Sarah Perez

Consumer News Editor, TechCrunch

Sarah has worked as a reporter for TechCrunch since August 2011. She joined the company after having previously spent over three years at ReadWriteWeb. Prior to her work as a reporter, Sarah worked in I.T. across a number of industries, including banking, retail and software.

Sarah Perez

Latest from Sarah Perez

People participating on the open social web have a problem: it’s not yet possible to reach users on multiple sites like Bluesky, Mastodon, and Threads with a single post. While…

Croissant debuts a cross-posting app for Threads, Bluesky, and Mastodon

The idea here is to bring a subscription-based app in-house to serve as a testing ground for RevenueCat’s new features.

Subscription management platform RevenueCat acquires a ‘spicy’ audiobooks app (??!!)

Meta says it’s working to make it easier for mobile developers to make the shift to Meta’s Horizon OS.

Meta pitches VR to mobile developers with new support for Android apps on Quest

Meta announced that Meta AI will now be able to help you edit photos using AI technology as well as answer questions about the photos you share.

Meta AI can now understand and edit your photos

With the update, users will be able to use prompts to generate AI photos directly in their feed, Stories, and for their Facebook profile pictures.

Meta AI’s GenAI ‘Imagine’ features expand across Facebook, Instagram, and Messenger

A new project launching today aims to capitalize on the momentum seen within the fediverse, also known as the open social web, which describes interconnected social networking services powered by…

As the open social web grows, a new nonprofit looks to expand the ‘fediverse’

Founder mode? Pffft. Who needs that when you can be the father of creation, ushering in a new age of humanity? Welcome to “god mode.” Sam Altman, the CEO of…

Sam Altman catapults past founder mode into ‘god mode’ with latest AI post

According to Tumblr, in the days since the X ban in Brazil, the site saw 222.99% growth in communities and 349.55% growth in users.

After X’s ban in Brazil, Tumblr reports ~350% user growth

The company said it was inspired to create an alternative Photos app after seeing how frustrated iOS 18 early adopters were with Apple’s new design.

For $5, Photon Library brings back the feel of the old iOS Photos app

Amazon sellers now have access to an AI assistant designed to help grow their business by answering questions about their metrics, and later, helping to resolve issues that arise. The…

Amazon debuts Project Amelia, an AI assistant for sellers

The company is in various stages of developing and piloting a range of initiatives focused on dealing with bad actors, harassment, spam, fake accounts, video safety, and more.

Bluesky addresses trust and safety concerns around abuse, spam, and more

iOS 18 offers the most control over the look and feel of your iPhone’s user interface than any other version of Apple’s mobile operating system to date.

Three new ways to personalize your iPhone’s Home Screen in iOS 18

YouTube creators no longer have to rely solely on the recommendation algorithm, search results, or collabs to help them grow their audience. At the company’s Made On YouTube event on…

YouTube unveils ‘Hype,’ a new way for fans to help smaller creators grow their reach

Users will be able to download their data or migrate their account to another Mastodon instance, if they choose.

Mozilla exits the fediverse and will shutter its Mastodon server in December

After founding and selling the popular Mastodon client Mammoth, developer Shihab Mehboob is returning to compete with it with the launch of his new app, Saturn. Not to be confused…

Mammoth’s founder returns with new iOS app for Mastodon, Saturn

As TikTok heads to court on Monday to argue against a U.S. ban, parent company ByteDance’s newer social app, Lemon8, is once again surging to the top of the App…

As TikTok ban heads to court, ByteDance’s Lemon8 surges

Following the moves of other tech giants, Spotify announced on Friday it’s introducing in-app parental controls in the form of “managed accounts” for listeners under the age of 13. The…

Spotify begins piloting parent-managed accounts for kids on family plans

Cohost, a would-be X rival launched to the public in June 2022, is shutting down, the company announced via the social network’s staff account earlier this week. The service had…

Cohost, the X rival founded with an anti-Big Tech manifesto, is running out of money and will shut down

It’s a small advance, but one that speaks to Meta’s enginerring team paying attention to how the fediverse community is trying to educate Threads users about the possibilities.  

Threads makes it easier to evangelize the open social web with a new direct link feature

With native video support, Bluesky will be able to better compete with other X rivals, including Instagram Threads and the decentralized service Mastodon, among others.

Bluesky catches up to X with native support for video

Apple explains that these offers are designed to reach an app or game’s previous subscribers and encourage them to return.

Apple’s newly available ‘win-back’ offers let developers reach lapsed subscribers

Apple Intelligence, the iPhone maker’s new set of AI capabilities arriving in iOS 18, is laying the groundwork for a new way to use apps. Today, the dated App Store…

The real power of Apple Intelligence will show up in third-party apps

Apple’s relationship with Google as its search partner is taking a new turn with Apple’s introduction of visual search, or “Visual Intelligence,” as the iPhone maker dubbed it Monday during…

Apple partners with third parties, like Google, on iPhone 16’s visual search

While consumers won’t get the full impact of the Siri upgrade until Apple Intelligence launches, Apple promises it will upend the user experience

With Apple Intelligence, iPhone users will finally get a better Siri

Venture capitalist Tim Draper’s international pitch competition, “Meet the Drapers,” is partnering up with TikTok as it heads into its seventh season. Under the new tie-up, entrepreneurs will pitch their…

VC pitch show ‘Meet the Drapers’ partners with TikTok

Google said the feature could be used for more than just photo retrieval alone; users would also be able to ask questions to get helpful answers.

Google’s AI-powered Ask Photos feature begins US rollout

Also of note, YouTube is in the early stages of coming up with a solution to address the use of its content to train AI models.

YouTube is developing AI detection tools for music and faces, plus creator controls for AI training

Once linked, parents will be alerted to their teen’s channel activity, including the number of uploads, subscriptions and comments.

YouTube debuts new parental controls aimed at teens

As new users downloaded the app, Bluesky jumped to becoming the app to No. 1 in Brazil over the weekend, ahead of Meta’s X competitor, Instagram Threads.

Bluesky continues to soar, adding 2M more new users in a matter of days

Apple moved to terminate the Appstun developer account after multiple rejections of its app that Apple says violates its App Store guidelines.

Apple stands by decision to terminate account belonging to WWDC student winner