iWorld
MX Player is the #1 Breakout Video Streaming App of 2019 in India, as per the State of Mobile 2020 report by App Annie
MX Player is the #1 Breakout Video Streaming App of 2019 in India, ahead of Hotstar, Netflix, Amazon Prime and JioTV, according to the State of Mobile 2020 report by App Annie. The platform has dominated the market in terms of time spent on Android phones among Entertainment or Video Players & Editors, records the research firm.
According to the report, globally, consumers spent 50% more sessions in Entertainment apps in 2019 as compared to 2017 with India seeing a staggering 80% increase in the amount of time consumers spent on Entertainment apps.
MX Player’s focus on 360 degree entertainment has driven the platform to the pinnacle of India's over-the-top (OTT) video entertainment segment.
On the success, Karan Bedi, CEO, MX Player, said, “We are very excited to have come this far in such a short time. This has been on the back of great content like Queen and Hello Mini as well as a great product.
Our aim has always been to emerge as the preferred destination for all things entertainment; along with offering premium video content, we were the only app to introduce music streaming as well. We’re now adding other avenues of entertainment to the platform – the beta launch of our gaming feature has received tremendous response and given how gaming has become mainstream in India in the last two years, it was a natural fit for our audience. Here on, our plans include expanding our footprint in international markets as well.”
Additionally, the report says, competition in the video streaming space will bolster better user experiences as well as better and much more diverse content to drive growth in downloads, usage and revenue.
Currently, MX Player has 280 million MAUs globally and 175 million MAUs in India.
iWorld
WhatsApp may soon let users to pick who sees their status updates
The messaging giant is borrowing a page from Instagram’s playbook as it pushes to give users finer control over their social circles.
CALIFORNIA: WhatsApp is quietly working on a feature that could make its Status function considerably smarter and considerably more private.
According to reports from beta tracking platforms, the app is testing a tool called Status lists, which would allow users to create named groups such as close friends, family and colleagues, and control precisely which group sees each update. It is a meaningful step up from the platform’s current blunt instruments, which offer only three options: share with all contacts, exclude specific people, or manually select individuals each time.
The new feature draws an obvious comparison with Instagram’s Close Friends function, and the resemblance is unlikely to be accidental. Both platforms sit within Meta’s family, and the company has been nudging them toward a common logic of audience segmentation for some time.
The move also fits neatly into WhatsApp’s broader privacy push. The platform has been rolling out enhanced chat protections and is exploring the introduction of usernames, which would allow users to connect without exchanging phone numbers. Status lists extend that philosophy from messaging into broadcasting.
Meanwhile, Status itself has been evolving well beyond its origins as a simple photo-and-text slideshow. The feature now supports music stickers, collages, longer videos and interactive elements, pushing it closer to the social-media-style story format pioneered by Snapchat and refined by Instagram. In that context, finer audience controls are not merely a privacy feature. They are a precondition for people sharing more.
The feature remains in development and has not been confirmed for release. WhatsApp routinely tests tools that are later modified or quietly shelved. But the direction of travel is clear: the app wants Status to be a destination, not an afterthought. Letting users decide exactly who is in the audience is how it gets there.
