Twitter acquires Android lockscreen maker Cover

Himanshu Arora

Posts: 902   +7

Twitter on Monday acquired Cover, an Android app that intelligently populates the lockscreen with app shortcuts depending upon where you are. The team behind Cover made the announcement in a blog post on its website.

"Twitter, like Cover, believes in the incredible potential of Android. They share our vision that smartphones can be a lot smarter — more useful and more contextual — and together we’re going to make that happen", the company said in the blog post. Financial details of the deal were not disclosed.

Launched in October last year, Cover uses location and app usage history to anticipate the apps a user might need at any given moment. For example, the app knows when you're at work and lists your most used work apps on the lockscreen. It's the same for home, car, and while you are out.

In addition, it lets you quickly peek into an app without unlocking the screen, and also makes it easy to switch between various apps. It can also automatically change settings like wallpaper, ringtone volume, and more.

This is Twitter's first Android specific acquisition, and it is pretty clear now that the microblogging company is trying hard to make its service more enticing to people with Android smartphones. With more than 75% of Twitter users accessing the service through their smartphones, the step seems to be in the right direction.

It is not yet clear how Cover will fit into Twitter's overall strategy. As of now, it will remain in the Play Store, but If that changes down the road, "we’ll provide another update here", the company said in the announcement.

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