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Mobile App Development With Tapptitude infographic

Choosing between native app development and React Native depends on your app's needs. Native development provides superior performance, access to platform-specific features, and a seamless user experience. However, it requires separate codebases for iOS and Android, which increases both cost and development time. On the other hand, React Native allows developers to write a single codebase for both platforms, significantly reducing development time and cost. It’s a great choice for apps with simpler requirements but may struggle with performance in complex apps or advanced features.

Mobile App Development With Tapptitude infographic



In its latest event, OpenAI revealed that it is launching a desktop app of ChatGPT, a new and faster model ‘GPT-4o,’ and bringing UI changes to ChatGPT on web.



ChatGPT works a little differently in the desktop app. When you open it on your desktop next to a program, ChatGPT can answer any queries related to whatever is displayed on your screen. To ask questions, you can use the Option + Space keyboard shortcut, as well as take and share screenshots with the app to obtain ChatGPT’s response. Currently, the app’s availability is only limited to ChatGPT Plus users, but it will be expanded to all users with a broader rollout in the coming weeks.

 

OpenAI Announces a New ChatGPT Desktop App for MacOS



Instagram has introduced a bunch of new interactive Story stickers. One of them is called ‘Reveal,’ and it is intelligently created to boost DM conversations, which Instagram has lately been focusing more on.



The Reveal sticker blurs the content of the Story which can be viewed only if the viewer DMs the user. This is really going to help creator accounts that can rely on the feature to boost their DM inflow.

 

Check Out Instagram’s Latest Interactive Stickers for Stories



Getting into the gaming business is a strategy digital content platforms tend to adopt for two reasons: one, as a way of keeping old users engaged with the platform and attracting new users; and two, for increasing revenue. LinkedIn has recently become one of these platforms too, with the launch of its own puzzle games.

 

The games are: ‘Pinpoint,’ ‘Crossclimb,’ and ‘Queens,’ and they are all available on LinkedIn on desktop as well as mobile. Each of these games can be played once in a day. They also show metrics like high score, daily streak, leaderboards, and people you know that have played them.

 

LinkedIn is Bringing Some Fun to its Platform with the Addition of Three Puzzle Games



Bumble has revamped its app, leading to a new feature called ‘Opening Move,’ newly added ‘dating intention’ badges, and more.

 

Opening Move is specifically meant to give women a kickstart to their conversations with their matches. The feature provides a list of prewritten prompts that you can choose from and even add your own prompts to, that the app will send to all your matches in a new conversation. Some of these prompts are questions like ‘Who’s your dream dinner party guest (real or fictional)?’ and ‘What do you like about my profile?’ If and when the match responds, you can decide whether or not you want to continue the conversation. In case no move is made, the conversation will expire after 24 hours.

 


Bumble’s Redesigned App has an ‘Opening Move’ Feature that Sends Prewritten Prompts to Matches



As its latest major move in the world of AI, tech giant Meta has added its AI chatbot on all of its platforms: Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp and Messenger (minus Threads). The chatbot is available on each of these apps as a dedicated search bar.

 

Meta’s AI chatbot is powered by the company’s Llama 3 model – Meta’s most powerful AI model yet (even better than ChatGPT), and which it claims to be “the most intelligent AI assistant” that can be used for free. This should automatically make Meta’s integrated AI chatbot one of the best AI assistants out there too.

 

Meta’s Advanced AI Assistant Makes its Way to Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp, and Messenger



As a result of the agreement between Apple and the EU Digital Markets Act (DMA), the third-party iOS app store marketplace AltStore PAL is now live in the EU. The store has been developed by Riley Testut and Shane Gill to accommodate apps that can be self-hosted by developers on their own servers.

 

To install the app store, an annual subscription fee of €1.50 (plus tax) must be paid, which covers Apple’s Core Technology Fee (CTF). During the installation process, Apple confirms with the user multiple times if they wish to proceed with installing a third-party app, before it finally lets them get through.

 

AltStore PAL is bringing with it two apps, both developed by Testut himself: the Delta game emulator and a clipboard manager app ‘Clip’. The Delta app is simultaneously also making way to the App Store outside of the EU. According to Testut, AltStore PAL is also open to submissions from third-party developers.

 

Third-Party App Store for iPhone ‘AltStore PAL’ Goes Live in the EU along with Two Apps



Cloud collaboration and productivity platform Airtable is launching ‘Airtable AI’ that consists of generative AI summary, categorization, and translation features. The company has tested these features with more than 1,200 organizations and is now making them available for purchase to all its users.

 

AI has been proven to be an efficient integration in workspace platforms like Google Workspace and Microsoft Office – especially for the purpose of producing summaries and drafting text documents. Airtable AI is therefore likely to make Airtable an all-rounder platform, with functions dedicated to organizing teams, pushing tailored content to customers, and more.

Airtable is Levelling up Productivity with a Set of New AI Features for Paying Users



Meta has added a new default control setting to Instagram and Threads, that limits recommendations of political content from accounts that one doesn’t follow. Meta defines “political content” as posts about governments, elections, and social topics.

 

The setting was first introduced in February and started rolling out to more users since last week, but without any notifications informing people about the update.

 

The option is available within “content preferences” in account settings as “Limit political content from people you don’t follow.” Although activated by default, it can be disabled by a user who wishes to see more political content on Meta’s apps. Meta also clarifies that the setting does not change the visibility of political content from accounts that a user follows.

Meta is Reducing Visibility of Political Content from Accounts you Don’t Follow on Instagram and Threads



TikTok is promoting its search function by adding a new condition in its latest monetization program Creator Rewards. According to the new metric, a fraction of creators’ earnings will be dependent on how well their content matches with topics that other TikTok users are searching for on the platform.

 

The metric, called Search Value, is one of the four core elements that TikTok will be using to establish its creators’ payouts. It is similar to how SEO works, particularly in context of its ‘keyword research’ tactic. Keyword research revolves around making content that aligns with what people are looking up on search engines, mainly Google.

 

On TikTok, creators can optimize their content in alignment with frequently searched topics by relying on Creator Search Insights to discover trending searches. According to TikTok, these insights can provide creators with ideas for their content, so they can design their creative strategies that best meet audience’s interests. Mainly, the insights tool provides suggestions for video layouts, based on both personalized and general data.

TikTok Announces New Payout Metric as Part of its Monetization Program: Search Value



In an open letter / blog post, Twitch CEO Dan Clancy has shared the streaming platform’s developmental plans for the year of 2024. From changes to its mobile platform to collaboration tools and more, it seems like the company has some major upgrades in store for its customers.

 

While Twitch has not revealed specific details about the products that it plans to launch, its vice president of community product, Jeremy Forrester, has emphasized three main areas of development. These include sharing of content across other platforms, enabling collaboration between streamers, and upgrades to the mobile version.

Twitch has New Plans for an Improved User Experience in 2024



WhatsApp has been working on new text formatting options that it has just launched to all its users on Android, iOS, Web, and Mac.

 

Until now, the formatting options that have been available to WhatsApp users are bold, italic, strikethrough, and monospace. In addition to these, the four newly added ones include bulleted and numbered lists, block quotes, and inline code. These are meant to facilitate improved communication among users by enabling them to organize and emphasize specific information.


WhatsApp is Bringing New Formatting Options that Help with Organizing and Highlighting Text in Messages

 


YouTube has a bunch of new announcements: an update to YouTube Studio’s mobile app, expansion of Gift Memberships, and updated Product Tagging.

 

First off, the new YouTube Studio update will allow creators to make direct uploads from their camera roll to the app by tapping on the + icon in the app. Additionally, creators will be able to set their video monetization status during the upload process, hence making  content management more feasible.

 


Next, YouTube is experimenting with a new Community Posts feed in its mobile app for both iOS and Android devices. Community Posts has become a popular engagement feature where creators share text-based updates with their subscribers. Back in May of last year, YouTube made Community Posts available to all channels.

YouTube is Updating its Studio App, and Expanding Gift Memberships and Product Tagging



Meta is making an important change to Instagram and Threads’ policy – limiting recommendation of content related to politics and social issues from accounts that a user does not follow, across the platforms. Meta plans to bring this update to Facebook some time later, too.

 

The changes will be implemented only in places where recommendations are displayed to users, like Explore, Reels, in-feed recommendations, and suggested users. No changes will be made to the way content is displayed from accounts that a user follows. This means that accounts that aren’t eligible to be recommended could still post political content that their followers will be able to view in feed and Stories.

 

While users will be seeing less of political content by default, they would still be allowed to opt into seeing more of such content if they wish to. The option will be available in account settings, specifying content that is “likely to mention governments, elections, or social topics that affect a group of people and/or society at large.”

Meta Announces Changes to Content Recommendation on Instagram and Threads, Related to Politics and Social Issues



Bluesky, the decentralized Twitter rival, is preparing to be officially released for users to sign up to it. The platform has been in beta testing for a year now, where it has been able to gain over 3 million users.


CEO of Bluesky, Jay Graber, revealed that the company had been working on some moderation features and attempting to further stabilize the platform’s setup before launching it out of the beta stage.

 

As a decentralized platform, Blusky currently has no more than 40 full-time employees. Graber has reported there are 1.6 million monthly users on the app and thanks to its unique AT Protocol feature, it has 25,000 custom feeds too. Later this month, Bluesky will also start allowing third-party developers to host their own servers on its underlying Protocol, which will enable anyone to set up their own server.

Twitter Competitor Bluesky is Rolling out of Beta Testing Soon



LinkedIn is gradually altering the way Creator Mode works on its platform, while maintaining some of its existing elements as optional tools. Some of the Creator Mode options that LinkedIn has launched in the past include topical hashtags on profile, a ‘Featured’ section that showcase a user’s content, and a ‘Follow’ button on their profile.

 

In LinkedIn’s own words, it is working to open up “additional creation tool access and deeper analytics to all members.”

 

LinkedIn is starting off by shifting its focus off of ‘Talks About’ hashtags for connectivity and plans to remove the option of turning on Creator Mode from profile settings next. The Follow button will remain, and the ‘About’ section will be placed on the top of profiles, as before.

LinkedIn Seems to be Getting Rid of Creator Mode



Snapchat has launched a new promotional campaign, where it has highlighted how its platform is “different” from others in the present era of social media.

 

Snapchat asserts that social media, in its “adolescence” age, has begun to lose its essential purpose of connection and support. Instead, according to Snapchat, social media platforms and the way we share our moments on them, have become more curated now, and friends have started to feel more like strangers.

 

Well, Snapchat is not really wrong here. But what is it that its platform is doing differently? One aspect that Snapchat could be seen as distinguishable from in its usage is the absence of a feed. Unlike other platforms, Snapchat’s goal is not to make a user’s content reach as many people as possible.

Snapchat’s Recent Promotional Campaign Shows the Platform as “Less Social Media”

 

After an unsuccessful attempt at reaching a new rights agreement, TikTok and Universal Music are parting ways, which will likely have a significant impact on TikTok, considering that music is a key element on the platform.

 

The decision was announced by Universal Music, revealing that it will pull out from TikTok on the 1st of February, after a partnership of 3 years. The music company also claimed that the reason behind its withdrawal has been due to TikTok’s offered deal being insufficient to compensate for its artists and protection regarding generative AI. 

 

“Upon expiration of the current agreement, Universal Music Group, including Universal Music Publishing Group, will cease licensing content to TikTok and TikTok Music services,” adds the music company.

TikTok and Universal Music End Partnership following Failed Negotiations



TikTok seems to be moving away from one of its core elements: vertical format for videos. Some creators have reported that they are being prompted by TikTok to post videos in a horizontal format. The pop-up message says that posting videos longer than 1 minute and in landscape mode would boost views within the first 72 hours after they are posted.

 

In fact, TikTok is asserting that these videos will be the only “eligible” ones to get increased views. Considering that vertical, full-screen videos are an essential visual element of the app, it doesn’t leave much room to see why TikTok is promoting landscape format.

TikTok is Encouraging Creators to Post Landscape-Shot Clips for Increased Views



Gaming and streaming services like Xbox Cloud Streaming and GeForce Now, that were previously only available on iOS web, can now be accessed as apps on iOS devices. This is because Apple is allowing developers to submit apps that contain all the games offered in their catalogue in one place on the App Store.

 

Although earlier in 2020, Apple had opened the gates for these cloud gaming services in the App Store, it required all games offered via each service to be submitted and reviewed as standalone apps. The proposal couldn’t turn into a reality and therefore the present change is a significant one.

Apple Enables Access of Gaming and Streaming Services as Apps in the App Store

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