Vybe Together: Apple pulls American app promoting secret parties during the coronavirus pandemic
2 min readApple and TikTok have removed an American app used to arrange private parties during the coronavirus pandemic.
Vybe Together is a mobile app which promotes itself as “a private community to find, join and host parties”.
On Tuesday, technology news website The Verge reported Apple App Store withdrew the app and its TikTok account had been shut down.
In a defiant post on Instagram, Vybe Together wrote: “App Store took us down! We will be back! Follow to stay updated!”
Partying in the pandemic
Those wanting to use the app reportedly had to submit a profile for approval, including their Instagram handle and photos of them ‘partying’.
Users would then be notified of local parties, which they could apply to join.
Attendance was then approved by the party organisers and those given the green light to go would be sent an address a couple of hours ahead of the event.
A co-founder of the app told The Verge it had a few thousand users and a few thousand applicants.
Thousands of users
On its FAQ page which has now been removed, the app said it was designed to promote “small gatherings” rather than big parties.
But Taylor Lorenz, a New York Times reporter had shared screenshots and a TikTok promotional video on Twitter, showing people dancing inside a venue and advertising a New Year’s Eve party in New York.
The limit on social gatherings indoors and outdoors in New York State is currently 10 people.
‘Small gatherings’
A Vybe Together spokesperson told The Verge: “We never hosted any large parties and we made one over-the-top marketing video that left a wrong impression about our intentions, which has since been taken down.
“We do not condone large unsafe parties during a pandemic.”
TikTok told the BBC it had removed the Vybe Together account as it was violating its community guidelines.
