The changes were announced at Apple’s Worldwide Developers Conference in Cupertino, where the company said it wants to make discovery more personal while also giving developers better management over promotion and subscriptions.

One of the additions is a feature called Personalised Collections. This will surface app recommendations based on a user’s interests and activity.

Apple says the suggestions will appear across the Apps, Games and Search tabs and will adjust over time as users download and interact with more apps.

Alongside this, App Notes will appear to explain why a particular app has been recommended.

These recommendations will begin rolling out in English in the United States first, with other regions and languages to follow later.

Developers will also get new marketing tools. Apple is introducing Creative Assets, which allow richer images and videos to appear on product pages and in search results. These assets can be used to highlight updates, seasonal offers or new features.

There is also a new Asset Library inside App Store Connect, a central storage system where developers can manage screenshots, preview videos and other promotional content in one place.

Apple says this will reduce repeated uploads and make campaigns easier to manage across different pages and events.

On the subscription side, Apple is expanding how apps can be sold to groups. Developers will be able to offer subscriptions to organisations using volume purchasing through Apple Business Manager and Apple School Manager.

These purchases can be assigned across users through existing device management systems.

There is also a new group purchase option which allows one user to buy a subscription and invite others to join under the same plan. This will be handled through built-in invitation tools so users can accept and join without friction.

New App Store Bundles will also allow developers to package subscriptions from different apps together at a reduced price. In addition, Suites will let developers create grouped subscription packages that are not available as individual purchases.

Apple is also adding Retention Messaging tools, allowing developers to present tailored messages or offers when a user tries to cancel a subscription. The aim is to give users alternatives before they leave a service.

For app review and submission, Apple says it is simplifying the process. Developers will now be able to group multiple in-app purchases into a single submission for review, instead of sending them separately. This is designed to speed up approvals and reduce delays.

On the Mac App Store, Apple is also removing the requirement for Intel support. Developers can now ship apps built only for Apple silicon devices, cutting down on the need to maintain multiple versions.

Parental controls are also getting updates. New Time Allowances in iOS 27, iPadOS 27 and macOS 27 will let parents set limits on how long children can use apps across categories such as games, entertainment and social media. Schedules will also allow access to be controlled at different times of the day.

Apple says apps will be categorised more strictly under this system. Developers will also need to update age rating details, including whether their apps involve social features such as user-generated content. These updates will feed into how apps are grouped for parental controls.

A report by the Wall Street Journal said Meta had repeatedly delayed plans to make the API available to developers and, as of Tuesday, had not set a launch date. The report cited people familiar with the matter.

However, Meta disputed suggestions that the project had stalled. A company spokesperson said on Wednesday that testing is already underway with a group of early partners and that the company still expects to release the API later this month.

“The muse spark API will be coming soon,” Meta AI Chief Alexandr Wang announced in a post on X in April.

Meta AI Unveils Spark to Power Next-Gen AI across Platforms

The API would allow developers to integrate Muse Spark into their own software and services. An API, or Application Programming Interface, is a software bridge that enables different systems to communicate and work together.

Meta introduced Muse Spark in April as the first model developed under its Superintelligence Labs initiative, which was created to strengthen the company’s position in the competitive AI market.

The model is designed to narrow the gap between Meta and competitors including OpenAI, Anthropic and Google.

While Muse Spark is already available to consumers through Meta’s applications, users can currently access it only through built-in modes such as Instant, Thinking and Contemplating. Developers still do not have access to a public API, and Meta has yet to release documentation, pricing details, rate limits or eligibility requirements.

The lack of information has created apprehension among developers hoping to build products around the model. Without a public timeline, waitlist or technical documentation, companies interested in integrating Muse Spark are unable to plan deployments or assess costs.

The delays also come at a sensitive time for Meta. Investors have been monitoring the company’s AI strategy as it spends heavily on infrastructure, talent and product development.

Questions about execution have grown following reports of an Instagram security incident involving Meta’s AI-powered support system, which exposed weaknesses in automated account management processes.

Earlier on Wednesday, Meta unveiled a new AI agent designed to help businesses handle day-to-day tasks, showing that the company is going beyond consumer chatbots and into enterprise services.

The launch highlights Meta’s goal to compete more directly with OpenAI, Anthropic and Google across multiple areas of the AI market.

Muse Spark is expected to bolster that strategy. It is the first in what Meta has described as a new generation of advanced models from its Superintelligence Labs unit.

However, the repeated postponements have left analysts, developers and investors waiting for evidence that the company can translate its AI investments into products that are ready for global use.

Access is still currently limited to a small group of testing partners, while the developer community is waiting for Meta to open the platform to the public.

The company said the new model applies to auto-renewable subscriptions and is designed to give users lower monthly prices while helping developers secure steadier long-term income.

Under the system, customers can spread payments across 12 months instead of paying upfront for an annual plan. In return, developers may offer reduced monthly rates compared with standard month-to-month subscriptions.

Developers usually promote annual subscriptions by showing a cheaper monthly equivalent to persuade users to commit for longer. Apple is now building that option directly into the App Store system.

Users can cancel at any time, but the subscription will remain active until all agreed payments have been completed. It will not renew after the 12-month term if the user cancels before the end of the commitment.

To make terms clearer, customers will be able to check how many payments they have completed and how many remain through their Apple Account settings.

Apple also said it will send reminder emails and, for users who opt in, push notifications before renewal dates.

However, the new subscription option will not launch initially in the United States or Singapore. Apple did not give a reason for excluding the two markets.

Developers can already set up the feature in App Store Connect and test it through Xcode.

The option will be available worldwide, except for those two countries, for users running iOS 26.4, iPadOS 26.4, macOS Tahoe 26.4, tvOS 26.4 and visionOS 26.4 or later, once iOS 26.5 and related software updates are released in May.

The company said the new plan sits between the existing $20 Plus subscription and the higher $200 Pro tier. It is designed for users who need more capacity during longer coding sessions.

“We’re introducing a new $100/month Pro tier. This new tier offers 5x more Codex usage than Plus and is best for longer, high-effort Codex sessions.”

With this change, OpenAI’s pricing in Nigeria now spans from a free plan with limited access and adverts, to a Go plan at about ₦7,000 per month, a ₦31,500 Plus plan without adverts, and multiple Pro options starting from about ₦144,900.

The company said the $100 plan includes all existing Pro features. These cover access to its top models, higher usage limits, and full access to tools such as instant responses and deeper reasoning systems.

The main difference across tiers is how much users can do before hitting limits.

For a limited period, OpenAI is increasing usage on the new plan. Subscribers will get up to ten times the Codex capacity of the Plus tier until 31 May. After that, limits are expected to return to standard levels.

OpenAI confirmed that the $200 monthly plan is still available, although it is no longer listed on its pricing page. That higher tier offers up to 20 times the usage of the Plus plan and is aimed at users running demanding tasks across several projects.

The company explained that no plan offers full unlimited access. Instead, each tier is controlled by usage limits, though the highest plan is built to handle continuous work across parallel tasks.

OpenAI is setting the new ChatGPT Pro plan to compete directly with similar offerings from Anthropic, which already runs a $100 subscription for its Claude Code product.

“The new $100 Pro Tier is designed to give developers more practical coding capacity for the money, especially during high-intensity work sessions where limits matter most.

“Compared with Claude Code, Codex delivers more coding capacity per dollar across paid tiers, with the difference showing up most clearly during active coding use,” an OpenAI spokesperson tells TechCrunch.

The development comes as demand for coding tools grows at a speed. OpenAI said more than three million people now use Codex every week. That figure has increased fivefold in the past three months, with usage rising by over 70% month on month.

The company is also expanding its subscription structure. The new tier fills the gap between Plus and the top-end Pro plan, giving developers another option without moving straight to the highest price point.

At the same time, OpenAI is still offering business and enterprise plans with added security, collaboration tools and compliance features for organisations.

Developers can now send their apps for review through OpenAI’s developer platform, changing how ChatGPT is used, from a single tool to a platform where outside services run inside conversations.

A built-in app directory is already live within the tools menu, giving users a way to search for and access published apps without leaving ChatGPT.

This development builds on OpenAI’s earlier decision to let selected partners plug their services into chat. Travel booking, music streaming, design tools and property searches are among the first use cases. 

According to the company, “Apps extend ChatGPT conversations by bringing in new context and letting users take actions like order groceries, turn an outline into a slide deck, or search for an apartment.”

In keeping users inside ChatGPT while they complete everyday tasks, OpenAI is working towards making the product a central workspace rather than a stopover tool.

To support developers, OpenAI is offering an Apps SDK, still in beta, alongside design libraries, example projects and practical guides. Once an app is submitted, developers can track its review status and, if approved, make it available to users globally or in selected countries. The first wave of approved apps is expected to roll out gradually next year.

Apps can be activated directly in conversations by mentioning them by name or choosing them from the tools menu. OpenAI is also testing ways to suggest relevant apps mid-conversation, based on what the user is trying to do. Feedback options are built in, giving users a say in what works and what does not.

For now, payments happen outside ChatGPT. Developers can link users to their own websites or mobile apps to complete purchases, particularly for physical goods. OpenAI says it is testing additional payment options and plans to expand into digital products and subscriptions over time.

Safety and privacy sit at the centre of the ChatGPT app store rollout. Every app must include a clear privacy policy and request only the data needed to function. Users are shown what information may be shared before connecting an app, and they can disconnect at any time, cutting off access immediately.

These groups have started to focus on larger corporate entities, posing significant threats to critical aspects of the digital economy.

This shift highlights the need for developers to prioritize security measures in their work, as they play a crucial role in safeguarding the systems supporting these corporations and critical infrastructures.

The tech community must now embrace its responsibility to counter these emerging cybersecurity threats, which have moved from the background to the forefront of concern in today’s digital innovation landscape.

The current threat landscape has evolved significantly, marked by a transformation in cybercriminals’ sophistication, coordination, and intent.

The term “cyber mafia” has shifted from metaphor to reality, as it now describes a well-organized, well-funded network of cybercriminals who operate with the same precision and ruthlessness as traditional crime syndicates.

Their targets have become increasingly strategic and high-value, leading to more devastating consequences rather than opportunistic attacks.

The Corporate Bullseye:

Historically, cyber-attacks were typically perpetrated by lone hackers or small groups seeking fame or minor financial gain.

Today, however, the stakes are much higher. Organized cybercriminals, often referred to as the “cyber mafia,” have shifted their focus to targeting large corporations, financial institutions, healthcare providers, and government agencies.

These organizations possess extensive amounts of sensitive data, intellectual property, and critical operational control systems, making them prime targets for extortion, espionage, and disruption.

Ransomware attacks have emerged as cybercriminals’ preferred method. In 2024, global damages caused by ransomware were estimated to exceed £20 billion, with some individual ransoms reaching tens of millions.

These attacks have severe financial consequences and damage reputations, often leading to regulatory scrutiny, loss of customers, and long-term harm to brands.

Developers: The New Frontline:

In today’s high-stakes landscape, developers have evolved from merely creating functionality to becoming crucial guardians of trust.

Every aspect of their work—each line of code, API call, and integration point—can be a potential vulnerability that attackers might exploit. Unfortunately, despite the increasing threat landscape, security measures are frequently regarded as an afterthought rather than an integral part of the development process.

This must change:

Developers play a vital role in ensuring the security of digital systems because they have a thorough understanding of the architecture, dependencies, and logic that underpin applications.

By adopting a security-first mindset, they can proactively address cyber threats and prevent them from arising.

Shifting Left: Security by Design

The “shifting left” concept in software development emphasizes the importance of integrating security practices early in the development process rather than as an afterthought.

This proactive approach is not only more effective but also significantly more cost-efficient. Research indicates that addressing security flaws during the design phase can be up to 100 times cheaper than fixing them after deployment.

To achieve security by design, teams should adopt secure coding practices, conduct regular code reviews, implement automated security testing, and stay informed about emerging vulnerabilities.

Furthermore, it is essential to cultivate a culture in which security is seen as a collective responsibility that extends beyond just the security team.

The Role of DevSecOps:

DevSecOps is an evolution of the DevOps movement that integrates security into every phase of the software development lifecycle.

It promotes collaboration among development, operations, and security teams, making security a shared goal rather than an obstacle.

By using the right tools and processes, DevSecOps enables continuous security monitoring, rapid identification of vulnerabilities, and automated compliance checks.

This approach empowers developers to prioritize security while maintaining their speed and flexibility.

Education and Empowerment:

A significant challenge to secure development is developers’ lack of awareness and training. Many have not received formal education in cybersecurity principles, resulting in a knowledge gap that hinders their ability to identify and address common threats like SQL injection, cross-site scripting, and insecure deserialisation.

Organisations need to prioritize the upskilling of their development teams by offering access to security training.

This can involve encouraging participation in ethical hacking exercises and promoting relevant certifications, such as the Certified Secure Software Lifecycle Professional (CSSLP) and the Offensive Security Certified Professional (OSCP). Investing in these areas is essential for enhancing security practices within development teams.

Developers should be encouraged to adopt an attacker’s mindset to enhance their coding skills.

By understanding the tactics used by adversaries, such as identifying weaknesses, exploiting misconfigurations, and escalating privileges, developers can improve their ability to create more resilient and secure code. This proactive approach to security can lead to better software development practices.

The Human Factor:

Technology is essential for cybersecurity, yet the human factor often poses the most significant risk. Social engineering attacks, particularly phishing and pretexting, remain incredibly effective.

As a result, all employees, including developers, need to stay alert and vigilant against these tactics to enhance security measures.

Security awareness training should be a regular part of organisational culture. Developers should be taught to recognise suspicious emails, protect their credentials, and report anomalies promptly. Multi-factor authentication, password management, and secure communication tools should be standard practice.

Regulatory Pressures and Legal Liability:

The regulatory landscape is also evolving in response to the cyber threat. Laws such as the UK’s Data Protection Act 2018 and the EU’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) impose strict obligations on organisations to protect personal data.

Failure to do so can result in hefty fines and legal action.

Developers must know these regulations and ensure their code complies with data protection requirements. This includes implementing proper data encryption, access controls, and audit trails. Ignorance is no defence in the eyes of the law.

A Call to Action:

The rise of the cyber mafia is a clarion call for change. Relying on perimeter defences or reactive measures is no longer sufficient. Security must be proactive, pervasive, and deeply embedded in development.

Developers have the power and responsibility to lead this transformation. By embracing secure development practices, collaborating across disciplines, and continuously learning, they can help build a digital future that is not only innovative but also resilient.

The time to act is now. The cost of inaction is too great.

Conclusion:

The digital world is under siege, and the attackers are more organised, capable, and determined than ever before. But so, too, are the defenders.

Developers stand at the vanguard of this battle—not as passive participants but as active protectors of the systems we all rely on.

Security is not a feature. It is a foundation. And it begins with the people who write the code.

The SDK introduces a unified friends list, deep-linked invites, and cross-platform messaging, ensuring players stay connected whether inside or outside the game. For developers, this means higher engagement, better retention, and more organic game discovery.

Stan Vishnevskiy, Discord’s co-founder and CTO, said: “For game creators from indie to AAA, Discord is where you can connect with the world’s largest and most engaged community of players to fuel the growth of your game before, during, and after launch. Game discovery and retention have never been so critical, and we’re excited to help developers grow their games by reaching gamers where they are.”

Players can seamlessly invite friends into matches, sync in-game chats with Discord servers, and keep conversations alive across platforms, from PC to console to mobile.

For studios competing in an industry where a handful of franchises dominate playtime, Discord Social SDK provides a way to stand out. While thousands of games launch annually, many struggle for visibility. But Discord’s 200 million+ monthly active users, who collectively log 1.5 billion gaming hours each month, present a massive discovery pipeline for developers.

Several studios, including Theorycraft Games, Facepunch Studios, 1047 Games, Scopely, Mainframe Industries, Elodie Games, and Tencent Games, are already integrating the SDK.

Currently, Social SDK supports C++, Unreal Engine, and Unity, and works on Windows 11+ and macOS. Console and mobile support is coming soon.

With the competition for player attention growing fiercer, this SDK could be the edge developers need to build stickier, more connected gaming experiences—without forcing players into a new platform.

The investment will fuel LocalStack’s mission to revolutionize how developers build and test cloud applications by shifting control back to developers and eliminating the friction of cloud-based testing.

LocalStack’s platform enables developers to run a complete AWS environment on their laptops, dramatically accelerating development cycles and significantly reducing cloud costs. 

With over 8 million weekly sessions, 280 million Docker pulls, and over 900 paying customers, including SiriusXM and Chime, LocalStack has established itself as the de facto standard for local cloud development.

“The centralized nature of cloud computing has created unprecedented complexity and costs for developers, who spend countless hours waiting for cloud-based tests to complete,” said Gerta Sheganaku, co-founder and co-CEO of LocalStack. 

“Our platform fundamentally transforms the developer experience by enabling teams to test locally, cutting deployment times from 28 minutes to 24 seconds while significantly reducing AWS spend. We’re putting control back in developers’ hands, giving them the flexibility and speed they need to innovate,” adds Waldemar Hummer, co-founder and co-CEO of LocalStack.

The investment comes at a pivotal moment as organizations struggle with rising cloud costs, already more than $79B annually, and development inefficiencies. 

Unlike traditional solutions that require spinning up cloud resources for testing, LocalStack’s emulation platform creates an isolated sandbox environment that enables rapid iteration and collaboration. 

The platform currently supports over 100 AWS services, with near-perfect parity to actual cloud environments.

“LocalStack stands out for its rare combination of bottom-up developer love and clear enterprise value,” said Glenn Solomon, managing partner at Notable Capital. 

“With over 56,000 GitHub stars, 25,000 Slack users, and 500+ contributors, LocalStack has built a vibrant community alongside its rapidly growing enterprise customer base. While they’ve established themselves as the de facto standard for AWS local development, their recent preview release for Snowflake showcases their broader vision to revolutionize cloud development across all major platforms. We’re thrilled to partner with Gerta, Waldemar and the entire LocalStack team as they transform how developers build for the modern multi-cloud world.”

The funding will accelerate LocalStack’s go-to-market expansion in the U.S., and fuel continued product development, including new capabilities in chaos engineering and application resiliency testing. 

By reducing the complexity and risk of maintaining AWS development accounts while improving product velocity, LocalStack is making cloud development more enjoyable and efficient for developers worldwide.

In facilitating the creation of new products and solutions, as well as leveraging technological advancements, Meta seeks to drive economic growth.

The Meta Llama Impact Innovation Awards provide a platform for developers to contribute to cutting-edge research and development.

As a result, the broader community can benefit from the resulting innovations, which may have far-reaching implications for technology and business. 

The Meta Llama Impact Innovation Awards supports organizations across Africa, the Middle East, and Turkey that are leveraging Llama 2 or Llama 3 to drive social impact.  

With awards of up to $35,000, this program will identify and empower organizations that use Llama as a core element of their work to address challenges in the region.

The Awards is a global program and it’s open to all countries in Africa, the Middle East, and Turkey. Applicants are encouraged to demonstrate how their use of Llama 2 or Llama 3 addresses specific issues relevant to their primary location of operation:

• Education: Leverage Llama to improve learning outcomes, increase access to quality education, and enhance the teaching experience. Applications might include AI-powered tutoring, personalized learning platforms, and intelligent tools for teachers.
• Public services: Harness Llama to enhance transparency, accountability, and efficiency in government services. Applications might include but are not limited to solutions for citizen engagement, AI-driven data analysis, and virtual assistants for navigating government processes.
• Healthcare: Apply Llama to improve health outcomes, streamline clinical workflows, and enhance patient experiences. These might include AI-powered diagnostic tools, intelligent tools for healthcare workers, or personalized medicine platforms.
• Safety and Security: Employ Llama to develop innovative solutions that enhance public safety, prevent fraud, and protect vulnerable populations. For example, AI-powered fraud detection, chatbots for emergency response, and predictive analytics for crime prevention.

How to Apply

The application window for the Meta Llama Impact Innovation Awards is open from Monday, June 17, 2024, to Friday, July 26, 2024.

Organizations in eligible countries are encouraged to submit their applications. All proposals will be evaluated using a selection criteria that assesses:

• Demonstrated utility of Llama: Llama should be a fundamental component of the project or product, and its utility should be clearly defined. As a part of this evaluation, applicants are required to submit public references to their use of Llama (e.g., blog post, news article, or Github repository outlining how Llama is used for the project or product).  
• Applicability: The proposed solution measurably addresses the challenge outlined in their designated track.
• Impact: The proposed solution articulates a vision for how its solution impacts the broader problem space and provides social benefit. This might include how the solution works across geographies, addresses the needs of additional communities, or similar.
• Responsibility: Ideal winners will be able to demonstrate how they utilized the Responsible Use Guidelines in the development of their project or product. 

Winners will be notified by September 2024 while applicants-of-interest and runners-up may be notified by or beyond September 2024. If your organization has a submission for how to use Llama to address the relevant issue topic, 

Meta invites you to send in your applications before the application window closes and expect more program updates.

The universal API for meeting bots Recall.ai has announced a $10 million funding round to allow engineers to integrate with any meeting platform, including Zoom, Google Meet, Microsoft Teams, Slack Huddles, and even platforms with no API. 

This funding round, which brings the company’s total amount raised to over $12M, following a $2.7 million seed round in December 2022, comes hot on the heels of 10x growth over the past 12 months.

The Series A funding round was led by Ridge Ventures with participation from Industry Ventures, Y Combinator, IrregEx, Bungalow Capital, Hack VC, and other existing investors. This fund will be used to scale Recall.ai’s product and team.

It can take over one year for a team of specialist engineers to build the infrastructure and integrations required for even the most basic AI-powered meeting bots. After they’re built, companies face the bigger and more labour-intensive challenge of hosting and maintaining the infrastructure on hundreds of thousands of servers. 

In comparison, Recall.ai lets a single engineer get up and running with a meeting bot in a few days, even if they don’t have expertise in real-time video processing. This lets companies focus on building their core product while Recall.ai runs, monitors, and scales complex, real-time video infrastructure. 

“Recall has been a critical partner to us in rolling out Fellow.app’s new AI copilot functionality which has been a huge hit with customers,” explained Aydin Mirzaee, CEO of Fellow.app. “We love working with Recall because they are focused on the infrastructure so that we can focus on what we’re good at – solving meeting productivity for companies everywhere.”

Co-founders David Gu and Amanda Zhu launched Recall.ai as two important trends emerged: a worldwide shift to remote work, and advances in AI technology that simplified the processing of unstructured voice and video data. 

Gu and Zhu previously worked on a real-time transcription tool for video conferences, where the bulk of their engineering team’s effort was spent building and maintaining integrations with conferencing platforms. 

The duo realized companies building LLM tools to process data from virtual meetings today were running into the same integration and infrastructure hurdles they had already solved, and decided to start Recall.ai to enable the next generation of LLM-powered apps. 

Over the last 12 months, Recall.ai has grown 10x and today ingests millions of hours of video meeting data for more than 300 companies. Customers are currently using the platform to build powerful tools that leverage conversation intelligence for sales enablement discussions, productivity, customer success, financial advising, telehealth applications, and virtual depositions, among other use cases. 

Recently, Recall also partnered with Zoom to release an official Meeting Bot Starter Kit that generates a transcript, requests a meeting summary, and provides it to participants in near real-time. 

“Conversations are the world’s largest dataset,” said David Gu, co-founder at Recall.ai. “Large language models continue to unlock conversations in exciting ways, and the demand for developers to capture this data has never been higher. Every SaaS company in the world should be using conversations as a data source. Recall’s unified API makes it as easy as possible.”

“Recall is on its way to becoming the de facto infrastructural layer for all enterprise-level conversational data,” added Akriti Dokania, Partner at Ridge Ventures. “Video and voice data will only become more central to software companies moving forward. Providing infrastructure API access is a hard problem to solve and enterprises don’t want to solve it in-house—Recall’s tremendous growth proves it ten times over. Most importantly, David and Amanda are an ideal founding duo: technically gifted, tenacious, wise beyond their years, and always willing to learn and grow.”

With this new funding, the company is primed for the next phase of growth. In the same way that AWS provided common infrastructure that every company building a web application would need as they scale, Recall.ai is setting out to provide the common infrastructure for every company that needs to access and apply AI to conversations.