Vybe Together App That Promoted Private Parties During COVID-19 Removed From Apple’s App Store

Vybe Together, an iOS app promoting private parties amid the COVID-19 pandemic, has been removed from the App Store by Apple. The app’s TikTok account has also been banned and its website has been taken down, according to a report. But the developers say the app was not intended to promote unsafe behavior. Their website now says that the app will be available again.

The app’s now-archived website shows that the app was featured with the tagline: “Light your rebel, light your party.” Vybe Together’s removed FAQ page said the app was designed to promote ‘small gatherings’ rather than ‘big parties’, while acknowledging the dangers of the pandemic, according to a report by The Verge.

The report says that a spokesperson for the app denied that Vybe Together intended to promote unsafe behavior. The Vybe Together website says the app’s intentions are for people to have small gatherings in their apartments, not illegal parties. The site is also asking people to subscribe and be notified when the app is working again. The app’s Instagram bio reads, “The App Store took us down, but we’ll be back.”

Vybe Together received a backlash earlier this week, after being criticized on Twitter by The New York Times reporter Taylor Lorenz, who called it an app to “find and promote large, unsafe indoor Covid house parties.”

The app’s creators told The Verge that Apple removed it from the App Store. They said that Vybe Together had a few thousand users and some additional applicants had requested access after the company started putting videos on TikTok. To apply, people had to submit Instagram identifiers and upload photos of themselves ‘celebrating the service’, probably to make sure they wouldn’t complain about Vybe Together parties. The organizers would then approve the people who could attend the party and send them the address of the venue two hours before the event.

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