Apple bans app that promoted secret parties during pandemic

Apple has pulled the plug on Vybe Together, an iPhone app that allowed users to organize secret parties that would breach social-distancing rules in many cities.

At writing time, the app isn't available on Apple's App Store, and its website was taken down. The app's Instagram profile says "App Store took us down!!! We will be back!!"

"Miss playing beer pong, flirting with strangers, and generally just having a blast with the crew? Vybe is here for you," said the text on the app's now defunct website. The app's tagline read "Get your rebel on, Get your party on."

Vybe Together says it was promoting "small gatherings," but the imagery on its website doesn't exactly look like it promotes safe behavior during a pandemic. Credit: vybe together

The Verge spoke to one of the app's co-founders, who said the app had a few thousand users, as well as a few thousand more on the waiting list. He confirmed to the outlet that Apple was the one who took the app down from App Store.

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The app wasn't widely known until The New York Timesreporter Taylor Lorenz called it out on Twitter on Tuesday.

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The app's FAQ page said the app was "a compromise," designed to promote "small gatherings" and not "big parties." However, even small gatherings can be dangerous, as well as illegal, during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The app's Instagram page still has a post that says "Find your vybe. Local wine nights, beer pong games and dancing in an apartment near you."

The app apparently had a limited reach — it had 25 ratings on the App Store before it was removed, and its Instagram page has 795 followers at writing time. It's good, however, that Apple reacted swiftly and shut it down.

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