INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
Welcome back to ThisWeek in Apps, the Extra Crunch series that recaps the latest OS news, the applications they support and the money that
What are developers talking about? What do app publishers and marketers need to know? How are politics impacting the App Store and app
businesses? And which apps are everyone using?
This week we look at how the Black Friday weekend played out on mobile (including which
non-shopping category that saw a boost in revenue!), as well as a few security-related stories, TikTok latest bad press, plus Apple and
Google best and most downloaded apps of 2019, and more.
Headlines
80% of Android apps are encrypting traffic by default
Google gave an
update on Android security this week, noting that 80% of Android applications were encrypting traffic by default, and that percentage was
higher for apps targeting Android 9 or higher, with 90% of them encrypting traffic by default
Android protects the traffic entering or leaving the devices with TLS (Transport Layer Security)
Its new statistics are related to Android 7 introduction of the Network Security Configuration in 2016, which allows app developers to
configure the network security policy for their app through a declarative configuration file
Apps targeting Android 9 (API level 28) or higher automatically have a policy set by default that prevents unencrypted traffic for every
1, 2019, all apps (including app updates) must target at least Android 9, Google says
That means the percentages will improve as more apps roll out their next updates.
Black Friday boosted mobile game revenue to a record
sales holiday Black Friday wasn&t just good for online shoppers, who spent a record $7.4 billion in sales, $2.9 billion from smartphones
It also boosted iOS and Android mobile game revenue to a single-day record of $69.7 million in the U.S., according to Sensor Tower
This was the most revenue ever generated in a single day for the category, and it represents a 25% increase over 2018
Marvel Contest of Champions from Kabam led the day with approximately $2.7 million in player spending
Two titles from Playrix — Gardenscapes and Homescapes — also won big, with $1 million and $969,000 in revenue, respectively.
These
increases indicate that consumers are looking for all kinds of deals on Black Friday, not just those related to holiday gift-giving
They&re also happy to spend on themselves in games
Mobile publishers caught on to this trend and offered special in-game deals on Black Friday which really paid off.
Did Walmart beat Amazon
app on Black Friday?
Sensor Tower and Apptopia said it did
App Annie also said it did, but then later took it back (see update)
In any event, it must have been a close race
According to Sensor Tower, Walmart app reached No.1 on the U.S
App Store on Black Friday with 113,000 new downloads, a year-over-year increase of 23%
Amazon had 102,000 downloads, making it No
2.
Arguably, many Amazon shoppers already have the app installed, so this is more about Walmart e-commerce growth more so than some ding on
Amazon.
In fact, Apptopia said that Amazon still had 162% more mobile sessions over the full holiday weekend — meaning Amazon was more
shopped than Walmart.
More broadly, mobile shopping is still huge on Black Friday
The top 10 shopping apps grew their new installs by 11% over last year on Black Friday, to reach a combined 527,000 installs.
Report:
Android Advanced Protection Program could prevent sideloading
Google Advanced Protection Program protects the accounts of those at risks of
targeted attacks — like journalists, activists, business leaders, and political campaign teams
This week, 9to5Google found the program may get a new protection feature with the ability to block sideloading of apps, according to an APK
What not yet clear is if program members will have the option to disable the protection, but there are some indications that may be the case
Another feature the report uncovered appears to show that Play Protect will automatically scan all apps, including those from outside the
This won&t affect the majority of Android users, of course, but it is an indication of where Google believes security risks may be found:
sideloaded apps.
Bug hunter suggests Security.plist standard for apps
