIU said offshore exchanges needed to register locally to comply with the country’s anti-money laundering and counter financing of terrorism framework.

FIU’s move followed a group of local crypto exchanges complaining to the Ministry of Finance that they were losing business to noncompliant foreign crypto exchanges.

Binance’s website and mobile apps have become operational again in India. In a statement, Binance said compliance with the Indian authority marks the 19th regulatory milestone for the firm.

“Our registration with the FIU-IND marks an important milestone in Binance’s journey,” said Richard Teng, CEO of Binance, in a statement.

“Recognizing the vitality and potential of the Indian VDA market, this alignment with Indian regulations allows us to tailor our services to the needs of Indian users. It is a privilege to extend the reach of our cutting-edge platform to this thriving market, supporting India’s continued VDA evolution.”

Despite India’s status as a crucial overseas market for global tech behemoths, its cryptocurrency sector remains relatively underdeveloped. Over the past five years, the Reserve Bank of India has exerted significant pressure on banks to distance themselves from cryptocurrency firms, while the government’s implementation of stringent tax policies has considerably diminished local enthusiasm for digital assets.

These regulatory and fiscal obstacles have effectively stunted the growth of India’s crypto ecosystem. The recent hack at WazirX, a local exchange and estranged Binance partner, where nearly half its reserves were lost, was another significant blow to local entrepreneurs’ efforts to advocate for a more crypto-friendly regulatory environment in the country.

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