ICYMI: A spinner, a hopper and a record-breaker. Video, 00:01:21ICYMI: A spinner, a hopper and a record-breaker

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Manchester City were champions, Liverpool finished third and West Ham secured a spot in the Europa League.

The 2020-21 Premier League season produced drama and surprises, but who impressed and who has work to do?

And how did I fare with my pre-season predictions?

Manchester City – 1st

Normal service resumed with a third title in four seasons. The £65m signing of defender Ruben Dias from Benfica was a game-changer, seemingly curing defensive vulnerability at a stroke. The title was inevitable once they hit their stride before the turn of the year and recorded 21 successive wins in all competitions. Phil Foden has been outstanding and such was their squad strength even Raheem Sterling watched from the sidelines during the latter stages.

The Carabao Cup was also won but the greatest glory may yet be to come as they prepare to face Chelsea in their first Champions League final.

Is it farewell Sergio Aguero, welcome Harry Kane this summer?

McNulty’s pre-season prediction: 2nd

What McNulty said in September: “Phil Foden will emerge even more this season although David Silva will be missed. Runners-up again – and chance of the Champions League this time?”

• Only one tipped Man Utd for the title – how did 25 BBC TV radio pundits’ 2020-21 Premier League predictions turn out?

Manchester United – 2nd

Manchester United have unquestionably made progress under Ole Gunnar Solskjaer and second place allied to a Europa League win, if they can overcome Villarreal in the final, will represent a successful season and that crucial first trophy for their manager.

Strange side, though, that often left you wanting more. Superb away form has been allied to indifferent performances at Old Trafford and a Champions League exit from a very tough group was a serious disappointment.

Bruno Fernandes has been outstanding while Edinson Cavani’s enduring class will be around to help Marcus Rashford and Mason Greenwood develop next season. The addition of another quality striker would help, along with the pace out wide of someone like Borussia Dortmund’s Jadon Sancho.

McNulty’s pre-season prediction: 4th

What McNulty said in September: “Top four again but nowhere near champions.”

Liverpool – 3rd

Liverpool’s title defence was a non-starter once Virgil van Dijk and Joe Gomez suffered serious season-ending injuries.

Add in long-term injuries to captain Jordan Henderson, Thiago Alcantara, Joel Matip and Diogo Jota, as well as the worst home sequence in the club’s history when they lost six straight league games, and it is actually a small wonder they finished third and reached the Champions League.

It is a tribute to manager and players that they showed the resolve of champions to win their last five league games and rescue something from the campaign.

Liverpool’s season, trophyless as it was, can only be described as a very qualified success but they made the best of a bad job – and who will forget keeper Alisson’s priceless 95th-minute winner at West Brom?

McNulty’s pre-season prediction: 1st

What McNulty said in September: “Champions again – but this season will be very close.”

Chelsea – 4th

Chelsea were eighth when Thomas Tuchel succeeded sacked Frank Lampard in January so a place in next season’s Champions League represents good early progress and there is still the possibility of claiming European club football’s biggest prize when they face Manchester City in the final in Porto on Saturday.

Victory would be huge for Tuchel and Chelsea and while they suffered a late wobble and needed Spurs to beat Leicester to reach the top four, it was job done in the end.

Mason Mount has been a superb performer but more will be needed from Timo Werner next season, while Kai Havertz showed real touches of class. How they fare in Porto will shape how this season is viewed.

McNulty’s pre-season prediction: 3rd

What McNulty said in September: “Not title winners but great bet for a cup.”

Leicester City – 5th

Is Leicester City’s season a success after they won the FA Cup for the first time in their history or a let-down because they faltered near the finishing line and missed out on Champions League football on the final day, as they did last season, because of a home defeat?

There will be a mixture of emotions and the sense of missed opportunity but, when the pain subsides, an historic FA Cup win and fifth place in the Premier League must represent success for a Leicester City side that suffered its fair share of injuries.

I am landing on the side of success because that FA Cup win will remain in the memories of Leicester City fans forever.

McNulty’s pre-season prediction: 9th

What McNulty said in September: “The Foxes will bank on the creativity of James Maddison to help make them an attractive and dangerous side under manager Brendan Rodgers.”

West Ham United – 6th

Superb season. Exceeded all reasonable expectations to reach the Europa League under outstanding management by David Moyes. He was the towering presence, with it all underpinned by smart signings such as Vladimir Coufal and Jesse Lingard on loan, plus the growing influence of Declan Rice. The Hammers could not quite sustain a top-four challenge but to even remain in contention for the Champions League for so long would have been unthinkable at the start of the season. Now Moyes must be fully supported and secured on a long-term contract.

McNulty’s pre-season prediction: 13th

What McNulty said in September: “David Moyes seemed to have regained some of his old fire after returning to the Hammers for a second spell. If the Scot is allowed to get the defensive reinforcements he wants then a steady season may ensue.”

Tottenham – 7th

Grim season partially rescued by a last-day win at Leicester City that sent Spurs into the inaugural Europa Conference League.

Little else to shout about as Jose Mourinho’s ill-starred reign ended with his sacking in April just days before the Carabao Cup final, which was lost to Manchester City, and even the shining star of the season, Harry Kane, looks set to head to pastures new in the summer.

Kane is frustrated by a lack of success which leaves chairman Daniel Levy under pressure as he tries to find a new manager and cope with the discontent of the player and personality who has been a symbol for Spurs, while facing an increasingly unhappy fan base.

Huge summer for Levy and Spurs after a grim and joyless season.

McNulty’s pre-season prediction: 5th

What McNulty said in September: “I do not subscribe to the theory of Jose Mourinho as yesterday’s man grasping for past glories. He will be determined to show he has still got what it takes.”

Arsenal – 8th

Very disappointing season for the Gunners after the optimism of new manager Mikel Arteta winning the FA Cup. They will not be playing European football next season for the first time in 25 years.

Tough times for a rookie manager who will be under pressure to deliver at the start of next season after a season that simply contained too many poor performances.

Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang has had a very indifferent campaign, the signing of Willian has been a dismal failure and Thomas Partey’s injury problems mean he has not fulfilled his potential.

Not all bad, though, as defender Kieran Tierney will be an outstanding future leader and young guns such as Bukayo Saka and Emile Smith-Rowe point to a brighter future – but no escaping that it has been a season of rank underachievement.

McNulty’s pre-season prediction: 6th

What McNulty said in September: “In contention for another cup and a decent run in the Europa League.”

Leeds United – 9th

What a gloriously entertaining addition to the Premier League and a superb performance over the season. Marcelo Bielsa has done a fantastic job at Elland Road in producing a team that was entertaining every time you watched them and not just that, they delivered results and performances, which suggests they will be a future force.

Recall even Leeds fans thought my pre-season prediction was optimistic. Turns out I actually underestimated them.

McNulty’s pre-season prediction: 11th

What McNulty said in September: “Leeds will be great to watch. There may be bumps along the way but a welcome addition to the top flight.”

Everton – 10th

Where do you start? Everton is a club never slow or shy of telling the world how right they get it off the field but supporters have every right to ask when they might actually deliver something on it.

Everton, under Carlo Ancelotti, allied an outstanding away record to utterly wretched stuff at home to end in a league position that cannot be regarded as anything other than a disappointment.

Big moments came such as winning at Liverpool for the first time since 1999 but then there were home losses to Newcastle United, Fulham and Sheffield United, among others.

Too inconsistent and often close to unwatchable at Goodison Park. Shafts of light for the future in the outstanding signings Ben Godfrey, Everton’s player of the season, and Abdoulaye Doucoure. Still too much deadwood and Ancelotti, who missed out on his target of European football, may well be spending big again this summer.

McNulty’s pre-season prediction: 7th

What McNulty said in September: “If Everton’s new players fire and Richarlison and Dominic Calvert-Lewin hit form then a slightly risky prediction (seventh) may come off.”

Aston Villa – 11th

Villa went into a decline towards the end of the season, not helped by an injury to Jack Grealish, but make no mistake this was a huge improvement on surviving on the final day of the previous Premier League campaign. Real progress.

Manager Dean Smith was heavily backed by his board and smart recruitment, especially in the shape of keeper Emiliano Martinez and striker Ollie Watkins, means there was plenty to admire this season. And who can forget that sensational 7-2 win over reigning champions Liverpool at Villa Park?

McNulty’s pre-season prediction: 15th

What McNulty said in September: “Smith has spent big on Ollie Watkins to solve a lack of goal threat. Many good judges believe the 24-year-old has what it takes to thrive in the Premier League.”

Newcastle United – 12th

Steve Bruce continues to fight an uphill battle to win any friends on Tyneside but the bottom line is this is a solid finishing place for the Magpies.

The criticism Bruce received was justified when they slipped out of the Carabao Cup horribly at Brentford and lost away to Sheffield United and particularly at Brighton in March, when it looked like they could go down after a 3-0 loss, but 12th is surely par for the course.

Newcastle’s fans are right to expect more but this centres more on owner Mike Ashley than Bruce and in his defence they looked a much more purposeful side when Callum Wilson and Alain Saint-Maximin were fit.

McNulty’s pre-season prediction: 12th

What McNulty said in September: “Not expecting earth-shattering results but not expecting a struggle either – although this is Newcastle United remember.”

Wolverhampton Wanderers – 13th

The end of the Nuno Espirito Santo era after his fine work took Wolves into the top flight and then brought successive seventh-place finishes. Nuno and Wolves just seemed to run out of road.

He seemed to struggle to settle on the right system, although in his defence they were sixth in November when main striker Raul Jimenez suffered the fractured skull at Arsenal that ruled him out for the rest of the season. Diogo Jota was sorely missed and his expensive 18-year-old replacement, Fabio Silva, is very much a work in progress.

Crucial summer under Nuno’s successor. The return of Jimenez will be huge.

McNulty’s pre-season prediction: 8th

What McNulty said in September: “I think Wolves will be challenging for Europe again, possibly helped by not having Europa League football. There will be plenty to admire at Molineux.”

Crystal Palace – 14th

Farewell to Roy Hodgson at Crystal Palace after another safe and solid Roy Hodgson season. What you see is what you get. Tipped them for relegation but should have known better under Hodgson.

Organisation, hard work and no worries about bothering either the top or bottom end of the table.

Now Hodgson has gone and Palace must choose their next direction under a new manager and with many players out of contract. Transition time at Selhurst Park.

McNulty’s pre-season prediction: 18th

What McNulty said in September: “Just feel a little concern in my bones for Palace.”

Southampton – 15th

Southampton faded badly after a bright start that saw them third after 13 games, running out of steam and momentum amid such optimism under manager Ralph Hasenhuttl. The Saints did not have main man Danny Ings available for key periods but there will be a feeling of underachievement. Suffered a 9-0 humiliation for the second season in succession when losing at Manchester United in February but the big disappointment was a shockingly tame performance in the FA Cup semi-final loss to Leicester City.

McNulty’s pre-season prediction: 10th

What McNulty said in September: “I have a feeling Saints might just have a very decent season.”

Brighton – 16th

Lots of plaudits and praise for manager Graham Potter, whose work is admired by none other than Pep Guardiola, who labelled him “the best English manager right now”, but Brighton’s problems were not enough wins and not enough goals.

Big victories at Leeds United and, in particular, Liverpool showed what they could do but it was too anxious for too long. Potter will hope for fewer worries next term as he plots the next stage of Brighton’s development.

McNulty’s pre-season prediction: 17th

What McNulty said in September: “I think they will have anxious times this season but will just stay up.”

Burnley – 17th

Burnley dragged it out a bit but once again manager Sean Dyche kept them safe on limited resources.

Struggled at Turf Moor but Dyche continues to get plenty out of his team without big budget luxuries, with Chris Wood’s goals a precious commodity. This may change under Burnley’s new American owners but it is still Dyche who holds it all together and is the most important figure at the club.

McNulty’s pre-season prediction: 16th

What McNulty said in September: “I am pretty confident Burnley will avoid serious trouble once again under a manager who gets the best from his resources.”

Fulham – 18th

Fulham improved after a start that made them look relegation certainties. However, a win at Liverpool was a rare exception for a team that played some nice football but had fatal flaws at both ends of the pitch. Scott Parker did many good things but not enough to keep Fulham up and they can have no complaints about their fate.

McNulty’s pre-season prediction: 20th

What McNulty said in September: “This is said with a heavy heart but relegation.”

West Bromwich Albion – 19th

The club even Sam Allardyce could not save. The Baggies sacked Slaven Bilic, the man who took them up, in December and while they occasionally flickered into life – especially when they thrashed Chelsea 5-2 at Stamford Bridge in early April – they were simply not good enough to stay up.

Allardyce did oversee an improvement as the season progressed but not enough to prevent the first Premier League relegation on his record. He is not staying so someone else will have to rebuild in the Championship.

McNulty’s pre-season prediction: 19th

What McNulty said in September: “Bilic has time to put together a squad to ensure safety but needs some good work to avoid struggles.”

Sheffield United – 20th

What a fall from grace for a club that did magnificently under manager Chris Wilder in their first season back in the Premier League to finish ninth.

The Blades never recovered from a horrendous start, not winning a game until the 18th time of asking when they beat Newcastle United in mid-January. Wilder’s own outstanding five-year spell in charge ended in March with relegation assured – the remarkable win at Old Trafford barely qualifying as a false dawn.

The big-money gamble on young striker Rhian Brewster, bought for more than £20m from Liverpool, failed dismally as he did not register a single goal and Sheffield United’s fate was sealed long before the end of the season. Back to the Championship for a reboot.

McNulty’s pre-season prediction: 14th

What McNulty said in September: “Not sure the second season will bring such a high placing but still feel an outstanding manager will avoid any serious hazards.”

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It keeps the original music, lyrics and costume design but adds innovations in lighting, scenic design, special effects and sound to the story of the masked figure who lurks beneath the catacombs of the Paris Opera House and falls in love with a budding soprano, Christine.

Melbourne’s Josh Piterman, who played the title role in London’s West End for six months in 2019 and 20 before the pandemic shutdown, will reprise it in his home town.

“I’d be happy to play this role anywhere because it’s the most thrilling, complex, exciting and fulfilling role I’ve ever had in my life,” Piterman said.

“But to play it in my home town that I love so much and to be part of the first wave of musical theatre returning to Melbourne, means so much to me. The people of Melbourne love this show.”

A familiar face to British television viewers and theatergoers, Mr. Ritter played Martin Goodman, the eccentric father of a London Jewish family, in the acerbic but warm sitcom “Friday Night Dinner,” which premiered on Channel 4 in 2011.

A Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) affiliate, Sanskar Bharti, on Saturday came out in support of eminent artistes who have been asked to vacate their government accommodation by December 31 and urged the government to re-think its decision.

Sanskar Bharti said in a statement that its national general secretary Amir Chand had met some of the artistes who have been issued eviction notices by the Housing and Urban Affairs Ministry, including Birju Maharaj, Bhajan Sopori and Wasifuddin Dagar.

After meeting the artistes, he said the government should rethink the decision, looking at the contribution of the artistes, their age and seniority, the statement said. The government should also consider a policy for providing accommodation to younger artistes, it said.

The government’s policy had been to provide aid to people during the COVID-19 pandemic and evicting the artistes from the houses given to them for years at this time would not be humane, the Sanskar Bharti said. The statement added that the government should take action in the case of wrong allotment or violation of the rules by some.

With the COVID-19 pandemic ongoing, it said it would take a long time for cultural activities to re-start and decisions that add to the problems faced by artistes shouldn’t be taken.

Newly-elected RSS Sarkaryavaha (general secretary) Dattatreya Hosabale, hailing from Shivamogga district in Karnataka, has backed laws against ‘love jihad’ brought into force by some States and proposed by a few others.

Addressing a press conference after his election in Bengaluru on Saturday at the Akhil Bharatiya Prathinidhi Sabha, Mr. Hosabale, said, “The use of fraudulent methods to lure girls into marriage and conversion is condemnable and must be opposed. Suitable laws and regulations have to be brought and RSS will support such laws.”

Mr. Hosabale is the third person to occupy an important position in RSS from Karnataka, after H.V. Sheshadri and K.S. Sudarshan.

Speaking in Bengaluru on the controversial comment of Uttarakhand CM on women’s attire, Mr. Hosabale said, “There is no reason to bring RSS into all allegations. Whatever RSS does in society, it does in the open with the knowledge of all.”

Mr. Hosabale, known to be close to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah, reiterated that RSS’ support to the BJP will be issue-based. “The RSS takes a stand based on the issue and the situation. The stand of the RSS will always be in the best interests of the nation and the same will be expressed as required. This has been the practice and will continue,” he said. “The Prime Minister speaks to everyone… his mann ki baat.”

On the issue or reservation, Mr. Hosabale said, “RSS has time and again clarified its stand on the issue. It is of the opinion that reservations have to exist as long as it is required in society… Our Constitution too says that reservations are required as long as differences exist in the society and RSS conforms to the same.”

Speaking on the role of the youth in RSS, he said RSS is ‘a nationalist organisation and not a religious one’ and young people are increasingly joining it and its societal work.

In the next few years, RSS will focus on social harmony, environment, water conservation, and ‘parirvar prabodhan’ to inculcate family values, said Mr. Hosabale. “Soil experts have suggested various ways to improve the situation. RSS will take it up as a large campaign with pilot projects in this regard from April 13,” he said.

Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) chief Mohan Bhagwat on Friday said foreigners perceived the Indian way of life, its languages and customs from their own narrow perspective, promoted whatever interpretations suited them and subdued those who opposed it in the past.

Speaking at the launch of Sanskrit Non-Translatables: The Importance of Sanskritizing English, a book by Rajiv Malhotra and Satyanarayana Dasa Babaji, Mr. Bhagwat said the use of an incorrect word could lead to erroneous communication and wrong consequences.

The book was released by Swami Govind Dev Giri, trustee and treasurer of the Ram Janmabhoomi Teertha Kshetra.

‘To keep us confused’

The RSS chief said foreigners drew conclusions based on their experience and understanding, and not from the Indian perspective, and imposed them on Indians to always “keep them confused” about their own languages and terminologies.

Indians who failed to counter the adverse outside influence even started becoming a tool for the attempts to dismantle the country’s “dharma-sanskriti”, he said.

Mr. Bhagwat said Indians themselves had become disconnected from their roots, which helped foreigners create confusion.

Owing to all this, what had the potential to become a “vishwa-dharma” got reduced to a mere “religion” for Indians.

“Dharma” did not mean “religion”, but it became so “as foreigners could not grasp the profoundness of its purport”, he said.

The RSS chief said the book probed into such fundamental issues and would convey to the world the exact and deep meaning of the 54 Sanskrit words discussed therein. It would dispel confusion, correct distortions and help overcome the “colonisation of mind”.

‘Revolutionary idea’

Terming “Sanskrit non-translatables” a revolutionary idea, senior Bharatiya Janata Party leader Subramanian Swamy said it was “a new way of Sanskritising English, which is now an international language”.

In this context, Dr. Swamy said, the authors were advocating what they called “loaning Sanskrit words to English without a translation”. “[Sanskrit] words acquire a false meaning if brought through translation,” he said.

“We have today a Sanskritisation process which Mr. Malhotra and Babaji want to accelerate,” said Dr. Swamy, adding that there were now “schools of thought that made people learn Sanskrit by memorisation, without knowing the meaning, as mere repetition of words helped develop the brain faster than in any other language”.

International language

He gave the example of a London-based school which had made Sanskrit a second compulsory language.

“We are having today a situation where Sanskrit may become an international language. It is already now accepted as the sole international language for artificial intelligence,” he added.

Among the speakers were Vijay Bhatkar, Chancellor of Nalanda University, and Madhu Kishwar, Subhash Kak, Kapil Kapoor, Chamu Krishna Shastry, Nikunj Trivedi and Arnav Kejriwal.

The annual conclave of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh’s (RSS) highest decision-making body – Akhil Bharatiya Prathinidhi Sabha (ABPS) – scheduled to be held in Bengaluru from March 19 to 20 will focus on expansion of the organisation.

Addressing a press conference here on Wednesday, RSS Akhil Bharatiya Prachar Pramukh Arun Kumar said the other topics of focus include bringing about social transformation, rural development, water conservation, reduction of use of plastic, and climate-related issues.

He said various organisations, including NGOs, had joined hands with the RSS in raising resources for building the Ram temple in Ayodhya.

The organisation was now planning to utilise their services in social work being carried out by it, he noted.

Mr. Kumar said ABPS was not held in 2020 due to COVID-19. Every year, 1,500 delegates are expected at ABPS but due to the prevailing pandemic, only 450 are attending this year. Also, ABPS 2021 would be held only for two days instead of three days, he said.

Election

The national conclave has assumed importance as election to the highest executive post of the RSS, Sarkaryavah (general secretary), is being held at the event on Saturday.

The ABPS-2021 was originally scheduled to be held in Nagpur. However, the venue was shifted to Bengaluru owing to COVID-19 situation in Maharashtra.

Meanwhile, the All-India executive meet of RSS that began on March 17 will conclude on March 18. Top leaders of the RSS, including national president Mohan Bhagwat, will participate in the national conclave.

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 continues to grow, 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 we’re reviewing Google’s I/O developer event, rounding up the latest from Snap’s partner summit and taking a look at how Parler got back on the App Store, among other things.

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

Google I/O was kinda boring this year

Image Credits: Google

Sorry, sorry. But it’s true. Without any new hardware announcements, the software-only event just didn’t feel as big and buzzy as it has in the past — which is kind of a bummer, since I/O was canceled entirely last year due to COVID-19. There was no announcement of an affordable Pixel 5a or 6 smartphone, no rumored Pixel Watch, no news on Pixel chips, no new smart home devices, no update on Google Stadia, and not even the Pixel Buds A-Series, which Google accidentally tweeted about ahead of schedule. What gives? Instead, Google I/O was filled with a lot of product news that could have been announced as blog posts — like Google Workspace improvements or neat Google Maps and Photos features. I mean, sure, a life-size 3D video calling booth is cool, but it’s not exactly going to be in your living room next year.

Google Photos update adds new Memories and a Locked Folder, previews Cinematic moments

That’s not to downplay Google’s technical advancements, but if you’re sitting through a long live-ish (??) event, you don’t only want to hear about more conversational AI or less racist cameras (much less from the company that just fired multiple AI ethics researchers). You want to get excited about Google’s next new…thing.

When all was said and done, what stood out was Android 12.

The updated version of Google’s mobile OS with its new personalization features targets a current iPhone weakness: customization.

Image Credits: Google, compilation via Techspot (opens in a new window)

While iOS finally added support for widgets with iOS 14 and an App Library to clean up home screen clutter, Apple seemed almost caught off guard by the personalization madness that ensued after widgets went live. It had to quickly fix how app shortcuts worked — a workaround people had been using to tediously customize their home screen icons to match their wallpaper and widgets.

Android 12 addresses this demand for its own users and takes things a step further. Now, when Android 12 users set a new wallpaper the system can automatically create a custom palette of colors as the Android theme, including both the dominant and complementary colors. This is applied across the OS, including in the Quick Settings under the Notification Shade, in buttons on the lock screen, widgets and more. Google calls this “Material You,” which is a bit silly but gets the point across. The phone can really start to feel like yours.

Material You also introduces refreshed widgets with interactive controls and easier personalization options, smoother transitions, more animations and a privacy dashboard, where you can check in on which apps are accessing your location, mic and camera, for instance. But what sells it is how all those parts come together to present a new version of Android that actually feels fresh.

ICYMI: An I/O Round-up

• Stats: Android now powers 3 billion devices globally, up from 2.5 billion in May 2019. The figure includes 250 million active tablets as of last year.
• Foldables: Google announced a series of Android 12 updates that add support for foldable screens. (Is a foldable Pixel coming?)

Google adds foldable-focused Android developer updates

• Design: “Material You” is Android’s new, adaptive design language which fully embraces the home screen personalization trend, allowing users to set themes that apply across the operating system. One of its more clever tricks is that it’s able to build the color palette for the theme based on the wallpaper you choose.

• Wearables: Google and Samsung team up on a unified wearable platform to take on Apple’s watchOS. The goal will be to combine the best of both worlds, Android Wear OS and Samsung’s Tizen, allowing apps to start faster and battery life to last longer, while users will gain more apps and watch faces. Meanwhile, the best of Fitbit — like tracking health progress and on-wrist goal celebrations — will come to Android Wear. Other updates include a Tiles API, watch face designer from Samsung, new consumer experience focused on speed and customization and redesigned Maps, Assistant and Pay.
• Auto: Google is working with BMW and others to allow Android smartphones to unlock and start vehicles, by leveraging support for Ultra Wideband technology (UWB). It’s also making it easier for developers to bring Android apps to the car as they can now create an app that supports both Android OS and Android Auto.
• AR: Google says there are now 850 million ARCore-compatible devices on the market. It also added Raw Depth Recording/Playback APIs to ARCore to help make more immersive experiences possible.
• Flutter: Google’s cross-platform UI toolkit for building mobile and desktop apps now powers 200K Play Store apps, including those from WeChat, ByteDance, BMW, Grab and Didi. The new version, Flutter 2.2, adds reliability, performance improvements, a payment plugin for IAPs and a more streamlined process for bringing Flutter apps to Windows, macOS and Linux.
• Android Studio: Google announced the next version of its Android Studio IDE, Arctic Fox, which focuses on bringing more of the tooling around building apps directly into the IDE. The marquee feature of the update is Jetpack Compose, the toolkit for building modern UIs for Android.

Google launches the first beta of Android Studio Arctic Fox

• Google Play: Google shared details on sharing details (from 30% to 15%) and is adding new resources like an SDK website to help you find the right ones for you, and a dedicated Policy and Programs section in Play Console. Apps will later this year be able to monetize in new ways, including multi-quantity purchases, multi-line subscriptions and prepaid plans (access to content for a fixed amount of time).
• Ads: Google’s App campaigns on Android will expand to the desktop versions of Google.com and the Google Display Network. That means if a user clicks an ad in the desktop browser, they’ll be directed to the Play Store website to install the app to their linked device. Also, the Google Analytics for Firebase SDK now allows event creation and modification without app updates. Plus, Google introduced a deep link validator and impact calculator to make it easier to get started with deep linking.

Everything Google announced at I/O today

Snap’s Partner Summit: AR and e-commerce and more

Snap, an app with now with 500 million MAUs, this week hosted an event for its partners, where the company unleashed a host of news about what’s next for its platform, including developer tools, AR updates, shopping features and more.

Among the highlights was Snap’s computer vision-enabled Scan product, which will analyze content in the camera feed to pull up matching products, similar to efforts by Pinterest and Google. Meanwhile, AR updates and partnerships with brands like Farfetch and Prada will make possible virtual try-on of clothes using AR. (Honestly, sometimes it feels like Snap’s tech is being lost in an app that’s mainly used by teenagers and young adults for socializing. Are they really Prada shoppers?)

Image Credits: Snap

Another big news item was Snap’s plans to release a brand-new app, Story Studio, which will give creators access to more powerful editing tools, for precisely trimming shots, adding captions, stickers and other visual elements, accessing licensed music, and more. Creators can then publish to Snapchat Spotlight, which is now available on the web, as well as other platforms.

Meanwhile, Snap Map is getting an update with a product called Layers, that allows users to add data from Snap’s developer partners to their map to personalize their experience. For instance, a Ticketmaster Layer will show nearby concert venues.

Image Credits: Snap

The company also gave an update on its creator funding efforts, saying it had doled out more than $130 million to more than 5,400 creators making content for its TikTok rival, Spotlight, since November. It now says it will now longer pay out $1 million per day to encourage creator adoption.

COVID-19 is driving demand for low-code apps

E-commerce

Facebook debuted “Live Shopping Fridays” across the web and Facebook’s mobile apps to encourage consumers to make appointments to shop for beauty, skin care and fashion items from major brands like Abercrombie and Fitch, Bobbi Brown, Clinique, Sephora, Dermalogica and others.

Image Credits: Facebook

Fast fashion e-commerce app Shein took the crown from Amazon this week to become the most downloaded app on iOS and Android in the U.S. The company controls its own production chain, from prototype to manufacturing, allowing it to churn out products tailored to different regions and tastes at a daily rate, giving it the name the “TikTok for e-commerce.”

Shein overtakes Amazon as the most installed shopping app in US

Africa’s largest carrier, Vodacom, has developed Africa’s first super-app with help from China’s Alibaba. The app will include a range of services, including e-commerce, banking and making mobile payments.

Adtech

Apple’s IDFA change has pushed Android ad spending up by 21%, per Liftoff. The growth comes when as many as 63.5% to 83.2% of iOS users are opting out of being tracked.

Apple released an update, iOS 14.5.1, which fixed the ATT bug that had grayed out the App Tracking Transparency toggle for some users in the Settings.

Fintech

Google Pay’s app was redesigned to make it easier for users to find businesses in the U.S., India and Singapore to start, with new discovery features, branded experiences for businesses, money organization tools and spending insights, Google Pay APIs for Web and Android, and a loyalty enrollment and sign-in API.

Social

Image Credits: TechCrunch

✨ Parler’s back. After getting booted from the app stores and from its web host for inciting violence ahead of the January 6 Capitol riots, Parler has returned to the App Store. Now, posts that are labeled hate, (yes, “hate,” — this app doesn’t take down hate speech), won’t be visible on iPhone. The “hate” posts, which may include things like racial slurs, will be visible on other platforms and on the web version.

Apple had insisted that Parler must follow Apple’s App Store guidelines in order to return to its app marketplace, which meant Parler had to moderate its content. Parler however, would rather the option to view hate speech be a toggle, not hidden entry, saying it would prefer to put tools in the hands of it users. The company also dismissively referred to the sanitized version of Parler for iOS as “Parler PG.” The app is now No. 10 in the News category on iPhone.

Pinterest introduced Idea Pins, a video-first evolution of its Story Pins feature, aimed at creators. The Pins allow creators to publish videos of up to 60 seconds per page, with a total of 20 pages per Pin. They can also feature stickers, music and detail pages with more info, like recipe ingredients or project instructions.

TikTok rolled out new tools that allow creators to bulk delete and report comments as well as bulk block users. The feature could help someone quickly clean up their comments section when being trolled and keep their account safe from abusers. But it also could help them to create a false persona of being well-liked, as all negative feedback is removed.

Instagram will host its first Creator Week as an invitation-only series of events June 8-10. The virtual event will include 5,000 creators from the U.S. and will discuss topics like how to grow your online following and make money.

Facebook’s experimental app from its NPE team, Tuned comes to iPhone. The app is designed for users in relationships to stay in touch, messaging and sharing photos, replaying moments and sharing memories, and participating in newly expanded QA challenges.

Image Credits: Facebook

Photos

Reface’s buzzy face-swapping app now lets users upload their own source material for face swapping and animations, which rely on GAN algorithms. That means you can face-swap yourself into a famous piece of art, for instance. The app, launched 14 months ago, now has more than 100 million installs.

Google Photos update adds new Memories and a Locked Folder and previews Cinematic moments which animate a series of photos.

Image Credits: Google

Utilities

Google Maps is adding a number of updates this year, including new routing updates designed for safety, Live View enhancements, an expansion of detailed street maps to 50 more cities, a new “area busyness” feature, which shows crowded blocks and neighborhoods, and a more personalized Maps experience, which adjusts to your location and time of day.

Google Maps to add more detailed maps, crowd indicators, better routing and more

The Chrome app for Android is bringing back RSS. A new feature for users in the U.S. on Chrome Canary is a “follow” button that will allow you to get the latest content from websites and blogs directly in Chrome. The feature relies on the open RSS web standard, so maybe stop building “blogs” that don’t have an RSS feed, OK?

Messaging

WhatsApp rivals, including Telegram and Signal, saw nearly 1,200% growth ahead of WhatsApp’s privacy policy deadline, Sensor Tower reports.

India told WhatsApp to withdraw its new privacy policy terms, or else the government of India will consider various options available to it under laws in India.

WhatsApp is testing disappearing messages with its TestFlight users. No word on public availability.

Streaming Entertainment

Image Credits: Getty Images

Spotify launched a virtual concert series with The Black Keys and other artists. The pre-recorded streams are $15 each for the 40-75 minute show. Some unknown portion of that revenue is shared with the artists.

Spotify is adding automatic transcripts to its own Original and Exclusive podcasts, with the goal of rolling out transcripts to all shows over time.

Spotify to add automatic transcripts for its own Exclusive and Original podcasts

Apple announced it’s bringing lossless audio streaming to Apple Music in June, as a free upgrade. The upgrade will also include support for Dolby Atmos and lossless audio files. The Android version will support lossless but not Dolby Atmos at launch. On Apple devices, lossless does not work on AirPods, AirPods Pro or AirPods Max, even when in wired listening mode. Nor does it work on HomePod devices.

On the same day, Amazon announced its own lossless music streaming service, Amazon Music HD, would also be a free upgrade for Amazon Music Unlimited subscribers.

Deezer technically beat Spotify to offer offline listening on Apple Watch this week, but not by much. Spotify on Friday added support for downloads on the Apple Watch so you can enjoy phone-free listening. Meanwhile Spotify is adding offline listening to Android Wear, too.

Android 12 will add built-in remote control features for controlling the now 80 million monthly active Android TV devices in the world.

HBO Max to add ad-supported streaming at $9.99 per month — a much cheaper option than its $14.99/mo ad-free experience. The option will roll out in June.

Clubhouse goes live globally. Meanwhile, Twitter rival Spaces shows off what Ticketed Spaces look like, and says it’s taking 20% cut of sales.

Dear everyone, everywhere: @Android is officially live across the globe!

❤️?

— Clubhouse (@Clubhouse) May 21, 2021

Books

Mobile reading app Wattpad expanded its publishing arm with new adult fiction imprint, W by Wattpad Books, shortly after its acquisition by Naver was finalized.

With new owner Naver, Wattpad looks to supercharge its user-generated IP factory

Spotify expands into the audiobooks market by partnering with Storytel. The partnership is the first notable example of what’s possible with Spotify’s recently introduced Open Access Platform (OAP), which aims to give creators and publishers a way to extend their reach. With OAP, Storytel subscribers will be able to connect their account in Spotify, then stream their audiobooks through Spotify’s app.

Gaming

The Epic-Apple trial revealed that Apple generated at least $100 million in revenue and possibly much more from Fortnite’s time on the App Store from 2018 until it was pulled in 2020. Sensor Tower had estimated the figure was around $354 million.

Security Privacy

Local crime-spotting app Citizen got into trouble for sparking a $30,000 manhunt for the wrong person. The app’s real-time feature, OnAir, broadcast to users that there was a reward for a man suspected of setting an LA area wildfire. But the person described — which was sent to the app’s 860K users — was not the person actually responsible, who was later arrested.

The Epic trial also revealed that there have been 130 types of Mac malware since last May, a level the company doesn’t find acceptable. The point was made as a defense for why the iOS App Store needs to exist — without it, the more than 1 billion iPhones in use would be an attractive target for attackers.

? Indonesia’s BukuKas raised $50 million in Series B funding for its app helping to digitize small businesses. The startup began as a bookkeeping app but expanded to include online payments and an e-commerce platform that now services 6.3 million businesses.

?Ethel’s Club founder Naj Austin raised $3.75 million in seed funding for Somewhere Good, a Clubhouse-ish mobile app that connects people across interests, allowing them to post content and have real-time audio conversations.

Somewhere Good just raised $3.75M to make your somewhere good

?Mobile-first car ownership “super app” Jerry raised $57+ million to date, including its new $28 million Series B led by Goodwater Capital. The Palo Alto-based startup launched its car insurance comparison service and now has nearly 1 million U.S. customers.

? Egyptian digital banking app Telda raised $5 million pre-seed funding to help grow its business focused on helping Egyptians save, send and spend money.

Sequoia leads $5M pre-seed in Egypt’s 1-month-old digital bank Telda

? Spot Meetings raised $5 million from Kleiner Perkins to modernize remote meetings for mobile. The app includes an assistant “Spot” that can transcribe meeting notes, and offers a scratch pad for copying / pasting snippets of important info, among other things.

? PhonePe is in talks to acquire the Samsung-backed Indus OS, an Indian startup that operates an eponymous third-party Android app store.

? U.K.-based Robinhood rival Stake raised $30 million from Tiger Global and London-based DST Global to expand into Europe. The app has grown 6x since its U.K. launch in early 2020 and now has over 330K customers.

? Snap acquired AR startup WaveOptics for over $500 million. The company, which represents Snap’s biggest acquisition to date, provides the waveguides and projectors used in Snap’s AR glasses, Spectacles.

Snap acquires AR startup WaveOptics, which provides tech for Spectacles, for over $500M

? Jam City has filed to go public via a SPAC at $1.2 billion value. Th Harry Potter: Hogwarts Mystery publisher will use some of the money to acquire mobile game publisher Ludia for $175 million.

Halide for iPad

Image Credits: Lux

The popular third-party camera app Halide made its way to the iPad this week, with an interface designed from scratch for the iPad with controls placed within reach near the edge of the big screen, special features for composition and iPad shooting (yes, really), custom icons to match either your Silver or Space Gray iPad Pro and support for either right or left handed users. The app is free with in-app purchases for iPad.

Silk + Sonder (Soft Launch)

Image Credits: Silk + Sonder

AAPI, female-founded Silk + Sonder was created by Meha Agrawal, a software engineer and PM for companies including Goldman Sachs, Stitch Fix, The Muse, and others to take an analog-first approach to mental wellness. Now, the company is launching its first mobile app after growing its me business to tens of thousands of subscribers and raising $4+ million in seed funding.

The new app offers curated self-care experiences, daily affirmations, a community club, a private memories feature and others meant to complement the company’s analog journal/planners that are shipped to member’s doorstep monthly. In calming shades of pinks and whites, the app guides users through their wellness journey and helps them stay accountable to their goals.

Since the app’s soft launch this month, it’s added thousands of users, more than 50% of whom engage regularly.

The new app is initially available only to active subscribers, but other users will be able to join a waitlist.

Herd (Beta)

Image Credits: Herd

Female-founded Herd has been building demand for its non-toxic Instagram alternative via TikTok. Now the app is live on iOS as a beta.

The goal of Herd is to give users a safer, social space focused on community, not influence, clout-chasing or data collection.

Users can customize their home feed by interest and use sliders to control what they want to see more of less of, while also posting their own photos, saving favorites, and staying private, if they choose. At present, Herd offers a basic photo-sharing experience. There are no Stories or photo filters or videos or much of anything that could lure users away from more advanced, feature-rich social apps. But what it does have is a mission that users feel connected with — and that pushed the app to No. 18 in the Social category on the App Store on launch day, May 18. It’s now still sitting in the top 50 a few days later.

But ultimately, all the marketing and social buzz can’t prop up an app forever. Herd needs to capitalize on the goodwill it’s built by leaning into quickly upgrading the UI/UX so the app itself feels as fresh as the ideas it espouses.

• The Verge: Apple’s Phil Schiller Gives Epic iPhone Testimony
• Wired: Online Dating Apps are Actually Kind of a Disaster
• Protocol: Free-to-play is the future. Not everyone is on board.
• Not Boring: Shein: The TikTok of Ecommerce
• The Information: Apple’s Blissful Ignorance on App Store Profits

Apple and Epic Games can agree on one thing: The app economy is worth fighting over. Here’s a look at the explosive growth that turned app marketplaces into multibillion-dollar businesses. https://t.co/0279yhUS0I

— The Wall Street Journal (@WSJ) May 16, 2021

Schiller says in 2019 App Store drove $400 billion+ in transactions of physical goods, so food delivery, Amazon, Uber/Lyft, etc.

Judge interjects. “Billion with a b?” It’s a big number, and Schiller confirms Apple doesn’t take a cut of that.

— Nick Statt (@nickstatt) May 17, 2021

tim cook having to utter the words “I’m not a gamer” on record is why the epic v apple trial is good

— Megan Farokhmanesh (@Megan_Nicolett) May 21, 2021