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

Spotify’s AI DJ, which first launched last year, is meant to serve as a smart audio guide that introduces music using a convincingly realistic voice.

Spotify adds a Spanish-speaking AI DJ, ‘Livi’

Apple’s changes may affect apps that today have an estimated $393 million in revenue and have been downloaded roughly 58 million times over the past year.

iOS 18 could ‘sherlock’ $400M in app revenue

These messaging features, announced at WWDC 2024, will have a significant impact on how people communicate every day.

At last, Apple’s Messages app will support RCS and scheduling texts

The tests indicate there are loopholes in TikTok’s ability to apply its parental controls and policies effectively in a situation where the teen user originally lied about their age, as…

Some teens under 18 may have have access to TikTok Shop, despite adults-only policy

The AI chatbot has been trained on Amazon’s product catalog, customer reviews, community Q&As, and other public information found around the web.

Amazon AI chatbot Rufus is now live for all US customers

Elon Musk’s X, formerly Twitter, is continuing to develop a downvoting feature that will be used to improve how replies are ranked. Although the company has not yet officially announced…

X is building a ‘dislike’ button for downvoting replies

Retro CEO Nathan Sharp isn’t worrying just yet about Google’s plan to copy his app’s experience, despite the numerous similarities.

Photo-sharing startup Retro spots Google Photos copying its idea and design

The new YouTube features include those that will automatically transform longer videos into Shorts, among others.

YouTube tempts creators with a half dozen new features for Shorts

Dark patterns refer to a range of design techniques that can subtly encourage users to take some sort of action or put their privacy at risk.

FTC study finds ‘dark patterns’ used by a majority of subscription apps and websites

The question now is whether Spotify will add something similar for music artists in the future.

Spotify is no longer just a streaming app, it’s a social network

Ahead of these potential competitors comes Openvibe, a simple aggregator for the open social web.

Openvibe combines Mastodon, Bluesky and Nostr into one social app

Design and animation are core to the Duolingo experience, which makes learning a new language or skill more like a game rather than a task to be dreaded.

Duolingo acquires Detroit-based design studio Hobbes

The feature puts Spotify in more direct competition with YouTube as a place where creators can interact with their listeners.

Chasing YouTube, Spotify adds comments to podcasts

Over the past few days, Ghost says it has achieved two major milestones in its move to become a federated service.

Substack rival Ghost federates its first newsletter

Pestle addresses the common problem of finding recipes on the web.

Pestle’s app can now save recipes from Reels using on-device AI

After multiple rejections, Apple has approved Fortnite maker Epic Games’ third-party app marketplace for launch in the EU. As now permitted by the EU’s Digital Markets Act (DMA), Epic announced…

Apple approves Epic Games’ marketplace app after initial rejections

Elon Musk’s X is exploring more ways to integrate xAI’s Grok into the social networking app. According to a series of recent discoveries, X is developing new features like the…

X plans to more deeply integrate Grok’s AI, app researcher finds

Noplace had already gone viral ahead of its public launch because of its feature that allows users to express themselves by customizing the colors of their profile.

noplace, a mashup of Twitter and Myspace for Gen Z, hits No. 1 on the App Store

The new bylines go beyond the typical @username references that often accompany link posts from news publications and those pointing to other written content, like a WordPress blog or Substack

Twitter/X alternative Mastodon appeals to journalists with new ‘byline’ feature

code references found in the X iOS app indicate that the company could be considering adding downvotes for replies only to improve how they’re ranked.

X weighs adding a downvote button to replies — but it doesn’t want to emulate Reddit

The Make Design feature is available within Figma’s software and will generate UI (user interface) layouts and components from text prompts.

Figma disables its AI design feature that appeared to be ripping off Apple’s Weather app

Music, podcasts, audiobooks…emergency alerts? Spotify’s latest test has the streaming app venturing into new territory with a test of an emergency alerts system in its home market of Sweden. According…

Spotify tests emergency alerts in Sweden

Simply submitting the request for a takedown doesn’t necessarily mean the content will be removed, however.

YouTube now lets you request removal of AI-generated content that simulates your face or voice

Investment app Robinhood is adding more AI features for investors with its acquisition of AI-powered research platform Pluto Capital, Inc. Announced on Monday, the company says that Pluto will allow…

Robinhood snaps up Pluto to add AI tools to its investing app

As Google described during the I/O session, the new on-device surface would organize what’s most relevant to users, inviting them to jump back into their apps.

Android’s upcoming ‘Collections’ feature will drive users back to their apps

There were definite differences between how the two platforms managed last night, with some saying X felt more alive, and others asserting that Threads proved that X is no longer…

Who won the presidential debate: X or Threads?

In the conversation, Zuckerberg said there needs to be a lot of different AIs that get created to reflect people’s different interests.

Zuckerberg disses closed-source AI competitors as trying to ‘create God’

Meta has fixed the bug that caused people to believe the company had adjusted their selections in a political content settings tool without their consent. The issue had impacted users…

Just in time for the debates, Meta fixes bug impacting users’ political content settings on Instagram and Threads

A travel hack that went viral on TikTok teaches users how to save money on hotels and Airbnbs by booking directly with the properties themselves. Now, a new startup, Directo,…

Directo turns a TikTok travel hack into a deal-finding Chrome extension

Like Instagram, Whee also supports the use of photo filters and includes messaging. However, the company’s plans for Whee aren’t clear.

TikTok’s Instagram rival, Whee, has no traction