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Disney Plus

Our Verdict

A well-stocked, easy-to-navigate catalogue of new and original content that Disney fans are bound to enjoy

For

Huge, intuitive catalogue
4K, HDR10 and Dolby Atmos/Vision
Vast device support

Against

Poor 4K HDR discovery

Once upon a time, a man called Walt Disney founded Walt Disney Studios with his brother and became one of the best-known motion-picture animators in the world. Fast forward nearly 100 years, over 400 movies and more than 60 Academy Award wins and, thanks to the Disney Plus video streaming service, nearly every Disney title ever committed to celluloid is now available to stream in one place.

Disney Plus (Disney+) is a natural rival to the likes of Netflix, Amazon Prime Video and Apple TV+, available in loads of countries – US, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, the UK and several European countries. It offers a rich catalogue of films and TV shows from Disney and its subsidiaries – Lucasfilm, Marvel, Pixar and National Geographic, as well as a slate of new Disney+ Originals. As of more recently, Disney Plus subscribers in Europe, Canada, New Zealand and the UK also have access to Star, a channel that offers “grown up” content from ABC and 20th Century Fox back-catalogues, plus originals that already live on US service Hulu (which Disney has a majority stake in).

Many titles are presented in the best video and audio technologies available today – 4K, HDR10, Dolby Vision and Dolby Atmos (technologies also adopted by its rivals) – and Disney has really gone the distance where device support is concerned.

Less than a year after it launched, Disney has attracted around 95 million subscribers – not far off half of Netflix’s headcount at the time of writing. So should Disney Plus be part of your world or should you let it go? Heigh-ho, heigh-ho, it’s off to Disney’s service we go…

Disney Plus: price, films, shows and all the details
14 of the best Disney Plus movies and shows to watch right now

Price

Disney Plus launched in the States in November 2019, rolling out to other territories (including Europe and the UK) the following March. The monthly fee was £5.99 ($6.99, AU$8.99, €6.99), making it a very tempting proposition indeed.

But, partly in light of the arrival of Star in several markets, that price has now gone northwards. Since 23rd February 2021, the monthly cost of Disney Plus is £7.99 ($7.99, AU$11.99, €8.99). In the US, the Disney Plus, Hulu, and ESPN Plus bundle will also get a $1 increase to $13.99 per month. Subscribers who signed up to Disney Plus before that February date will pay the original monthly price up until August 2021, when it will change to the pricier one.

Note that an annual subscription works out cheaper – £79.90 ($70, AU$120, €89.90) – if you’re willing to pay that upfront sum.

Features

(Image credit: Disney)

Disney Plus’s catalogue comprises over 700 films and more than 400 TV series, from all-time classics to family favourites, including three of the four most profitable films ever made: Avatar, Avengers: Endgame and Star Wars: The Force Awakens.

One of the service’s biggest selling points is its slate of original shows, such as The Mandalorian, The World According To Jeff Goldblum, Clone Wars, The Imagineering Story and High School Musical: The Musical: The Series (yes, that is its real title). Disney seems willing to splash the cash, announcing it plans to spend $8bn to $9bn on Disney Plus content alone in fiscal 2024, by which it hopes to have attracted over 230 million subscribers.

That title-dropping expands to more than 30 films and 50 series from the Marvel universe, including Black Panther, Avengers: Endgame, Captain Marvel, Guardians Of The Galaxy and Marvel’s Agents Of S.H.I.E.L.D.

Disney Plus is the only place to see Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker, Captain Marvel and all future releases from both Lucasfilm and Marvel, and is the exclusive streaming hub for every Disney theatrical release from 2019 and beyond. And yes, the service also has over 600 episodes (30 seasons) of The Simpsons, too.

The catalogue features plenty of 4K HDR content (some originally mastered, some remastered), which isn’t surprising considering Disney has been in the Ultra HD Blu-ray game for three years. When we first reviewed the service upon launch, we counted just over 100 titles in 4K HDR – including Frozen, Star Wars: The Force Awakens, The Lion King (2019), Aladdin (2019), Toy Story 4, Moana and all five of Disney’s new Original movies. But thanks in part to the Star expansion, that figure has grown considerably.

In Europe, Canada, New Zealand and the UK, Star has matured the service offering, appealing more to adults and sensibly introducing parent controls (which means parents can set limits on access for specific profiles based on content age ratings and introduce PIN locks on profiles with access to mature content). Star arrived in February 2021 as a 270-film, 75-show proposition, including four originals and plans for future premieres. Highlights include – deep breath – Modern Family, The X-Files, Deadpool 2, The Grand Budapest Hotel, The Favourite, 24, Lost, Grey’s Anatomy, Desperate Housewives, Prison Break, Scrubs, The Killing, How I Met Your Mother and Buffy the Vampire Slayer.

(Image credit: Disney)

4K support isn’t limited to just new titles, either. Toy Story is in 4K HDR, as are the original Beauty And The Beast and The Lion King. Classics such as Alice In Wonderland, Pinocchio, Cinderella, The Jungle Book and Sleeping Beauty are presented in Full HD with 5.1 audio.

The fact you can download these titles in full 4K onto a compatible tablet or smartphone is arguably one of the best-value features of Disney+, considering the cost of individual 4K movies to rent or buy.

Downloads are unlimited, don’t expire, and can be downloaded on up to 10 devices. The same treatment isn’t so abundant with TV shows, with 4K HDR material limited to a handful of new Disney Originals series.

The service not only has plenty of content in 5.1 audio, it also supports Dolby Atmos, which was probably to be expected, given Disney’s commitment to the – the very first theatrical Atmos release was Disney’s Brave, after all.

Atmos content on Disney Plus spans over 100 titles – all movies, shorts and the odd Disney Original – including The Pirates Of The Caribbean franchise, The Mandalorian, WALL-E, Thor: Ragnarok, Star Wars: The Last Jedi, Guardians Of The Galaxy Vol 2, Big Hero 6 and the Captain Americas. Those same titles are also available in Dolby Vision HDR.

Amazon Prime Video vs Netflix – which is better?

Ease of use

(Image credit: Disney)

Disney Plus’s interface is similar to Netflix’s – and just as easy to use. It hasn’t tried to reinvent the wheel with its layout, and the result is a service most people will feel comfortable navigating.

A banner of featured content heads up the home page, with titles grouped into categories such as ‘Recommended for You’, ‘Originals’, ‘Musicals’ and ‘Mickey Mouse Through The Years’. There is also a ‘Nostalgic Movies’ tab for those who wish to revisit Bedknobs And Broomsticks, Pete’s Dragon and Herbie Goes Bananas.

Above these categories – sandwiched between the featured content banner and title categories – are five blocks for Disney, National Geographic, Marvel, Star Wars and Pixar (or six in those regions that also have Star). These allow subscribers to dive right into the offerings of each of those specific Disney-owned brands.

(Image credit: Disney)

Disney Plus’s ‘Collections’ group similar content together – for example, films within the Spiderman universe or films featuring princesses. In the ‘Winnie the Pooh Collection’ you’ll find everything from The New Adventures Of Winnie The Pooh TV series (1988-1991) to 2001’s The Tigger Movie and the recent Christopher Robin feature.

A pull-out sidebar lets you view only movies, only TV series or Disney Originals, search for specific content using the search bar, and access your watchlist (titles you’ve pinned for easy access at a later date). Up to seven profiles for each family member can be made on one account too.

A nice touch is that each user can pick a character for their profile, which can be made child-friendly with bolder icons, and a more colourful, less dense interface populated with more kids’ content.

We previewed a Netherlands version of Disney Plus (launched in November 2019) prior to the European launch, and noted how useful the ‘Ultra HD and HDR’ category was for finding and accessing such content. Sadly, that category appears to be missing in the UK version.

A search for ‘4K’ doesn’t bring up any results, so it appears impossible to see what is available in 4K without going into the description for each individual title.

Logos for 4K, HDR (HDR10 or Dolby Vision) and Dolby Atmos are neatly flagged within the synopsis, alongside those for age appropriateness, year of release, genre, season count and audio format. But you will only see these badges if your device supports the technology.

Disney Plus streaming service: everything you need to know

Performance

(Image credit: Disney)

Unsurprisingly, Disney Plus has launched with exhaustive hardware support.

The service works across web browsers; iOS (iOS 11.0 and later) and Android (OS 5.0 Lollipop and later) phones and tablets; Google Chromecast, including devices with Chromecast built-in, such as select Vizio Smart TVs; Apple TV (4th gen or later) and Apple TV 4K (running tvOS 11.0 and later) streamers; Xbox One and PlayStation 4 consoles; Samsung (2016 and later), LG (2016 and later) and Android-based Sony and Sharp TVs; a wide range of Roku streaming players; Android TV set-top boxes such as Nvidia Shield TV and Mi Box; all of Amazon’s Fire TV streamers, Fire TV Edition smart TVs, and Fire Tablets (Fire OS 5.0 and later); and Sky Q.

Disney Plus’s catalogue can be streamed from an iOS device over AirPlay to Apple TV (including the 3rd- and 4th-generation boxes) as well as any TV compatible with AirPlay 2.

A note on Sky Q support, though: while you might reasonably expect Sky Q to support 4K streaming on Disney Plus, as it does on Netflix, sadly the service’s 4K titles appear only playable in HD and 5.1 audio. We hope Sky rights this in the near future.

Up to four screens can stream simultaneously on one account, which is on a par with Netflix’s pricier Premium tier and better than Apple TV+’s and Amazon Prime Video’s three-screen limit.

Here’s how to watch Disney Plus on Sky Q

Disney reduced the service’s streaming bandwidth by “at least 25 per cent” in order to ease pressure on internet service providers during the current coronavirus pandemic. Disney said: “We have instituted measures to lower bandwidth utilization, and in some circumstances streaming content in HD and UHD formats, including Dolby Atmos audio, will be limited or unavailable.”

With this in mind, our final judgment of Disney Plus’ picture quality compared to that of its rivals, which have also committed to lowering bandwidth, will be better reached at a later date. But we’re happy to report, for those considering subscribing to the service straight away, that the material is perfectly watchable right now.

We find ourselves drawn to the technically wonderful The Lion King live-action remake (a 4K HDR10 title) and are met with appropriately lush landscapes, tangible textures of lion fur, baboon skin and bird feathers, and a clean, crisp picture.

In the much darker opening scene of The Mandalorian (a 4K, HDR10 title) that crispness reveals itself again, complete with punch to lights and shine off helmets. There is enough gleam and sharpness to do justice to the series’ high production values.

Even older titles that have been remastered in Full HD, such as Pete’s Dragon (1977) and The Aristocrats (1970) display a surprising amount of clarity, coherence and richness on our 55in Samsung QLED TV.

(Image credit: Disney)

Verdict

Despite the understandable restrictions around streaming quality, we are very impressed with the Disney Plus streaming service.

As you’d expect from one that’s already been up and running for several months in some countries, this is a polished and personal streaming service that fans of Disney’s output are bound to enjoy.

With its rich, appealing catalogue, vast picture and audio quality support, intuitive usability and reasonable subscription price, Disney Plus is hoping to establish itself as a serious rival to the likes of Netflix, Amazon Prime Video and Apple TV+.

It isn’t perfect, though – the UK service currently overlooks the importance of 4K HDR and Dolby Atmos content discovery – and it is restricted to Disney content, of course, meaning that, for many, it is likely to be a second subscription alongside a more general streaming service.

But with quality Disney Originals and plenty of theatrical releases, Disney Plus seems to have found its own particular niche and be living happily ever after in the competitive streaming world.

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Overcast overhauls its Apple Watch app

A new update to popular podcast player Overcast includes a major overhaul of its Apple Watch app. The Apple Watch support is notable at a time when third-party app development for the platform is not necessarily in a great spot, though the Watch itself continues to grow in popularity.

Overcast’s update reorganizes the app UI from top to bottom, adding some features that otherwise were only able to be accessed through the phone version. The main screen has large buttons for settings and syncing above a scrolling list of your shows and access to the “now playing” screen.

That screen now includes a button on the bottom right that takes you to more detailed info on the podcast and lets you adjust its playback speed, as well as giving you the ability to skip directly through chapters on podcasts that have them.

Release notes for the new iOS version of Overcast, which is dubbed 2021.1, note a couple of extra changes without going into details. Other than the new Watch app, Overcast now has “improved Siri support” and “tons of under-the-hood improvements and bug fixes.”

Overcast is available for the iPhone, iPad, Apple Watch, and now M1-powered Macs because of their support for running iOS apps. The app is free but ad-supported, with an optional $9.99 subscription that can remove the ads.

PUBG: New State is a futuristic new battle royale game for Android and iOS

The PUBG universe is expanding with a new mobile title for iOS and Android called PUBG: New State, which catapults the battle royale ahead in time for a more futuristic take on the massive multiplayer genre.

Set in 2051, PUBG: New State takes place years after the current PUBG games (which are set in approximately modern times) on a new map called Troi and promises to bring with it a slew of near-future weapons and vehicles, like drones and deployable combat shields. Based on the early images, it’s a similar vibe to fellow shooter Call of Duty’s semi-futuristic military tech from games like Black Ops 3 and 4.

The new game is also set to dive deeper into the lore of the overall PUBG universe, which is apparently a thing that surprisingly exists for a game whose most notable cultural signifier is the use of a cast-iron skillet as a weapon. What the time jump will mean for beloved PUBG characters like Lunchmeat, though, will have to wait for the game’s release.

New State also promises to shake up the formula for PUBG games, with in-game weapon customization options that will allow players to modify their weapons within a match in a way that sounds similar to Apex Legends’ weapon attachments.

New State marks the third battle royale game under the PUBG umbrella — although, unlike its mobile cousin PUBG Mobile, PUBG: New State will be developed by PUBG Studio, the company behind PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds, the PC and console version of the original game. (PUBG Mobile is actually a separate title developed by Chinese tech giant Tencent.) And despite the mobile nature of the title, PUBG Studio is making big promises of “ultra-realistic graphics that push the limits of mobile gaming.”

PUBG: New State will be available on Android and iOS later in 2021, with alpha tests also set for later this year.

Netflix won’t be adding support for Apple spatial audio any time soon

(Image credit: Netflix)

Sad news for those of us happily anticipating 12-hour binges through the latest Netflix craze in glorious surround-sound on our Apple headphones and iOS device: Netflix has confirmed it actually isn’t testing support for iOS 14’s new spatial audio functionality.

The news quashes claims made in a January report from iPhoneSoft, which suggested that the streaming giant had actually been testing spatial audio support on the iPhone and iPad since December, and that (citing an anonymous Netflix developer) we could even expect a rollout of support for spatial audio on Netflix by spring.

In a statement to MacRumors, a Netflix spokesperson said that the company is not currently testing spatial audio support, and it has no plans that it wants to share at this time. Instead, the streaming giant and Originals content creator said it was testing multi-channel support for built-in speakers, as part of its efforts to provide “new experiences” for its users and “improve” its offering.

Spatial audio is essentially Apple’s take on Dolby Atmos for Headphones, and Sony’s PS5 3D Audio. It is designed to deliver surround sound and 3D audio via your headphones – specifically your Apple AirPods Pro and AirPods Max. The feature arrived as part of iOS 14 in September 2020.

Netflix’s chief competition – Disney Plus, HBO Max and Apple TV+ to name but a few – will probably rest a little easier in light of this update. And if a recent job vacancy at Roku for a lead production attorney is anything to go on, competition is only getting stronger…

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The original voice of Siri makes an appearance in Persona 5 Strikers

If you’ve spent the day playing through Persona 5 Strikers and noticed the voice of the in-game digital assistant sounded familiar, it’s likely because it’s played by the original voice of Siri (via Kotaku). Susan Bennett originally provided the voice for Apple’s digital assistant, and now she’s playing EMMA, the in-game AI.

You can hear what she sounds like in the role in the video below, around the 9:44 mark.

If you ask your iPhone for directions to the nearest camping store, though, you may notice that its response doesn’t exactly sound like the game. That’s because, while Bennett was the original voice for Siri when it debuted with the iPhone 4S running iOS 5 (though technically Siri existed with Bennett’s voice before it was ever added to the iPhone), she was replaced with the launch of iOS 7.

Typeform has an interview with Bennett about how she became the voice of Siri, and it includes tons of voice recordings from her, which you can compare to her work in Strikers. You can also watch Apple’s ad that introduces Siri on the iPhone 4S to get a feel for what Siri sounded like back then in case its current iteration has overwritten those memories.

This is the kind of extra mile we love to see game developers go. “We need someone to play the voice assistant in the English version of the game. How about the person who played one of the first major voice assistants?” If you want to experience it for yourself, Persona 5 Strikers is out today on PlayStation, Steam, and Switch.

Anker’s MagSafe-compatible battery pack will stick to your iPhone on March 3rd

Anker has released a new MagSafe-compatible battery pack that can attach directly to your iPhone to offer charging without the need for a cable, 9to5Google reports. The Anker PowerCore Magnetic 5K Wireless Power Bank will launch on March 3rd for $39.99, beating Apple’s own rumored MagSafe battery product to market — with one big caveat.

The PowerCore Magnetic 5K Wireless Power Bank sports a 5,000mAh battery and Anker’s usual power bank design, including an LED indicator light to let you know how much power is left in the device. The device also features USB-C output for charging with a cable as well. An extra 5,000mAh is a meaningful boost, especially for the smaller iPhone 12 mini, but it’s limited by the device’s lack of MagSafe certification.

Anker’s new PowerCore Magnetic 5K Wireless Power Bank looks remarkably similar to its other PowerCore power banks.

Image: Anker

Certified devices, like Apple’s own chargers, can charge the iPhone at 15W, while the PowerCore is stuck with slower 5W charging. Its magnets may let it stick where other MagSafe accessories go, but the PowerCore can’t offer the usual MagSafe benefits.

Apple’s been rumored to be developing its own MagSafe battery accessory for iPhones, which would likely be capable of the faster 15W charging times. Apple’s device was initially referenced in the iOS 14.5 beta, but that reference has since been removed. Until that accessory is released (if it ever is), Anker’s new PowerCore seems like a solid option for more convenient wireless charging on the go.

The $39.99 PowerCore Magnetic 5K Wireless Power Bank was available for preorder on Amazon but has since gone out of stock. The Verge has reached out to Anker about restocks of the device ahead of its March 3rd launch and will update if we learn more.

Google Maps finally rolls out dark mode on Android

The Google Maps app is getting a true dark mode, at least on Android. The company announced today that it is finally widely releasing the dark theme option that it’s been testing in the app since September 2020.

The dark mode, which takes things much further than the previously available night mode color option, will be accessible in the app’s settings menu, under “theme.”

Google announced the dark mode rollout as part of a batch of new features coming to Android, including some updates to Android Auto. In addition to custom wallpapers, Android Auto is now going to feature games as well. Trivia Crack, Jeopardy!, Song Quiz, and Google’s own Are You Feeling Lucky? will be available. The games can be accessed through the assistant by saying “Hey Google, play a game.”

Android Auto is also getting a split-screen feature that will put Maps side by side with media controls, much like what Apple started doing in CarPlay in iOS 13 in 2019. (Though this feature will only be available in cars with wider displays.) Google is adding shortcuts to the Android Auto launch screen, too, which will allow for quick access to weather or setting your home thermostat.

The Android Auto features will be available “in the coming days” on phones running Android 6.0 and above in compatible cars. Google Maps dark mode will roll out “soon.”

Social networks are finally competitive again

Lately, the consumer internet — that set of products devoted to building and monetizing large networks of people — has started to feel rather buzzy. A space that had been largely emptied out over the past five years is once again humming with life. The products are compelling enough, and growing fast enough, that Facebook and others have begun trying to reverse-engineer and copy them.

It still doesn’t seem quite real to me, and yet everywhere I look the signs are there: social networks are competitive again.

Today, let’s tour this weird new landscape and talk about what it means — and doesn’t mean — for the tech giants and the governments trying to rein them in.

I. How competition ended

If I had to put a date on when competition ended among social networks in the United States, I’d choose August 2nd, 2016. That’s when Instagram introduced its copy of Snapchat stories, blunting the momentum of an upstart challenger and sending a chill through the startup ecosystem.

I don’t think copying features is necessarily anti-competitive — in fact, as I’ll argue below, it’s a sign that the ecosystem is working as intended — but the effect of Facebook’s copying here was dramatic. Snap fell into a long funk, and would-be entrepreneurs and investors got the message: Facebook will seek to acquire or copy any upstart social product, dramatically limiting its odds of breakout success. Investment shrunk accordingly.

The previous year, after the success of Twitter’s Periscope app, Facebook had cloned its live video features, and enthusiasm for both products seemed to broadly peter out. When live group video experienced momentary success under Houseparty, Facebook cloned that too, and Houseparty later sold to Epic Games for an undisclosed sum.

It was in this stagnant environment that many people, myself included, came to believe that it had been a mistake to let Facebook acquire Instagram and WhatsApp. The former became the breakout social network of a younger generation, and the latter cemented Facebook’s global dominance in communication. A world in which both had remained independent would have been much more competitive, even if neither had grown to the scale that they did under Facebook.

This is the basic thesis of the Federal Trade Commission’s antitrust lawsuit against the company, which it filed in December. The government argues that Facebook “is illegally maintaining its personal social networking monopoly through a years-long course of anticompetitive conduct,” and if successful, it could force Facebook to sell off Instagram and WhatsApp. It’s a tricky case; as Ben Thompson explains here, the government’s attempt to define the market in which Facebook competes so as to prove it has a monopoly is rather tortured.

You can think the FTC’s case against Facebook is weak and also believe that the period from 2016 to 2021 saw remarkably little innovation among American social networks, at least in terms of the basic user behaviors that they inspire. The market for social products became incredibly concentrated; Facebook and Google built a duopoly in digital advertising; and their vast size and unpredictable effects helped to trigger a global backlash against American tech giants.

If, like me, you think this is all a problem, you could argue for one of two basic approaches to fixing it. The first is government intervention, in the form of an antitrust lawsuit or new regulations from Congress, that would regulate the ability of tech giants to acquire smaller companies or put up new barriers to entering the market or competing on fair terms. The second is to do basically nothing, trusting that the entropic nature of the universe and the inexorable march of time would eventually restore competition.

If the second choice sounds ridiculous, it is not without precedent. In the late 1990s, Microsoft’s dominance over the PC market led the government to pursue an antitrust case over the company’s move to bundle its Internet Explorer browser with the Windows operating system. The fear was that such bundling would grant Microsoft total power over the consumer PC market forever. In reality, of course, mobile phones were out there just waiting to be perfected, and then Apple came along and did just that, and now no one really worries too much about Microsoft’s power over the PC market.

I do wish the US government had intervened around 2016 to explore new regulations for tech giants’ mergers and acquisitions. In its absence, we could only bet on entropy — and whichever contrarian capitalists still felt like they could challenge Facebook in the market despite its many advantages.

The thing is, though, that a bunch of contrarian capitalists did. And lately they have been having a lot of success.

II. How competition began

Facebook’s biggest competitor in 2021 is, of course, TikTok, which has been siphoning usage from Facebook’s family of apps since it launched in the United States in 2018 (after merging with Musical.ly).

TikTok began by making it dramatically easier for people to make compelling videos, parceled out fame and fortune with a central feed that is incredibly compelling even if you don’t know or follow a single person, and eventually created an entire universe of audio memes, visual effects, and community in-jokes.

Eugene Wei, our best writer and thinker on TikTok, published the third part of his essay series about the app Sunday night. Among the many salient points Wei makes is that the sheer number of forces that have gone into TikTok’s success have made it difficult for Facebook (or YouTube) to clone. He writes:

People will litigate Instagram copying Snapchat’s Stories feature until the end of time, but the fact is that format wasn’t ever going to be some defensible moat. Ephemerality is a clever new dimension on which to vary social media, but it’s easily copiable.

This is why TikTok’s network effects of creativity matter. To clone TikTok, you can’t just copy any single feature. It’s all of that, and not just the features, but how users deploy them and how the resultant videos interact with each other on the FYP feed. It’s replicating all the feedback loops that are built into TikTok’s ecosystem, all of which are interconnected. Maybe you can copy some of the atoms, but the magic lives at the molecular level.

The success of TikTok is a source of real anxiety inside Facebook, where employees ask CEO Mark Zuckerberg a question about it during nearly every all-hands Q&A session. The company has deployed a competitor, called Reels, inside of Instagram, and perhaps it will find a way to succeed. But the larger point is that, whatever the odds, Facebook now has to compete against TiKTok or risk losing the next generation.

You’ve probably already considered that, though. (Unless you’re the FTC, which conspicuously avoided any mention of TikTok in its entire complaint about Facebook’s alleged monopoly position.) But when it comes to mobile short-form video, Facebook and YouTube face a real challenge.

So where else does Facebook suddenly find itself forced to compete?

For starters, there’s audio. While still available only by invitation, Clubhouse recently hit an estimated 10 million downloads. Celebrities including Tiffany Haddish, Elon Musk, Joe Rogan, and Zuckerberg himself have made appearances on the app, granting it a cultural cachet rare in a social startup that is still less than a year old. Clubhouse raised money last month at a valuation of $1 billion — more than Facebook ultimately paid for Instagram.

Because it’s an audio app, Clubhouse doesn’t pose quite the existential threat that TikTok does: you can still theoretically browse Instagram or message businesses on WhatsApp while listening to a Clubhouse chat. But Facebook has been sufficiently intrigued by Clubhouse’s rapid rise that it is now working out how to clone the app, according to a report this month in The New York Times. Elsewhere, Twitter already has a Clubhouse clone, called Spaces, in beta. It’s not clear that Clubhouse poses a threat to either company, exactly. But both are still taking it as a challenge.

What else?

After years of making its most prominent investments in technically challenging media involving video, augmented reality, and virtual reality, Facebook is reportedly taking a second look at text. The rise of Substack over the past year has begun to mint a growing number of millionaire, text-based creators, while also pulling millions of people away from their social feeds into the relative calm of the email inbox. (I have a personal stake in this one, of course; I started a newsletter in large part because my social feeds had come to feel like a lousy place to get my news.)

What’s interesting here is that Facebook now seems open to this possibility, too. Last month, the Times also reported that Facebook is developing newsletter tools for reporters and writers. (I’ve confirmed this with my own sources.) As with Clubhouse, newsletters hardly pose an existential threat to Facebook. But they do bleed time and attention away from the company’s apps — and in a world where news may not be even available on Facebook in some countries, it may be wise for it to have a hedge. (And Twitter clearly thinks so, too: it acquired Substack competitor Revue last month.)

That leaves Facebook competing with legitimately fast-growing, well-funded competitors across several categories. And while it’s in a much earlier stage, I think the company may soon have an interesting competitor in photography as well.

Dispo is an invite-only social photo app with a twist: you can’t see any photos you take with the app until 24 hours after you take them. (The app sends you a push notification to open them every day at 9AM local time: among other things, a nice hack to boost daily usage.) Founded by David Dobrik, one of the world’s most popular YouTubers, Dispo has been around as a basic utility for a year. But last month a beta version launched on iOS with social features including shared photo “rolls,” and it quickly hit the 10,000-person cap on Apple’s TestFlight software. It raised $4 million in seed funding in October, and assuming the buzz continues into a public launch, I wouldn’t be surprised if Dispo took off in a major way.

Audio, video, photos, and text: to some extent, Facebook has never had to stop competing across these dimensions in the company’s history. But I can’t remember the last time it was fighting so many interesting battles at the same time.

III. What it means

Here’s what I’m not saying when I argue that social networks are competitive again:

That Facebook has not acted in various anti-competitive ways throughout its history.
That Facebook should no longer be subject to antitrust scrutiny, or that the US government (and, separately, a coalition of US attorneys general) should abandon their lawsuits.
That, given all this new competition, Facebook should be allowed to purchase rival social networks in the future.
That Facebook won’t remain the world’s largest social network for a long time to come, or that its business will suffer in the short term.

In fact, I think there’s a good case to be made that antitrust pressure from the US government in particular is what has allowed competition to return to social networks in the first place. Had Clubhouse or Substack emerged in 2013 or 2014, it’s not hard to imagine Facebook racing to acquire them and knock them off the chessboard. But in 2021, when Facebook faces a formal antitrust review in the United Kingdom over its acquisition of a failing GIF search engine, the company can only sit back and try to copy what others are doing better.

If that’s the case, it suggests that the half-assed response to Facebook’s growing dominance over the past half-decade nonetheless got us, however belatedly, to a better place. Antitrust pressure made it extremely difficult for the company to make acquisitions, opening a window just big enough for new entrants to climb through. It remains to be seen how big any new challengers to Facebook, YouTube, or Twitter can grow. But for the first time in a long time, I’m optimistic about their chances.

Fitbit Inspire 2 review: Still inspiring for fitness goals?

(Pocket-lint) – The Inspire 2 is the cheapest member of the Fitbit family – and effectively replaces the Inspire HR that launched in 2019 – aimed at those wanting to keep to the tracking basics.

The Inspire 2 sticks largely to the same formula as the Inspire HR, making welcome improvements to the design, bolstering battery life to make it last longer than any other Fitbit device, and giving you a tracking experience that just feels very easy to get to grips with.

With the likes of Samsung, Huawei, Amazfit and Xiaomi also making the budget tracker space a more competitive place, does the Fitbit Inspire 2 do enough to pull away from its more affordable rivals?

Design

Large and small wristband options
Water resistant to 50 metres (5ATM)
Finishes: Black, Lunar White, Desert Rose

With the Inspire 2, Fitbit isn’t trying to reinvent the wheel. Put one side-by-side with an Inspire HR and you’d be hard pressed to tell the difference between the two. The colour silicone bands can be removed and come in small and large size options.

Best Fitbit fitness tracker 2021: Which Fitbit is right for you?

By Britta O’Boyle
·
23 February 2021

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The greyscale touchscreen display – which has a slightly curvier edged look – is now 20 per cent brighter than the previous Inspire, which is definitely a positive move. There’s now a dim mode when you don’t need that extra hit of brightness, which can be disabled when you do. It certainly offers an improvement for visibility out in bright outdoor light, but it feels like it might be time to ditch the greyscale OLED screen and go colour like a lot its competitors have done – Xiaomi, Amazfit and Samsung each offer great colour display options for less money.

To give the Inspire 2 a much cleaner look than its predecessor, it’s also removed the physical button for a setup where you can squeeze the sides of the device to do things like turn on the display or get into the band’s settings. Overall, it works well and that button isn’t hugely missed.

Around the back is where you’ll find the PurePulse heart rate sensor, which means you have the ability to continuously monitor heart rate, exercise in personalised heart rate zones, and unlock new features like Active Zone Minutes.

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The big appeal of wearing the Inspire 2 is that it’s a slim, light and comfortable band to wear all the time. As it’s water resistant up to 50 metres, it’s safe to swim and shower with.

Features

24/7 tracking
Connected GPS
Guided breathing
20+ exercise modes
Additional health insights in Fitbit Premium

Fitness tracking is what Fitbit does best – so it’s no surprise that’s where the Inspire 2’s key features lie.

The sensors making that happen haven’t changed from the last Inspire models. There’s an accelerometer to track steps and enable automatic sleep monitoring. You also have that optical heart rate monitor, which unlocks a range of features and is still best suited to daily monitoring as opposed to putting it to work during exercise. You still don’t get an altimeter to track elevation like floor climbs, which you also get on the Fitbit’s flagship Charge 4.

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For daily tracking, you can monitor daily steps, distance covered, calories burned, and get reminders to keep moving during the day. Fitbit has also added additional reminders to wash your hands, get your heart pumping, or to stay hydrated.

When it’s time to go to bed, you’ll be able to capture the duration of sleep and get a breakdown of sleep stages. That includes the all-important REM sleep, which is a window into the type of sleep tied to memory and learning. You’ll also get a Sleep Score to give you a clear idea if you’ve had a good night’s sleep.

When you switch to exercise tracking, there are over 20 goal-based modes with core exercises like walking, running and pool swimming. There’s also Fitbit’s SmartTrack tech to automatically recognise when you start moving and working out.

There’s connected GPS support, which means you can lean on your phone’s GPS signal to more accurately track outdoor activities. That GPS support is also useful for the Workout Intensity Maps feature, which along with monitoring your heart rate can show you where you worked hardest during a session.

With that onboard heart rate monitor you’re getting to continuously monitor and capture resting heart rate – day and night. It’s also going to let you train in heart rate zones and generate a Cardio Fitness Score to give you a better sense of your current state of fitness based on your VO2 Max (blood oxygen). Fitbit is also introducing its new Active Zone Minutes feature, which will buzz you when you hit your personalised target heart rate zones. It’s a move to get users to think more about regularly raising heart rate as well as nailing those big daily step counts.

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For that time outside of getting sweaty, the Inspire 2 will perform some useful more smartwatch-like duties. There’s notification support for both Google Android and Apple iOS devices, letting you see native and third-party app notifications. There’s a dedicated notifications menu where you can find your latest incoming messages. In addition to notifications, there’s also a collection of different watch faces to choose from.

Beyond the basics, there’s also guided breathing exercises, menstrual health tracking, and app-based features like manually tracking your food intake. You also have access to Premium, Fitbit’s subscription service, which you’ll get a year to trial before deciding whether to continue at your own cost.

What is Fitbit Premium, what does it offer and how much does it cost?

Performance and battery life

Continuous heart rate monitoring
Up to 10 days battery life
Sleep tracking

Those core fitness tracking features is what the Inspire 2 does best. Step counts are largely in line with the fitness tracking features on a Garmin Fenix 6 Pro, also offering similar distance covered and calories data. While those inactivity alerts aren’t groundbreaking, it’s a small way to make sure you keep moving during the day.

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When you switch to sleep, the slim, light design of the Inspire 2 makes it a comfortable tracker to take to bed first and foremost. Fitbit offers some of the best sleep tracking features in the business. Compared to the Fitbit Sense and the Withings Sleep Analyzer, we were pretty satisfied with the kind of data Fitbit gave us.

For exercise tracking – as long as you’re not hoping to run for miles on a regular basis and up the intensity in general – the Inspire 2 should just about cut it. The heart rate monitor is better suited to continuous monitoring than it is for strenuous workout time based on our experience. For running, and cardio blasting HIIT sessions on the Fiit home workout app, average readings could be as much as 10bpm out (compared to a Garmin HRM Pro chest strap monitor).

The connected GPS support is also better suited to shorter runs, which brings useful features like those Workout Intensity Maps into the mix.

As for battery life, the Inspire 2 offers the best battery numbers Fitbit has ever offered. It’s promising up to 10 days, which is double that of the Inspire HR. It lives up to that claim, too, as long as you’re not going too bright with that screen and not tracking exercise every day with it. The good news is that things like all-day heart rate monitoring don’t seem to have a tremendous drain, which isn’t the case on all fitness trackers.

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When you do need to charge there’s one of Fitbit’s proprietary charging cables, which clips into the charging points on the back and the top and bottom of the rear case. That ensures it stays put and doesn’t budge when you stick the Inspire 2 onto charge.

Software

Fitbit’s companion app, which is available for Android, iOS and Windows 10 devices, remains one of its key strengths – and a strong reason you’d grab one of its trackers over cheaper alternatives.

It’s easy to use and if you want some added motivation to keep you on top of your goals, that’s available too. The main Today screen will give you a snapshot of your daily data and can be edited to show the data you actually care about.

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Discover is where you’ll find guided programmes, challenges, virtual adventures and workouts to accompany daily and nightly tracking. If you’ve signed up to Fitbit Premium, you’ll have a dedicated tab for that too. You still have all your device settings hidden away whether you need to adjust step goals, heart rate zones or how you keep closer tabs on your nutrition and weight management.

The Inspire 2 experience is similar to owning a Fitbit Versa 3, a Charge 4, or a Sense. Which is key: that consistent feeling across all devices makes it a good place if you know other Fitbit-owning people. You can delve deeper into data if you want to, but for most, what’s there when you first download it and login will be more than enough to get a sense of your progress.

Best Fitbit fitness tracker: Which Fitbit is right for you?

Verdict

The Fitbit Inspire 2 sticks to a known formula, covering tracking basics, while wrapping it up in a design that’s comfortable to wear all of the time.

The screen changes for this model are welcomed – extra brightness, yay – and if you care about steps, sleep and monitoring heart rate during the day and night, it will serve you well.

All that’s supported by an app that’s one of the most user-friendly if you’re starting to think about monitoring your health and fitness for the first time.

The level of smartwatch features are dictated by the slenderness of the device and while you can get more in the way of these features elsewhere for less money, what the Inspire 2 offers should be good enough for most. It’s still not quite the ready-made sportswatch replacement though.

Cheaper fitness trackers are now offering more features, arguably better displays and battery life. But if you’re looking for a fitness tracker that puts your health and tracking front and centre, then Fitbit is still one of the best.

Also consider

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Fitbit Inspire HR

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If you can live without that brighter display and some of the software extras, the Inspire HR will still offer a solid tracking experience for less cash.

Read our review

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Huawei Band 3 Pro

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Huawei’s fitness band offers one big feature you won’t find on the Inspire 2: built-in GPS. If you like the idea of a tracker a bit better built for sports, this is one worth looking at.

Read our review

Writing by Michael Sawh. Editing by Mike Lowe.

Google has finally added iOS’s privacy labels to Gmail

Google has finally added Apple App Store privacy labels to its Gmail app, almost a month after we ran an article wondering what was taking so long (via MacRumors). The app is the second major Google app to get the labels, after they were added to YouTube when it was updated earlier this month.

So how does it look? Well, that’s up for you to decide. The app apparently shares your coarse location and user ID with advertisers, as well as information about your interaction with advertisements. According to the privacy label, though, it doesn’t collect your name, physical address, or phone number (though as an email client, Gmail obviously collects your email address). Location data is also used for analytics and there are some features of the app that will request it as well. If you want to see the full label, there’s a video below that scrolls through.

For contrast, here’s the app privacy information for another email app, Hey.

The information Hey requests fits on one page.

Screenshot: The Verge

It is worth noting that Apple’s app privacy labels are meant to show all the things that the app might access, not what information that app will access. For example, an app may only use location data when it needs to show you a map, but the privacy labels don’t make that clear — it’s just a binary used/not used. Also, the information in the labels is submitted by the company itself, and Apple doesn’t make promises about its accuracy.

Strangely, Google added the labels without actually updating the Gmail app, even though it was literally crying out for an update (because of a fun bug). The last time Google updated the iOS app was two months ago.

So far, Google’s other large apps like Maps, Photos, Docs, and Chrome haven’t gotten the labels yet. But the fact that both YouTube and Gmail have had them added indicates that Google is starting to roll them out to its bigger apps.

Netflix’s latest feature automatically downloads shows based on what you like

Netflix is adding a new mobile feature that will automatically download show recommendations and movies based on viewer history. Downloads For You launches globally today for Android users, the company announced.

You’ll need to opt in to use the feature. Once toggled on from the downloads tab, you’ll need to set how much space — 1GB, 3GB, or 5GB — you’ll want to use. More space equals more Netflix recommendations downloaded. TechCrunch reports that although Netflix’s full catalog is available with the feature, some downloads will be limited because of licensing restrictions.

The platform continues to improve its offline watching options; Netflix launched Smart Downloads on Android in 2018, which automatically deletes downloaded episodes after they’ve been watched. Although Downloads For You is currently only available on Android, an iOS version will begin testing soon.

Spotify HiFi tier (finally) launching to offer CD-quality streaming

(Image credit: Spotify)

Spotify HiFi is official. Almost four years after it was first teased, a CD-quality tier is finally coming to the world’s most popular streaming service, the green giant has revealed during its ‘Stream On’ online event today.

Spotify will join the likes of Tidal, Qobuz, Deezer and Amazon in offering lossless streaming “beginning later this year”. Spotify HiFi will begin rolling out in select markets later this year, with the company promising to share more details – such as price, device compatibility and specific launch dates – soon.

CD-quality streams will be compatible with Spotify Connect, allowing Spotify HiFi subscribers to easily play such high-quality streams between their phone (via the iOS and Android apps presumably) or, fingers crossed, their computer (via the desktop app or web player) and the mass of Spotify Connect-enabled speakers and devices on the market.

“We’re working with some of the world’s biggest speaker manufacturers to make Spotify HiFi accessible to as many fans as possible through Spotify Connect,” reads Spotify’s statement.

According to Spotify, “high quality music streaming” has consistently been one of users’ most requested new features. Last summer, we speculated as to whether it was still part of the service’s roadmap and questioned if, with so many services already offering higher quality streaming, it would still be as welcome.

We concluded that “we’d love Spotify, the world’s biggest music streaming service, to champion high-quality music. However, thanks to a trio of fine alternatives, including Amazon flying the hi-res flag for mass-market streaming… we can’t say we need it”. Now that it’s (almost) here, we can’t help but feel that the service will be more or less complete, having filled that gaping hole. That said, Spotify hasn’t said anything about ‘hi-res’ streams (generally defined as anything above CD-quality), which are also offered by many of its rivals, such as Tidal and Amazon Music HD.

Price will, of course, come into play – and we wonder how close Spotify will come to Amazon Music HD (£12.99, $12.99 for Prime members; £14.99, $14.99 for non-Prime members). If Spotify can match or even undercut that monthly fee, the future landscape of music streaming will be very interesting indeed.

MORE:

Where is Spotify Hi-Fi? And do we still want a lossless Spotify tier?

How Spotify saved the music industry but left some genres behind

33 Spotify tips, tricks and features

Clubhouse promises fix after audio insecurely streamed from third-party website

Clubhouse has confirmed one of its users was able to siphon off audio feeds from the invitation-only app and make them accessible from a third-party website, raising security concerns about the fledgling service. A Clubhouse spokesperson told Bloomberg that “multiple rooms” were affected, and that the user behind the breach had been “permanently banned.” It said “safeguards” have been put in place to prevent a repeat, though it reportedly declined to provide specific details.

The incident is a reminder for Clubhouse users to be careful about sharing sensitive information in conversations held via the invite-only iOS app. This is especially important for any Chinese citizens or dissidents using the app, or any users concerned about state surveillance. Although Clubhouse is blocked in China, users are reportedly still able to access the service via VPNs.

This latest security incident comes a week after Clubhouse was criticized for vulnerabilities in its infrastructure. A report from the Stanford Internet Observatory found that users’ unique Clubhouse ID numbers and chatroom IDs were transmitted in plaintext, which could theoretically allow an outside observer to work out who’s talking to who on the app. Clubhouse also uses Shanghai-based Agora Inc, for its back-end infrastructure. As a Chinese company, Agora has a legal obligation to assist Chinese authorities in locating the source of audio if it’s deemed to pose a national security risk, the SIO said.

In response to last week’s report, Clubhouse said it plans to add additional encryption and blocks to prevent the service from pinging servers based in China, and that it would be hiring an external security firm to review the updates. Agora told the SIO that it only stores user audio or metadata when required for billing and network monitoring purposes. In a statement to The Verge, Agora said it “does not have access to, share, or store personally identifiable end-user data,” and that it does not route “voice or video traffic from non-China based users” through China.

Best Samsung Galaxy Watch: Galaxy Watch 3 vs Active 2 vs Galaxy Watch

(Pocket-lint) – Samsung announced the next generation of its Galaxy Watch in the form of the Galaxy Watch 3 in August 2020.

The smartwatch sits alongside the sleeker, bezel-free Samsung Galaxy Active 2 and replaces the original Galaxy Watch from 2018, but how does it compare?

Here is how the Galaxy Watch 3 compares to the Active 2 and original Galaxy Watch.

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Design

Galaxy Watch: 46 x 49 x 13mm / 41.9 x 45.7 x 12.7 mm
Galaxy Watch Active 2: 44 x 44 x 10.9mm / 40 x 40 x 10.9mm
Galaxy Watch 3: 45 x 46.2 x 11.1mm / 41 x 42.5 x 11.3mm

The Samsung Galaxy Watch 3 and the Galaxy Watch adopt a similar design to each other, with a rotating bezel sitting on the top of the display and two function buttons on the right, though the Galaxy Watch 3 is a little more refined and the bezel has been improved.

The Galaxy Watch Active 2 meanwhile, has a sleeker finish than both with a touch bezel around the face instead of the rotating bezel and two more streamlined function buttons on the right.

The Galaxy Watch comes in 46mm and 42mm size options and all models have a reasonably chunky, textured silicone strap.

The Galaxy Watch Active 2 comes in 42mm and 40mm size options and there are a couple of strap options, inlcuding leather, as well as a couple of different models, such as an Under Armour edition and a Golf edition.

The Galaxy Watch 3 comes in a three different finishes – Mystic Black, Mystic Silver and Mystic Bronze, and there is also a titanium option. Sizes are 45mm and 41mm and there are a number of strap options available, including a link bracelet.

All Galaxy Watches are IP68 water and dust resistant, MIL-STD-810G compliant and waterproof up to 5ATM.

Best smartwatch 2020

Display

Galaxy Watch: 1.3-inch/1.2-inch, 360 x 360 pixels, AMOLED
Galaxy Watch Active 2: 1.4-inch/1.2-inch, 360 x 360 pixels, AMOLED
Galaxy Watch 3: 1.4-inch/1.2-inch, 360 x 360 pixels, AMOLED

All three Samsung Galaxy Watch models being compared here have Super AMOLED round screens protected by Corning Gorilla Glass DX and they all have 360 x 360 pixel resolutions.

The 46mm original Samsung Galaxy Watch has a 1.3-inch display, while the 42mm model has a 1.2-inch display.

The 42mm Galaxy Watch Active 2 has a 1.4-inch display, while the 40mm model has a 1.2-inch display.

The 45mm Samsung Galaxy Watch 3 comes with a 1.4-inch display, while the 41mm model has a 1.2-inch display.

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Hardware and specs

Galaxy Watch: Exynos 9110, 768MB/1.5GB RAM, 4GB storage
Galaxy Watch Active 2: Exynos 9110, 768MB/1.5GB RAM, 4GB storage
Galaxy Watch 3: Exynos 9110, 1GB RAM, 8GB storage

All Samsung Galaxy Watch models being compared here run on the Exynos 9110 dual core processor.

The original Galaxy Watch and Galaxy Watch Active 2 are both available in LTE and Bluetooth models with the LTE models offering 1.5GB of RAM and 4GB of storage and the Bluetooth models offering 768MB of RAM and 4GB of storage.

The Samsung Galaxy Watch 3 comes in LTE and Bluetooth models. There is 1GB of RAM and 8GB of storage.

Battery

Galaxy Watch: 46mm – 472mAh / 42mm – 270mAh
Galaxy Watch Active 2: 42mm – 340mAh / 40mm – 247mAh
Galaxy Watch 3: 45mm – 340mAh / 41mm – 247mAh

The larger model of the original Samsung Galaxy Watch has a 472mAh battery and the smaller model has a 270mAh battery.

The larger model of the Samsung Galaxy Watch Active 2 has a 340mAh battery, while the smaller model has a 247mAh battery, which is the same as the respective larger and smaller models of the Galaxy Watch 3.

Features

Galaxy Watch: Heart rate monitoring, sports tracking, smartphone notifications, Tizen OS
Galaxy Watch Active 2: HR, sports tracking, smartphone notifications, running coach, stress feature
Galaxy Watch 3: Sleep tracking with REM stages, fall detection, 39 sports modes, ECG, blood pressure, blood oxygen

All Samsung Galaxy Watches being compared here are compatible with Android and iOS devices and run Tizen OS.

They also have heart rate monitoring, smartphone notifications and sports tracking, as you would expect. The Galaxy Watch Active 2 has a running coach too, as well as a stress feature.

The Galaxy Watch 3 has the most features, with the ability to take an ECG as well as your blood pressure and your blood oxygen level, fall detection, run analysis and 39 sports modes.

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Conclusion

The Samsung Galaxy Watch 3 offers a very similar design to the original Galaxy Watch but with a few welcomed refinements and several extra features, including ECG, blood pressure, blood oxygen fall detection and more sports modes.

The Galaxy Active 2 meanwhile, continues to be a smaller, more stylish smartwatch offering, whilst also offering a number of extra features over the original Galaxy Watch but not quite as many as the Galaxy Watch 3.

You can read our Galaxy Watch Active 2 review and our Galaxy Watch 3 review to see what we thought of the devices.

Writing by Britta O’Boyle.

Apple lawyers are fighting for Steam sales data on hundreds of games

Apple subpoenaed Valve in November as part of its ongoing litigation with Fortnite developer Epic Games, and it’s demanding that Valve provide extensive sales data for more than 400 games, according to a new filing (via PC Gamer).

The move comes amid Apple’s ongoing fight over Epic’s efforts to avoid paying iOS App Store fees. Apple argues that Valve’s data is necessary to calculate the size of the market of Epic’s “available distribution channels,” as Epic could theoretically offer its games through Steam in addition to other digital marketplaces. But the data is also immensely valuable in assessing the marketplace for games and apps — a space in which Apple’s iOS App Store continues to compete with Valve’s Steam marketplace.

Valve contends that Apple’s demands are extraordinary and is contesting the order.

In one request, Apple calls on Valve to procure documents that show the company’s:

(a) total yearly sales of apps and in-app products; (b) annual advertising revenues from Steam; (c) annual sales of external products attributable to Steam; (d) annual revenues from Steam; and (e) annual earnings (whether gross or net) from Steam.

Apple argues that this data is “crucial” to help it determine “the total size of the market for Epic’s available digital distribution channels.” The courts have already asked Samsung to provide “almost identical” information, Apple said in the filing.

In addition, Apple also demands that Valve procure documents that show:

(a) the name of each App on Steam; (b) the date range when the App was available on Steam; and (c) the price of the App and any in-app product available on Steam

Valve argues that the requests are overly broad. According to Valve’s position statement in the filing, “Apple gave Valve a list of 436 video games it says are available on the Epic Game Store and Steam, and (a) demanded Valve identify, from 2015 to the present, every version and all digital content or items for each of these games on Steam, then (b) provide exhaustive information about all of them.”

The requested information includes dates on sale, price changes, gross revenues for “game version and item, broken down individually,” and Valve’s revenues “related to these versions, content and items.”

Valve argues these demands would “impose an extraordinary burden on Valve to query, process and combine a massive amount of to create the documents Apple seeks” and that it does not keep this data as part of the “ordinary course of business.” (The filing also notes that Apple had reduced its request for data from “all 30,000+ games on Steam over ten years” to “436 games over six years.”)

Valve also argues that “much of what Apple seeks is sales and pricing information for third party games,” but that the company is taking a “shortcut” by subpoenaing Valve instead of getting the information directly from third-party developers.

On Wednesday, Epic filed a formal antitrust complaint against Apple with the European Commission, arguing that Apple has “not just harmed but completely eliminated competition in app distribution and payment processes.”