• Apple ships iOS 15.3.1, iPadOS 15.3.1 and macOS Monterey 12.2.1
• The Apple iOS 15.4 beta 2, available to developers and beta testers
• Apple announced new “App Store Sessions,”

• Google released the first developer preview of Android 13 (aka Tiramisu).
• Google released version 1.1 of Jetpack Compose,
• Flutter, Google’s open source UI software development kit, arrived on Windows
• Google is also making Android’s Material You’s dynamic color theming more broadly available.

• Samsung and Google expanded their Wear OS partnership.

• YouTube says it will expand access to shopping across its video platform through shoppable videos
• Instagram is hosting a live shopping event on its app for Valentine’s Day
• The top 15 direct-to-consumer (D2C) shopping apps grew downloads by 13.6%

• References to “realityOS” were spotted in Apple’s code on a GitHub repo

• YouTube confirms its plans to get into NFTs.
• Block (previously known as Square) officially turned on bitcoin transfers via the Lightning Network

• Twitter has a new CEO and lots of new stuff, but it still can’t deliver the user growth Wall Street wants.
• Reddit expanded its Clubhouse-like live audio product, Reddit Talk
• YouTube Shorts, YouTube’s short-form platform, will gain new video effects
• Tumblr added a Tip Jar feature to its app on iOS and Android
• Instagram added new features, including a “Your Activity” section

• Apple’s Siri is the first voice-based digital assistant to be able to initiate searches on Douyin,
• Amazon’s Ring updated its Neighbors app with support for new features, including Pet Profiles and Contact Me.

• Messenger rolled out its Split Payments feature, previously in testing, to all U.S. users on iOS and Android.
• Google Duo, Google’s video chat app, gained a SharePlay-inspired feature called Live Sharing
• Signal’s messaging app now lets you change your phone number without losing your conversation threads
• And YouTube TV is getting a redesign this year
• Chinese audio networking app Tiya, a sort of Clubhouse of China, has set up a new 10,000-square-foot headquarters in Singapore
• Code inside the Apple Music app on Android beta reveals Apple’s new classical music streaming service

• Mobile gaming giant Zynga says it has plans to move into blockchain and NFT-based games
• “Social gambling apps,” like social casino games where users bet with virtual money, are seeing increased adoption
• Newzoo and TikTok For Business put out a joint report on the use of the short video platform to build, grow and monetize mobile games.

• Tinder introduced a new “Blind Date” feature that pairs up two people in the app’s Explore section
• Tinder is also ending the practice of charging different prices for the same features.

• Open rates of some official COVID-19 apps reached as high as 92% in 2021

• Apple launched its own book club inside its Apple Books app.

• Flexibits’ Fantastical takes on Calendly with a new feature, “Openings,”

• The Netherlands regulator, the Authority for Consumers and Markets (ACM), fined Apple another €5 million over its dating app payments order.
• The Verge took a dive into the Open App Markets App

• Apple addressed the AirTag stalking problem with a slate of upcoming features and changes.

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Ref: TechCrunch