Spending on apps hits record high

After falling last year for the first time ever, spending on iOS and Android apps roared back in the first half of this year to set a new record. Consumers worldwide spent $67.5 billion on apps from January to June, up 5.3% from the same period last year, according to app tracking researcher data.ai.

Apple Store customers accounted for 65% of all app spending, with Android users on Google Play making up the rest of the spending. Productivity, business and news apps posted the largest growth, data.ai said.

TikTok was the most downloaded app, bringing in $2.1 billion in the first half, making it the first app to earn more than $2 billion in a six-month period.

Helping hand

Amazon will roll out its palm-recognition payment service to all 515 of its Whole Foods markets, including the six on Long Island, by the end of the year. Shoppers who enroll in the service can pay for groceries by hovering their palm over an Amazon One device. Whole Foods has been testing the devices in about 200 stores for the past few years.

Phony bank texts are No. 1 scam

Texts urging recipients to verify a large bank transaction were the No. 1 text messaging scam last year, according to the Federal Trade Commission. The texts contain links to a phony bank website where scammers try to steal personal information. The FTC said these bank fraud texts “have increased nearly twentyfold” since 2019, scamming consumers of hundreds of millions of dollars.

Canada pulls ads from Facebook, Instagram

The Canadian federal government is suspending advertising on Facebook and Instagram in response to parent company Meta’s plan to end news availability on its platforms in the country. It's the latest in the quarrel over a new Canadian law requiring digital platforms to negotiate commercial deals with local publishers for featuring news content. The ad boycott has been joined by several local governments, including Quebec and British Columbia. — BLOOMBERG NEWS