Be a part of the 
Weekly News For You To Stay Updated With The App Industry
Hey there! It has been a fruitful week for quite a few apps, but some apps are facing trouble in Bengaluru. As for the apps experiencing success, it’s all thanks to their business shifts and new features. Let’s take a closer look at how these apps are progressing.
Read everything interesting going on in the app world in this edition of the Weekly News Wr(app).
1. Loan distribution business for the win
The loan distribution business of Paytm has clearly been a blessing to them. They have witnessed accelerated growth with disbursements through the platform now at an annualized run rate of ₹34,000 crore in the month of September this year, according to an official release by the company.
Paytm, in an official statement said, “With our subscription as a service model, the strong adoption of devices drives higher payment volumes, and subscription revenues, while increasing the funnel for our merchant loan distribution.”
Read more here: https://bit.ly/3COtoD6
2. $39000 for a 15-minute Uber ride?
We are sure you might have witnessed travel apps charging you extra during peak hours and bad weather, but $39000 for a 15 minute journey? Well, yes an Uber passenger was wrongly charged the same after his destination was incorrectly added.
Oliver Kaplan, 22, ordered an Uber in a city near Manchester, England, after he finished work to go and meet some friends about four miles away.
Uber quoted the journey to be between £10 and £11, Kaplan told the news outlets. However, the next morning, he woke up to an email from the ride-hailing app saying he had insufficient funds to pay his charge of £35,427.97, per screenshots shared with Manchester Evening News.
Read more here: https://bit.ly/3fYL1XN
3. Keeping it real with a new Social Media App
New social app BeReal’s downloads have skyrocketed and has crossed 53 million user downloads globally.
Do you feel users are ready to accept a world without filters, added music and get back to sharing pictures when they are given just 2 minutes to snap and share a picture.
Well, the numbers do suggest the same. But while the download stats are so impressive, active opens are comparatively less. According to data, only 9% of BeReal Android users opened the app every day in the third quarter of 2022.
That’s quite disappointing for an app that’s sole idea is to prompt users to share a picture every day. Well, but on the positive side we feel they have great potential too and their downloads support the same.
Read more here: https://bit.ly/3ywqfFy
4. No more Ola, Uber and Rapido rickshaws?
If you are from Bengaluru you might have faced higher auto rickshaw fares and surprisingly you might not be alone.
“Complaints had been pouring in from the public that their fares for auto rides were much higher than those mandated by the government”, said Home Minister Araga Jnanendra.
Police and transport officials are expected to launch a joint operation on the auto rickshaw ride-hailing services of Uber, Ola and Rapido following reports that they were collecting inflated fares from customers.
Read more here: https://bit.ly/3VjgOCZ
5. Favorite free chatting app turning freemium
Our favorite free chatting app is releasing a premium paid subscription for business users and its beta version is already out.
Yes, Whatsapp is planning to launch a premium subscription that gives users a customisable contact link to their WhatsApp, which can be changed once every three months.
It is supposed to be an easier way for customers to find a certain business instead of typing in a phone number. Telegram has a similar feature where users can share a direct contact link with others. The paid version of the app will also allow up to 10 devices simultaneously connected to the same account. This way, employees can connect and manage the business account.
Read more here: https://bit.ly/3rQjJWo
6. Local chat platform app helps creators earn
Our local language social media network, Sharechat has touched a whopping $50 million in annual recurring revenue with its virtual gifting feature.
“Users spend about 30 minutes on an average and we have 30 million creators on the platform,” said ShareChat’s chief product officer Amit Zunjarwad.
Creators can cash out these virtual gifts – after ShareChat takes a platform cut – and transfer the earnings to their bank accounts which is thoroughly helping increase engagement on the platform.
Read more here: https://bit.ly/3Til97N
