Apple Pulls App That Promoted Secret Parties During Ongoing Pandemic

Apple has pulled an iOS app from the App Store that encouraged users to organize secret underground parties despite social distancing measures and U.S. pandemic restrictions, reports The Verge.

vybe together
Called "Vybe Together," the app billed itself as a place to organize and attend secret parties, with its now-defunct website using the tagline "Get your rebel on. Get your party on."

App users could act as party organizers and approve other users who wanted to attend their event. Approved invitees then received the event address two hours before the party was due to start.

According to one of the developers contacted by The Verge, Vybe Together had a few thousand users and thousands more had requested access before Apple pulled it from the ‌App Store‌. The app had also been promoted on TikTok before its account on the short-form video sharing platform was banned.

The ongoing health crisis has made indoor gatherings of people from different households an unsafe practice and in many regions such parties would be clear violations of pandemic restrictions, so it's unclear why Apple approved the app in the first place.

According to the report, the website's FAQ page acknowledged the danger of the pandemic, but said the app was designed to promote "small gatherings" rather than "large scale parties."

Whether the app led to many people holding the unsafe events is unclear, although it promoted "gatherings every weekend" on TikTok, including New Year's Eve parties.

The app had 25 ratings on the ‌App Store‌ before it was removed, and its Instagram page had under 1,000 followers. Before it was banned from the photo-sharing platform, Vybe Together's account had a single text post which read: "Blown out of proportion by the media. We DO NOT CONDONE LARGE GATHERINGS."

Note: Due to the political or social nature of the discussion regarding this topic, the discussion thread is located in our Political News forum. All forum members and site visitors are welcome to read and follow the thread, but posting is limited to forum members with at least 100 posts.

Popular Stories

Nineth iOS 19 Feature

iOS 19 Beta is a Month Away With These New Features for Your iPhone

Thursday May 8, 2025 7:37 am PDT by
The first iOS 19 beta is just one month away, and there are already many new features and changes that are expected with it. Apple should seed the first iOS 19 beta to developers immediately following the WWDC 2025 keynote, which is scheduled for Monday, June 9. Following beta testing, the update should be released to the general public in September. Below, we recap the key iOS 19 rumors...
Foldable iPhone 2023 Feature Homescreen

Apple's Foldable iPhone Display Tech May Set New Industry Standard

Thursday May 8, 2025 3:29 am PDT by
Apple's upcoming foldable iPhone will feature a new type of display panel developed by Samsung that has never been used in a foldable product, claims a source with links to Apple's supply chain. According to the account yeux1122 on the Korean Naver blog, the foldable iPhone will use a custom display process for which Apple will hold branding trademark rights, and that meets Apple's stringent ...
iOS 18

Here Are Apple's Full iOS 18.5 Release Notes

Tuesday May 6, 2025 2:17 pm PDT by
Apple today seeded the release candidate version of iOS 18.5 to developers and public beta testers, giving us a look at the final version of the update that will be provided to the public next week. With the release candidate, Apple provided release notes, so we have a more complete look at the new features that are included in the update, including those that weren't found during the beta...
siri glow

iPhone Users Now Able to Submit Claims in $95 Million Siri Spying Lawsuit

Wednesday May 7, 2025 11:40 am PDT by
If you owned a Siri-compatible device and had an accidental Siri activation between September 17, 2014 and December 31, 2024, you could be eligible for a payment from Apple as part of a class action lawsuit settlement. Apple in January agreed to pay $95 million to settle a class action lawsuit involving Siri spying accusations, and a website to distribute the funds has now been set up and...
Mayday Calendar

Apple Acquisition Hints at Upgraded Calendar App on iOS 19 or Beyond

Friday May 9, 2025 9:13 am PDT by
Apple acquired Canadian startup Mayday Labs in April 2024, according to a European Commission listing, spotted by French blog MacGeneration. The acquisition had not received widespread attention from tech publications until now. Apple is legally required to report certain acquisitions to the European Commission, under the terms of the EU's Digital Markets Act. Mayday Labs founder Jeremy...
fortnite apple featured

Epic Games Submits Fortnite to U.S. App Store

Friday May 9, 2025 9:57 am PDT by
As promised, Epic Games today submitted Fortnite to the U.S. App Store, and if approved by Apple, it will mark the first time that the Fortnite app has been available in the United States since 2020. Fortnite will include options to purchase in-app currency from the web rather than through in-app purchase, which is what got the game banned to begin with. This time, though, Apple has been...
airpods pro purple

Apple's Camera Equipped AirPods and Apple Watch Could Launch as Soon as 2027

Thursday May 8, 2025 10:14 am PDT by
Apple is working on versions of the AirPods and Apple Watch that incorporate a camera, and the devices could be ready to launch sometime around 2027, reports Bloomberg. Apple has developed a chip codenamed "Nevis" that will be used for its camera-equipped Apple Watch, while a chip codenamed "Glennie" will be incorporated into the AirPods. Apple is aiming to have the chips ready "by around...

Top Rated Comments

ArPe Avatar
57 months ago


[HEADING=2]“Here's to the crazy ones. The misfits. The rebels. The troublemakers. The round pegs in the square holes. The ones who see things differently. They're not fond of rules. And they have no respect for the status quo. You can quote them, disagree with them, glorify or vilify them. About the only thing you can't do is ignore them. Because they change things. They push the human race forward. And while some may see them as the crazy ones, we see genius. Because the people who are crazy enough to think they can change the world, are the ones who do.” [/HEADING]
Those aren’t the type of crazy ones Apple was referring to. The Think Different advertizing campaign was about progressive people with helpful and constructive ideas. Not suicidal conspiracy theorists with an axe to grind against the modern world.
Score: 48 Votes (Like | Disagree)
kingofwale Avatar
57 months ago
Did they closed apps used by BLM to organize protest during pandamic??
Score: 31 Votes (Like | Disagree)
ArPe Avatar
57 months ago

Texas has been ALL THE WAY OPEN you should’ve seen the lake party’s over the summer. Commiefornia (TODAY) had there lockdown orders extended till mid-January. With cases surging. It’s almost like the science and numbers aren’t adding up.
Texas also has surging infections and dying people. It’s not something to rejoice about unless you’re brainwashed with that extremist anti-science The Awakening nonsense.


The Awakening, sometimes hashtagged Great Awakening, for those who haven’t noticed it, is a religious revivalist movement that comes and goes in waves. Its followers call themselves ‘light workers’, ‘healers’ or ‘patriots’. The most recent version uses right wing talking points, conspiracy theories against science and tech companies, fear mongering about vaccines and 5G, and preys upon a mostly female stay at home audience such as single mothers, old women and bored celebrities. It will most likely inspire moments of home grown terrorism, such as attacks on 5G antennas and perhaps the suicide bomber in Nashville last week.

One of their strategies is to scream censorship despite the massive amount of misinformation they post online, fake being oppressed and then ask followers to subscribe to mailing lists. The emails are harvested and sold to scammers and ransomware threats are sent out to subscribers.
Score: 24 Votes (Like | Disagree)
farewelwilliams Avatar
57 months ago
good. one of the benefits of having a single app store on the platform.
Score: 22 Votes (Like | Disagree)
AnthonyHarris Avatar
57 months ago
Why did I know that at least a few of the comments of this thread were going to make my eyes roll ALL the way around.
Score: 20 Votes (Like | Disagree)
msp3 Avatar
57 months ago
What's wrong with having peaceful protests? The powers that be were fine when their brownshirts were looting local businesses during their race riots, but ordinary people are denied freedom of assembly. Refuse fascism.
Score: 20 Votes (Like | Disagree)