This Week in Apps: TikTok viral hit breaks Spotify records, inauguration boosts news app installs, judge rules against Parler
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 is as hot as ever, 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.
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Android 12, which is Google’s next-generation Android variant is expected to be unveiled soon. If one goes by the previous timeline, the Android 12 Developer Preview could be announced as early as February, which is when the Developer Preview of Android 11 was launched last year. Ahead of the official preview, several features of Android 12 have been leaked including app hibernation, ‘App Pairs’, restricted networking mode, and the ability to share Wi-Fi passwords with nearby devices. Also Read - Google Maps Compass returns for Android users, more new features introduced
At this point, there is little known about Android 12, though it is expected that more information will be revealed in the coming days. We take a look at all the features of Google’s Android 12 that we know so far: Also Read - Google will block certain apps from accessing other applications on your phone
Android 12 will bring a completely new split-screen mode
Google is preparing interesting innovations for Android 12. In addition to the simplified procedure for transferring Wi-Fi passwords, limited network mode and mysterious hibernation mode, some developers have discovered a new feature that will delight owners of smartphones with large screens.
We are talking about a redesigned split-screen multitasking mode. In this mode, you can display two applications at once (sometimes more) and use them simultaneously. This is especially useful on smartphones with large displays.
To use a couple of applications at the same time, now you need to open one of them, then activate the split-screen mode for this application using the view of recent applications and select the second application. This solution was often not very convenient and manufacturers such as Samsung, LG and Microsoft offered their alternatives.
Google Working on Nearby Share Feature That Could Allow Android 12 Users to Share Wi-Fi Passwords ndtv.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from ndtv.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.