Secret party app Vybe Together says App Store ban was 'political'
Vybe Together, an app that was pulled from the App Store for promoting large parties during the coronavirus pandemic, has appealed its removal.
Credit: Vybe Together
The app, which was relatively obscure, gained hype last year for promoting and encouraging users to join "secret gatherings" -- including "ragers" on New Year's Eve. It was ultimately removed from the App Store in late 2020.
Now, Vybe Together COO Itamar Gil says the company is appealing Apple's decision to remove the app because it believes it was rejected for political reasons.
In an update to its developer guidelines on Monday, Apple added new options to its App Review contact form, which developers can use to appeal app rejections. One of those options is the ability for a developer to specify whether they believe their app was rejected due to unfair treatment, such as because of political bias.
Gil said that the removal of Vybe Together was political in nature because Apple "overridden state boundaries" and chose to be "politically correct." The company said in a statement that it believes its app was removed because it was "potentially harmful to Apple's public image."
"With that said, we think that Apple as a monopoly owes the people the right to choose for themselves; in Vybe's case they made a decision for the Public, acting as the judge and the prosecutor without our ability to defend ourselves," the company said.
Apple pulled Vybe Together shortly after media coverage highlighted a TikTok video that promoted large parties during New Year's Eve 2020. TikTok disabled the company's account, and Apple shortly followed suit.
Vybe Together says Apple hasn't let the app return to the App Store since its removal.
In a statement to AppleInsider, Apple said it removed Vybe Together because it promoted reckless behavior and that politics had no bearing on the decision. In addition to possibly endangering public health and safety during the pandemic, it also violated emergency public health orders. Apple says the behavior violated guidelines 1.4.5 and 1.1.
It still isn't clear why Apple removed Vybe Together. The company's developer guidelines do ban apps that "urge customers to participate in activities ... in a way that risks physical harm to themselves or others."
Update on Friday, June 11: Updated with statement from Apple and Vybe Together.
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Credit: Vybe Together
The app, which was relatively obscure, gained hype last year for promoting and encouraging users to join "secret gatherings" -- including "ragers" on New Year's Eve. It was ultimately removed from the App Store in late 2020.
Now, Vybe Together COO Itamar Gil says the company is appealing Apple's decision to remove the app because it believes it was rejected for political reasons.
In an update to its developer guidelines on Monday, Apple added new options to its App Review contact form, which developers can use to appeal app rejections. One of those options is the ability for a developer to specify whether they believe their app was rejected due to unfair treatment, such as because of political bias.
Gil said that the removal of Vybe Together was political in nature because Apple "overridden state boundaries" and chose to be "politically correct." The company said in a statement that it believes its app was removed because it was "potentially harmful to Apple's public image."
"With that said, we think that Apple as a monopoly owes the people the right to choose for themselves; in Vybe's case they made a decision for the Public, acting as the judge and the prosecutor without our ability to defend ourselves," the company said.
Apple pulled Vybe Together shortly after media coverage highlighted a TikTok video that promoted large parties during New Year's Eve 2020. TikTok disabled the company's account, and Apple shortly followed suit.
Vybe Together says Apple hasn't let the app return to the App Store since its removal.
In a statement to AppleInsider, Apple said it removed Vybe Together because it promoted reckless behavior and that politics had no bearing on the decision. In addition to possibly endangering public health and safety during the pandemic, it also violated emergency public health orders. Apple says the behavior violated guidelines 1.4.5 and 1.1.
It still isn't clear why Apple removed Vybe Together. The company's developer guidelines do ban apps that "urge customers to participate in activities ... in a way that risks physical harm to themselves or others."
Update on Friday, June 11: Updated with statement from Apple and Vybe Together.
Follow all of WWDC 2021 with comprehensive AppleInsider coverage of the week-long event from June 7 through June 11, including details on iOS 15, iPadOS 15, watchOS 8, macOS Monterey and more.
Stay on top of all Apple news right from your HomePod. Say, "Hey, Siri, play AppleInsider," and you'll get the latest AppleInsider Podcast. Or ask your HomePod mini for "AppleInsider Daily" instead and you'll hear a fast update direct from our news team. And, if you're interested in Apple-centric home automation, say "Hey, Siri, play HomeKit Insider," and you'll be listening to our newest specialized podcast in moments.
Comments
Wrong. Those are one on one, and encourage social distancing, including remote dating. If you can't tell the difference between a dating app and something calling for "whoever wants to meet up in a place and have a secret rager" where they expect a ton of people, I think you need to recalibrate.
basically and fundamentally I’m someone who tries to be on the side of free speech and opening liberty for all. However, there are a lot of people out there who behave in ways they will get them killed , and I try not to judge that. However when people behave in ways that are likely to cause a lot of other people to get killed. That’s where we have to draw the line. It’s that simple.
(… unless zxzxxx is up on the stage at the theater and several audience members have guns that are loaded… LOL I didn’t just say that did I? Redact redact redact. I really don’t mean that negative imagery in any real fashion. Please excuse. Just being exemplary and devastating and we all have good about us.)
This is like when people equivocate between guns and every/any other object that can cause physical harm if used offensively, as an argument against gun regulation. One is a tool explicitly designed to cause harm, the others are not. There’s a difference, and anyone making an effort to think outside their bias understands this.
1. What was political? Trying to reduce the spread of a disease with high lethality?
2. Apple may not be a monopoly, but they absolutely do have a lot of influence and power, as a multi-billion-dollar entity. They engage in laissez-faire capitalism just as aggressively as Microsoft, Google, Facebook, etc. Their business model is fundamentally different from Google & Facebook, but not so different from Microsoft, and it’s long been believed in the Apple fanatic community that Microsoft is “the great enemy” (after they defeated IBM, who was the previous “great enemy”). Do not show loyalty to corporations; they have no loyalty to citizens or countries.
3. I agree, but we should not paint everything with the same brush. Apple deserves some criticism, though THIS story is NOT one of those cases where they’re in the wrong. Acting for the public good is a wise & ethical choice, even if the corporate motivator is company public image (gotta pick our battles; corporations doing good for others as a consequence of doing good for themselves is better than ONLY serving their interests, which is more often the case).
It was decided gatherings of people were bad and Apple was just being a good world citizen by not facilitating people's doing things they're not supposed to do.
Not political, just responsible.
If that bothers you, don't submit apps to it, and don't bitch about it just go with another product. And whining about it in public is so childish, seriously.
You said
1. “ Trying to reduce the spread of a disease with high lethality?”
2. “ Do not show loyalty to corporations; they have no loyalty to citizens or countries.”
Huh? Apple removed it to reduce spread of a disease like you said. That’s pretty loyal to their customers and to citizens.
Ridiculous. Not even close. A dating app, where presumably two people (alright maybe 3 or 4) would get together, is not the same as encouraging hundreds or thousands of people to congregate in a closed environment during a pandemic.
Furthermore you modified the word °kills° with °supposedly°. So a reasonable person is left to assume that you are demonstrating doubt that the actual death rate is in the neighborhood of 0.03%.
Actually I think I have an idea what you were trying to express, just doing so poorly. A number of measures were enacted by governments around the world to limit the spread of this highly communicable virus that confounded medical professionals whose job it was to treat the infected. This was NOT "just the flu".
People can and will debate all day long about whether this measure or that one was necessary; on the whole, the actual fact that the 2020-21 flu season led to far less flu illness and far fewer flu deaths than in previous years definitively proves that a good number of these measures - especially masking, social distancing, and work from home - were justified. So people complaining that the death rate wasn't high enough to require drastic action are being willfully ignorant.
You should not be surprised if no reasonable person takes seriously any "thoughts" you might have on the matter of the pandemic.
A few people hooking up is fairly harmless compared to setting up a superspreader event. And in most places, while it wasn't recommended to have random hookups, it wasn't actually illegal. Large parties were.