Threads might let you add music to your posts in the future

Meta’s Threads is internally prototyping the ability to add music to posts, the company confirmed to technewss. The option to add music to posts is already available on Meta’s other social apps, Instagram and Facebook. It looks like the company is now thinking about bringing the featur

Bluesky is getting its own photo-sharing app, Flashes

More good news for those looking to exit Meta’s social app ecosystem in favor of a more open alternative: An independent developer is building a photo-sharing app for Bluesky called Flashes. The soon-to-launch app is powered by the same technology that underpins Bluesky, the AT Protocol, and

Hinge's new AI feature determines if your prompt response is too basic 

Hinge today launched a new AI-powered feature called “Prompt Feedback,” which aims to improve your dating profile by analyzing how you answer prompts and assessing if it needs to be more specific or authentic.  Powered by OpenAI's GPT-4o mini, Prompt Feedback evaluates each response a

Creator of Gas and tbh makes an app for disappearing photos via iMessage

Nikita Bier, creator of popular apps like the anonymous polling app tbh (acquired by Facebook) and the anonymous compliments app Gas (acquired by Discord), has created a new app called Explode, which focuses on disappearing messages on iMessage. Explode works as a mini app for Apple’s Messag

Substack rolls out livestreaming for all publishers

After testing live video features in the fall, newsletter platform Substack announced on Tuesday that it is now making livestreaming available to all publishers. This new feature allows creators to engage with their viewers and collaborate with other publishers.  The introduction of livestreaming

TikTok users’ attempted migration to Chinese app RedNote isn’t going too well

American TikTok users have been thumbing their collective noses at the U.S. government’s decision to ban TikTok by spitefully joining another Chinese social media app, RedNote (aka Xiaohongshu), sending it to the top of the U.S. App Store on Monday. Unfortunately, many of those who already ma

WhatsApp is adding a way to turn selfies into stickers

WhatsApp is adding new features, including creating new stickers from selfies, sharing sticker packs, and adding new camera effects. Stickers and camera effects are good engagement ploys to keep users interacting with their contacts. The chat app added the ability to create custom stickers from ph

Massachusetts senator seeks to extend deadline for TikTok ban

Senator Ed Markey (D-MA) is planning to introduce legislation to extend the TikTok ban deadline by 270 days. TikTok has warned of a looming shutdown in just five days, but the new legislation, officially called the Extend the TikTok Deadline Act, would give TikTok more time to divest from its C

Kayak founder returns with Steppin, an app that locks you out of social media until you go for a walk

App stores are filled with different services that are designed to help you cut down on your screen time and count your steps. A new iOS app called Steppin combines these two ideas to help users do both at the same time to bridge the gap between physical and mental health.  Steppin blocks you

How to turn off Apple Intelligence-powered notification summaries

With iOS 18, Apple rolled out Apple Intelligence, which includes an AI-powered feature for summarizing notifications. When you get a bunch of notifications from one app, the feature summarizes the content of all notifications in one card that appears on the lock screen. You can dismiss the stack af

TikTok warns of looming shutdown as Supreme Court weighs sell-or-ban law  

A lawyer for TikTok argued before the Supreme Court on Friday that a ban on the social network would violate TikTok’s and Americans’ First Amendment rights. The Supreme Court this morning heard arguments on whether to overturn or delay a law that could effectively ban TikTok? in the U

X is rolling out labels for parody accounts

X said today that it will now label parody or satire profiles to differentiate them from other accounts. In the past, users, including news presenters, have mistaken posts from parody accounts as authentic statements made by the actual people or entities. X said that the label would be visible on

Video editing app Captions switches to a freemium model to boost growth

Video editing app Captions is looking to cash in on uncertainty around TikTok and ByteDance’s video editing app CapCut’s future in the U.S. by turning to a freemium model. The app, backed by Kleiner Perkins, Sequoia Capital, and Andreessen Horowitz, has been a paid-only app until now.

Apple might be working on a new 'Invites' app

The year has just begun, and Apple might already be in “Sherlocking” mode to create a new app for iOS called Invites. Details are still thin on what this app might look like, but it could potentially be a competitor to Evite or Partiful. According to findings in iOS 18.3 beta 2 code b