Exclusive app allowed people to promote secret ‘Covid parties’ - until Apple shut it down

‘We are a secret party app. Gatherings every weekend’, text in a promotional video for the app read

(Adam Smith/The Independent)

An app that promoted secret house parties during the coronavirus pandemic has been pulled from Apple’s App Store.

The Vybe Together app encouraged users to “get [their] rebel on”, according to the app’s now-removed website, by signing up to the app with a username and a linked Instagram account in order to attend secret events.

The app was available in both the US and UK app stores, but the gatherings encouraged by the service would be illegal under the current restrictions.

"We are like Eventbrite, but way cooler," a Vybe Together spokesperson said in an email to Business Insider.  

"Vybe's can be anything from playing board games to bachata with your neighbors. A lot of people have been isolated and lonely and we wanted to enable them to meet. We are aware that large gatherings are not okay and we do not promote them. If we see events are popular we take them off!"

As such, the app would use the user’s social media accounts to check who would or would not be allowed on the app. According to The Verge, this is likely to ensure that participants would be unlikely to report the illegal gatherings.  

The app reportedly had a few thousand users, with a few thousand more applying for membership after the company started promoting on TikTok. One video on the TikTok had reportedly been viewed nearly 11,000 times.

Vybe Together’s presence was greatly increased when New York Times reporter Taylor Lorenz shared screenshots off the service’s App Store page and TikTok videos.

“We are a secret party app. Gatherings every weekend”, text in one of the videos read. “Come for new years? Link in bio”.

The app’s website, which has now been taken down, said it was to promote “small gatherings” rather than “big parties” – which would still be illegal under pandemic restrictions – claiming that it presented a “compromise” and that “if we all could just be in isolation this could actually go away”.

It is unclear whether the app held many events, although it appears unlikely due to their small social media presence. An advertisement for a music festival in Mexico on the app’s website had apparently been linked to an Airbnb listing. The manager of the property said they had rented to some influencers, but did not know if they were associated with the app.

Vybe Together has subsequently removed its website and Instagram page. Reports indicate that its Instagram page did contain a text post that read “Blown out of proportion by media,” it reads. “We DO NOT CONDONE LARGE GATHERINGS”, but it is now unavailable.  

TikTok removed the app’s account for violating its community guidelines, while Apple reportedly pulled the app from its store.