Best Indie Games for PlayStation 4

If you are on the lookout for some great independent games for your PS4 then check these out.

There’s no denying that the PlayStation 4 has made a comfortable home for blockbuster games and their developers. Every year there is a seemingly endless stream of huge titles. But what about the little guys? Independent developers are just as capable of creating amazing and engaging games as the big guys. Here are just a few of the very best independent titles that PS4 has to offer.

• What Remains of Edith Finch
• Undertale
• Hellblade: Senua’s Sacrifice
• The Witness
• SOMA
• INSIDE
• Firewatch
• Rime
• Stardew Valley
• Celeste

What Remains of Edith Finch

If you’re looking for a fantastic storytelling experience bolstered by gorgeous visuals then developer Giant Sparrow has you covered. What Remains of Edith Finch may not be for every gamer but if you are enticed at the idea of having your heartstrings tugged and you enjoy a meditative gaming experience then it’s certainly worth your time and money.

See at PlayStation

Undertale

If you spent any amount of time on social media in 2015, you’ve likely heard of Undertale. The surprise smash hit found a lot success for seemingly being such a simple game on the surface. The charm of its characters and unique world captured the hearts of players as you’re thrown into an underground world of monsters. This RPG has branching narratives depending on what level of blood lust you have simmering below the surface. Want to complete it without hurting anyone? There’s a pacifist run for that. Want to slaughter everything in your wake? The Genocide run is the one for you. But just remember, your actions have consequences.

See at PlayStation

Hellblade: Senua’s Sacrifice

You know that argument that you always get into? The one where you try to explain to someone that video games are just as valid and valuable an art form as film is. There’s always that one person who hasn’t played a video game since Frogger and they continue to insist that games are just kid stuff. Well, show them Hellblade: Senua’s Sacrifice. Ninja Theory developed one heck of a game and there is a reason that it garnered a veritable boatload of nominations at the 2017 Game Awards.

See at Amazon

The Witness

After the success of Braid, Jonathon Blow went on to develop The Witness, an outstanding puzzle game that will make you feel smart for completing the simplest of tasks. Set on an island, you’ll explore several distinct regions and solve over 500 puzzles. If you really want a game to test your intellect rather than your reflexes, you can’t do much better than The Witness.

See at PlayStation

SOMA

The developers behind Amnesia may specialize in survival horror, but the studio showed its versatility with SOMA. Yes, it’s still a survival horror, but it focuses heavily on a narrative that explores themes like artificial intelligence and consciousness. What it means to be alive. In the underwater facility of Pathos-II, you’ll uncover dark secrets about yourself and its inhabitants. Aren’t into survival horrors? Well you can take the “survivor” out of the equation by playing it in its Safe Mode. Be warned, it’s still plenty scary.

See at PlayStation

INSIDE

If you thought Playdead created an immaculate puzzle-platformer in Limbo, you’ll be amazed at what they pulled off in INSIDE. One of the most polished games to ever release, INSIDE’s puzzles are as diabolical as they are clever. And for a game without any dialogue, you’ll be treated to such a thought-provoking story that people still discuss it to this day.

See at PlayStation

Firewatch

Don’t overlook Firewatch just because some people refer to it as a “walking simulator.” Set in Shoshone National Forest after the Yellowstone fires of 1988, your character begins to witness strange events happening during his time as a fire lookout. While exploring the beautiful environment (which was designed with the help of artist Olly Moss), you’ll form a strong bond with a woman named Delilah as you attempt to solve the mysteries around you.

See at PlayStation

Rime

Stunning and gorgeous are completely apt adjectives to use when discussing Rime. Developed by Tequilla works, it’s a third person puzzle adventure game wherein you control a boy who has been stranded on a deserted island. Imagine the spirit of games like Ico and Myst and you will have a decent idea of what’s in store for you. If you like just a tinge of sadness with your visually masterful games, then you should certainly give Rime a second look. You can experience it yourself for $30.

See at PlayStation

Stardew Valley

If you were a fan of the Harvest Moon games and you haven’t played Stardew Valley, then drop everything and buy this game right away. Developed with palpable care by a single person, Stardew Valley is certainly a perfect spiritual successor to the Harvest Moon games. One would think that a farming sim shouldn’t be this much fun but it most decidedly is. If you’re looking for an insanely fun and charming time sink, then Stardew Valley is a no-brainer. You can pick it up on Amazon for $15.

See at Amazon

Celeste

Celeste came to the PlayStation 4 in the very beginning of 2018 and boy is it ever good. It will take a place amongst similarly difficult titles as Meatboy and Hotline Miami. However, it also just so happens to be beautiful and thoughtful as well. If you’re looking to make a list of the best platforming experiences of the past decade, then you should certainly put Celeste in the running. It’s hard to believe that a game this good is only $20 dollars, but it is. And it’s well worth your money and time.

See at PlayStation

One of the truly great things about the PlayStation 4 is the sheer volume of top-tier independent titles. What are some of your favorites?

Why are we talking about PlayStation 4 games on Android Central? Let us explain.

Update, August 2018: We’ve updated this article to include more great indie titles for your PS4 like Undertale, The Witness, SOMA, INSIDE, and Firewatch!

PlayStation 4

• PS4 vs. PS4 Slim vs. PS4 Pro: Which should you buy?
• PlayStation VR Review
• Playing PS4 games through your phone is awesome

Amazon

Best microSD Card for Android in 2018

Expand your phone’s storage and get the card that suits your needs.

With so many top-tier phones offering SD card slots for expandable storage, you’d be remiss not to take full advantage. These microSD cards are the best of the best around to fit your specific needs.

• Best overall: Samsung EVO+ 256GB
• Best value for capacity: Samsung EVO Select 128GB
• Best value for speed: Lexar Professional 1000x 32GB UHS-II/U3
• Best balanced: Lexar High-Performance microSDXC 300x

Best overall

Samsung EVO+ 256GB

See at Amazon

Samsung’s very-highest-of-the-high-end microSD card isn’t all that cheap at roughly $100, but you’re also getting a winning combination of performance and storage capacity, with 90MB/sec write speeds and 95MB/sec reads, and an enormous 256GB of space.

That’s more than you’ll ever need in a smartphone, and the high read/write speeds will help if you’re shooting lots of 4K video on a high-end phone like the Galaxy S9 (as too will that enormous capacity.) Better still, it’s water, temperature, X-ray and magnetic proof, so you needn’t worry about it getting damaged while you’re out and about.

Best value: Capacity

Samsung EVO Select 128GB

See at Amazon

If you want a nice high storage capacity without breaking the bank, Samsung’s 128GB card is a good option — it provides a staggering amount of storage, and with pretty fast read and write speeds to boot — though remember your phone probably won’t be able to achieve the maximum read and write speeds quoted here. It’s about the lowest price we’ve seen for a 128GB card, and a great way to free up a ton of space on your phone or tablet. That and it’s only about $35.

What’s more, you can pay an extra few bucks at checkout and get an OTG reader thrown in too.

Best value: Speed

Lexar Professional 1000x 32GB UHS-II/U3

See at Amazon

If speed is more important, you might want to give this Lexar card a shot. It uses UHS-II flash memory and boasts read speeds of up to 150MB/sec — but only to supporting PCs and cameras, no phone we’re aware of currently supports UHS-II speeds for reads and writes. The capacity isn’t the greatest, but there are also 64 and 128GB variants available, if you’re willing to pay more.

The Lexar card also comes with a USB reader for plugging into your PC and transferring data at higher speeds. $33 on Amazon.

Best balanced

Lexar High-Performance microSDXC 300x

See at Amazon

This Lexar card won’t break the bank — it’s just under $25 at the time of writing — but offers a great balance of speed and capacity. 64GB should be enough for most people’s photo, video and offline music needs, while the card’s UHS-I speed rating provides ample performance.

There’s no full-sized SD adapter bundled with this card, but you can’t argue with the price for this kind of microSD.

Updated August 2018: Updated pricing. These remain the best microSD cards you can buy for your Android phone or tablet, no matter your needs.

At $10 each, these smart home accessories are no-brainer buys for Alexa device owners

Buy now, think later.

Right now, you can grab TP-Link’s Wi-Fi smart plug mini or LIFX’s mini white smart bulb for just $10 at Amazon when you use coupon code SMART10 during checkout. This pricing is impulse buy territory, seriously. At $10 each, you can afford to give both a try and finally see what all the smart home stuff is about, or expand your current one at a small cost.

This promotion is only available to those who have an Alexa-enabled device, like the Echo Dot linked to their Amazon account, but at this point that’s likely most of you. Both of these accessories can be controlled using your Alexa device with a simple voice command, so if you’ve been looking to expand your current smart home system, or finally try one out, this is the best way to do it. Amazon also has a bunch of other smart home accessories on sale at 20% off, so be sure to check them out as well.

See at Amazon

Android Pie’s new Overview is giving first-party launchers a big advantage

Would you rather have a good Overview or a good launcher?

Android Pie is here and it’s got goodies for everyone — except for third-party launchers, it seems. Android Pie overhauled the recent apps screen when it switched over to the new gesture navigation system and renamed this new recent apps and app shortcuts screen Overview, and Overview also has the app drawer built right into it, meaning that you can pull open your app drawer with two quick swipes up from the new pill-shaped home button.

There’s just one problem: it’s a launcher feature that almost no launchers can actually use.

The new Overview interface is lovely: the app previews are bigger, the horizontal carousel means that it’s harder to accidentally tap the wrong app by mistake, and the quick access to any app through the included app drawer means that I need return to the home screen far less while I’m trying to get things done. Then I switched from the Pixel Launcher back to Nova Launcher for my patriotic summer themes, and suddenly the Overview menu got a whole lot less useful.

Because of the app suggestions and app drawer being built into this new recent apps UI, Overview is a launcher feature that still required system permissions. Google won’t give third-party launchers the permissions they need to use it, but manufacturers can build it right into the launcher they ship on their phones, just like the Google feed pane that originated in the Google Now Launcher, may it rest in peace.

“Okay, so third-party launchers will just build a companion to build into Overview the way they did for Google Now, right?” Well, not so fast.

The key difference here lies in the permission levels needed for each feature. The Google Now pane required either a launcher with system permissions or that the client app using the Google Now feed be debuggable. That loophole allowed third-party launchers to create debuggable add-ons to enable Google Now without system permissions that they can’t get, and there’s no such loophole for the Overview suggestions and app drawer features in Android Pie. It’s not looking good, but it isn’t going to stop launcher developers from trying; the Smart Launcher team tells Android Central it is looking for ways to try and bring this feature to its users, and it is not alone in that search.

Since third-party launchers can’t offer up suggestions or app drawers in Overview, users are left with a bit of a choice. Would you rather have a launcher with robust features like customizable gestures and smart app drawer sorting, or would you rather have the app drawer in Overview and just try to ignore the shortcomings of Android’s lackluster first-party launchers?

For those who only use the home screen for a couple of app shortcuts and a cute wallpaper, the the Overview screen will essentially replace their home screen. After all, why go back to the home screen when you can open your app drawer anywhere? Power users that swear by Smart Launcher 5’s app drawer or Nova Launcher’s subgrid positioning would rather return to a home screen that’s set up just they way they want than deal with the dull and often cringeworthingly mismatched app drawers most manufacturer launchers come with.

As for me, I’m stuck here in the middle. Sure, the app drawer in the Pixel Launcher is a downgrade from my Nova Launcher tabs and my Smart Launcher categories, but being able to open any app on my phone in three seconds via the Overview menu is such a time saver, especially when my most used apps are always sitting in that five-app dock below my most recent app.

In a perfect world, I could have both, but we all know the world we live in today is anything but perfect. I can hope and dream that Overview can work together with the best launchers on Android to give users the experience they deserve no matter where they open their app drawer from. But I remember how long it took for Google Now panes to come from the Google Now Launcher to third-party launchers, and so I’ll settle in.

I’m going to be hoping and dreaming for a long, long time before that day comes.

Android 9 Pie

• Android 9 Pie review: Greater than the sum of its slices
• Everything you need to know about Android 9 Pie!
• Will my phone get Android Pie?
• How to get Android 9 Pie on your Pixel right now
• Join the Discussion

Qualcomm sets date for event unveiling new Wear OS chipsets

The future for Wear OS will be unveiled on September 10.

Anyone who’s curious about the future of smartwatches running on Wear OS will want to circle September 10th on the calendar. That’s the day that Qualcomm will formally announce its new processing platform for smartwatches.

Hmmm. Just got a save-the-date from Qualcomm. Wonder what’s happening September 10? pic.twitter.com/HVeJrVSo2k

— Michael Fisher (@theMrMobile) August 7, 2018

As we’ve previously reported, this announcement is expected to reinvigorate the Android smartwatch segment and provide a significant upgrade from the Snapdragon Wear 2100, which is currently the best Qualcomm chipset available for wearables.

According to what’s been leaked so far, the new chip will come standard with Bluetooth and Wi-Fi, with options available for GPS and LTE. The new chipset should allow for smaller smartwatches and improved battery life, and the event will also be used to unveil a new smartwatch running the chipset, along with announcements for other smartwatches that will be available for the holiday shopping season.

So far, we only have scant details on what to actually expect from the event. Still, it’s good to finally have a firm date set to see the future of Wear OS.

Are you excited to see what Qualcomm has in store for the next generation of Android Wearables?

TicWatch Pro review: A best-of-both-worlds hybrid

Google Wear OS

• The best Wear OS smartwatches
• Discuss Android Wear in the forums!

How to use Android Pie’s Digital Wellbeing tools

Make the most out of your phone addiction.

One of the major pieces of the Android Pie — then Android P — presentation at Google I/O this past May aligned with what many other companies are trying to do: make it easier to disconnect. They’re doing this by providing usage metrics, and incentive through various “wind down” or Do Not Disturb features, that both inform the user and help them check their phone only when necessary.

On Android, these features rolled out as part of a Digital Wellbeing beta announced alongside the public Android 9 release, and there’s a lot to like here, along with some things to look forward to. Here’s how it all works.

What is Digital Wellbeing?

The idea behind Digital Wellbeing isn’t necessarily using your phone less, though it can lead to that behavior. Instead, according to EK Chung, a UX designer at Google who played a role in designing the new features, “[It’s] is all about high efficiency, and making your interaction with your device more meaningful and efficient so that you can get things done and then get back to what’s really meaningful in your life … actually simplifying how people get things done.”

In other words, if you’re spending too long on Twitter or Facebook right now, you may intellectually know this and may want to cut down but don’t know how to do it. Google is providing tools to not only make the whole OS feel more fluid and efficient but the ability to see how many minutes or hours you’re spending in an app, with an easy way of adding soft limits that make it more difficult to open it once you’ve hit them.

Digital Wellbeing: Everything you need to know

What phones support Digital Wellbeing right now?

Just the Pixel lineup running Android Pie supports Digital Wellbeing, which includes the Pixel, Pixel XL, Pixel 2, and Pixel 2 XL. It’s unclear whether other phone makers will add their own versions, use Google’s exact version, or just leave it out altogether, but they likely have the option of all three.

How do I sign up for the Digital Wellbeing beta?

Given that the tools are optional and are not currently baked into Pie, you have to sign up for the beta with the same email as your Google Play account, and once approved, you’ll receive an email from Google walking you through the sign-up process.

How to activate Digital Wellbeing once you sign up

Once you receive the approval for Digital Wellbeing, actually setting it up is quick and easy.

On your phone, open the email and tap Access the Beta now.
Once the web page opens, tap Become a tester.
Tap Download it from Google Play.
Tap Update on the Google Play Store link.

Once installed, you’ll now be able to find the Digital Wellbeing section in your Pixel’s settings page. Let’s go through the features.

The Dashboard

To find the Digital Wellbeing section, you must open your phone’s settings page and scroll down to find it. You can do this by opening the app drawer and tapping Settings, or swiping down the notification tray twice and tapping on the little settings cog.

Once in there, you’ll see the dashboard which will show you a circular chart of all the apps you’ve used that day. Tapping on it will take you into a list of all the apps you’ve used, ranking them by “screen time” by default. You can also rank them by “notifications received” and “times opened,” which may change the order considerably. For instance, I’ve only used Slack 18 minutes today (I use it mainly on my computer), but I’ve opened it 37 times. Yikes.

Tapping on an individual app shows you the breakdown per day or hour, which is helpful, but also lets you set timers and manage notifications.

How to limit the time you can spend in an app

App timers limit the amount of time you can spend in an app. When a timer is set, Android keeps track of how long that app has been open throughout the day and gives you warnings as you approach that limit. Once the limit is set, the app icon is greyed out and the OS gives you a warning saying you can’t open it until the following day. Of course, you can undo the app timer — it’s not a prison — but it’s a good way to prevent endless scrolling in Instagram and Twitter, for instance.

From the main Digital Wellbeing page, tap Dashboard.
Next to the app you want to limit, tap the arrow next to the words “No timer” and set a limit.

• By default, the limits are 15 minutes, 30 minutes, and 1 hour, but you can set a custom timer.

Use the app until your limit.

How to change or disable an app timer

When you butt up against your own app usage limits, the icon will grey out and you’ll get a notification saying that you can’t use it anymore. Of course, you can lengthen the timer if you really want to.

Tap on the greyed-out icon.
Tap Learn more.
Change the app timer to the number you want.

Wind Down

The idea behind Wind Down is pretty interesting. It combines existing Do Not Disturb behavior with the also-existing Night Light feature and, new to Pie, a Grayscale mode that turns your screen monochrome.

All of these things — fewer notifications, a warmer screen tint, and black-and-white imagery — are meant to make it easier to “wind down” and settle before bed. Here’s how to configure it.

From the main Digital Wellbeing page, tap Wind Down.
Check Use Wind Down to enable it.
Configure the time you want Wind Down to begin and end automatically.

• I have it between 11:30 pm and 7 am.

Check Grayscale and Do Not Disturb, which will help calm you down before bed.
Tap Night Light schedule to decide whether you want to tint your screen amber before bed.

• I recommend allowing the schedule to happen automatically at sunset and sunrise.

Reducing interruptions

Using your phone less is one of the strategies around Digital Wellbeing. The other is being distracted less when you’re using it, or when you’ve put it down.

One of the major parts of this is managing notifications. The fewer notifications you receive, the less likely you are to get lost in your phone when you only meant to pick it up to check something quickly.

How to manage notifications

In Android Oreo, Google introduced the idea of notification channels, which allow developers to break down the notifications they send you into various categories. The idea was to make it easier for the user to turn off specific notifications without disabling the app’s correspondence entirely.

With Pie and Digital Wellbeing, Google has made it easier to configure these notifications using the Digital Wellbeing tools.

From the main Digital Wellbeing page, tap Manage notifications.
Next to the app you want to manage, either:

• Uncheck the button to disable notifications entirely.
• Tap on the app icon itself to check for notification channels.

Some notifications, like phone calls, can’t be disabled, but it’s worth digging into the apps that annoy you the most to see whether it’s worth disabling them either partly or entirely. You may realize you don’t need any of them at all.

How to change Do Not Disturb features

Under “Reduce interruptions,” Google has also added a handy shortcut to the Do Not Disturb section, which has been improved for Android Pie. It’s now much more granular than before, allowing you to choose between seeing, but not hearing, notifications when they come in, along with what constitutes an exception.

It’s worth looking into the rules that automatically kick in, too. For example, you can choose to have Do Not Disturb turn on while you’re driving based on the phone’s motion or the Bluetooth receiver it’s connected to.

From the main Digital Wellbeing page, tap Do Not Disturb.
Near the bottom, tap Turn on automatically.
Tap on the rule you want to manage.

• You can also create new rules based on specific calendar events, or times of the day.

What’s yet to come?

At Google I/O, the company announced a couple of additional features that aren’t yet available in the Digital Wellbeing suite. For example, soon you’ll be able to turn over your Pixel phone to automatically enable Do Not Disturb, something that will definitely be helpful during meetings and coffee dates.

Google also plans to bring its popular Smart Replies feature to Android Pie, making it much easier and faster to respond to an incoming message without picking up your phone.

What do you think of Digital Wellbeing?

This is the beginning of Google’s digital wellness initiative, something that the company, despite wanting you to use your phone as much as possible, thinks will help you strike a better work-life-play balance.

So what do you think of its early incarnation? Let us know in the comments below!

Android 9 Pie

• Android 9 Pie review: Greater than the sum of its slices
• Everything you need to know about Android 9 Pie!
• Will my phone get Android Pie?
• How to get Android 9 Pie on your Pixel right now
• Join the Discussion

Refresh your phone accessories with discounts on Anker cables, chargers and more

Keep your phone charged and protected throughout the school day.

This week only, Anker is offering various Back to School deals on smartphone accessories and tech that’ll be super helpful for those getting back in the groove of classes. You’ll need to use the code ANKERBTS during checkout to activate the deal for each item. Prices start as low as $5 on essentials like iPhone X cases, USB wall chargers, and charging cables, but you only have until August 12 before the code becomes unusable.

If you’re in need of a charging cable, this 6-foot USB-C cable falls to $9.59 with the code, while a 3-foot version becomes $7.99. Alternatively, Anker’s 3-foot Lightning Cable is down to $11.19 in grey or red with the code. There’s also a Wireless Charger that drops to only $7.99.

One dorm room essential every new student will come to wish they had is the PowerPort Power Strip which features 12 outlets along with three USB ports. Using the code discounts its price by $8 down to $28. Any incoming dorm room occupant will also need a wall charger; you can get a standard dual USB charger for $11.99 or a USB-C version for $20.79.

Lastly, the Roav dash cam could be a great addition to your car during your long rides back and forth from home. It has a unique promo code C1AUDEAL to enter during checkout, which will make it available to you for just $54.99.

Other Anker products you could use the code ANKERBTS on include:

• 4-port USB Hub for $12.79
• 2-in-1 USB-C Memory Card Reader for $10.39
• SoundCore Boost Bluetooth Speaker for $63.20

Newton Mail will shut down in September

Newton will shut down in September after failing to find a viable business model.

Newton, a popular email app for Windows, macOS, Android, and iOS, has announced that it will soon shut down. Founder Rohit Nadhani said that CloudMagic, the company that owns Newton, couldn’t find a viable business model that provided profitability and growth, citing stiff competition from first-party email apps. Newton will end service in September.

Writing on the Newton blog, Nadhani said:

It was a tough business decision. We explored various business models but couldn’t successfully figure out profitability & growth over the long term. It was hard; the market for premium consumer mail apps is not big enough, and it faces stiff competition from high quality free apps from Google, Microsoft, and Apple. We put up a hard and honest fight, but it was not enough to overcome the bundling & platform default advantages enjoyed by the large tech companies.

New sign-ups for Newton have been suspended immediately. Subscribers for Newton’s annual plan for $99.99 can claim a pro-rated refund, though this must be done by September 18, 2018. Newton’s app will be shut down on September 25, 2018.

CloudMagic originally launched its email app in 2013, later relaunching as Newton in 2016 as a subscription-based service. Newton could connect to apps and services like Todoist, Trello, and Evernote, the Tidy Inbox feature kept your inbox clutter-free, and the Recap could help you revisit unfinished conversations to find things you might have missed.

For those that loved Newton and the services it provided, it’s surely a sad day. I know many people across the Mobile Nations team are avid users of Newton, and will be sad to see it go.

Apple CEO Tim Cook on Apple Music: ‘We Worry About the Humanity Being Drained Out of Music’

In an extensive profile of Spotify founder and CEO Daniel Ek, Fast Company’s Robert Safian recently sat down to speak for a few minutes with Apple CEO Tim Cook at Apple’s headquarters in Cupertino, California.

The topic was, of course, Spotify and Apple Music, two of the major players in the streaming music market and fierce competitors. Cook said that he looks to music as inspiration and motivation, a philosophy that’s shared at Apple and has guided its focus on human-based music curation.

“Music inspires, it motivates. It’s also the thing at night that helps quiet me. I think it’s better than any medicine,” Cook said.

While he declined to mention Spotify by name, Cook told Fast Company that Apple worries about streaming music losing the human touch, alluding to Spotify’s more algorithmic approach to highlighting content.

Cook’s words embody Apple’s longstanding critique of Spotify, which is that its algorithms are eroding music’s spiritual role in our lives. Cook doesn’t mention Spotify by name but says, “We worry about the humanity being drained out of music, about it becoming a bits-and-bytes kind of world instead of the art and craft.”

Despite launching just three years ago, Apple Music has 50 million paid subscribers and free trial members, with the company slowly catching up to Spotify. At last count, Spotify said that it had 83 million paid subscribers around the world.

Apple has always had an edge over Spotify due to its massive 1.3 billion active installed base, and the fact that it’s never needed to worry about profitability like Spotify has. “We’re not in it for the money,” Cook told Fast Company.

Ek, too, didn’t mention Apple Music by name, but he said he believes Spotify has something going for it that other companies don’t: a singular focus. “Music is everything we do all day, all night, and that clarity is the difference between the average and the really, really good,” he said.

Spotify’s dedication to music and music alone is what Ek believes will ultimately help the company beat Apple and expand the Spotify service in the future.

Competing with Apple was always Spotify’s plan, says Ek, even before Apple Music. Apple dominated digital music downloads via iTunes in 2008 when Spotify launched, with Ek aiming to replace the iPod with on-demand music.

Competition with Apple and working within tight margins, Ek says, has driven Spotify to be more disciplined.

Despite industry complaints and criticism from Apple, Spotify has continued to focus on free music, which is how Spotify draws in new paying subscribers. After going public earlier this year, Spotify overhauled its free listening tier, offering new features that include on-demand playlists and a data saving mode, which were previously limited to paying subscribers.

Ek believes that there’s money to be made with Spotify’s free tier, with radiolike advertising options. “Billions of people listen to radio, and most of that today isn’t monetized very efficiently,” Ek said.

Going forward, in addition to working to expand revenue via its free tier, Spotify plans to focus on artists. Ek eventually wants to get 1 million artists to make a living off of Spotify, ultimately imagining something akin to YouTube where artists and listeners can interact.

For anyone interested in the inner workings of Spotify or how Ek operates, Fast Company’s full profile of the founder is well worth checking out.

Tags: Spotify, Tim Cook, Apple Music
Discuss this article in our forums

Popular Newton Email App for iOS and Mac Shutting Down in September

Newton, a popular email service for iOS and Mac, is shutting down on September 25, the company’s founder Rohit Nadhani announced today.

Newton is a subscription-based app that costs $9.99 per month or $99.99 per year, a business model that did not end up being successful. Nadhani says that the company explored “various business models” but wasn’t able to “successfully figure out profitability & growth over the long term.”

According to Nadhani, the market for premium consumer mail apps is “not big enough” and faces competition from high-quality free apps from Google, Microsoft, and Apple. “We put up a hard and honest fight,” wrote Nadhani. “But it was not enough to overcome the bundling and platform default advantages enjoyed by the large tech companies.”

Starting today, Newton is disabling new sign-ups and will not be renewing monthly subscriptions. Customers who paid for an annual subscription will also be refunded on a pro-rata basis, with Newton to offer instructions on claiming a refund no later than September 18.

CloudMagic, Newton’s parent company, will continue to operate and will be focusing on “new and innovative products.”
Discuss this article in our forums