by By: Aliah John
As the media world continuously strives to push fresh and creative ideas, the newly popular “Tea” app has made quite a splash amongst young adults. Although initially founded by a man, the “Tea” app is described by its founder as the “first-ever dating safety platform for women”. With millions of downloads in its early life, the “Tea” app has gained rapid popularity specifically on university campuses, with thousands championing its attempts to keep women safe by exchanging stories and warnings. However, others have cautioned how easily the app can turn into cyberbullying and emphasize its possible violations of individual privacy.
So, how does it work? After downloading the app, users are required to be verified by submitting a selfie before gaining access. Once admitted, one can scroll freely through the slew of men in your area, each one with a designated number of green or red flags and anonymous comments. Anyone can post anyone. Anyone can write anything… As you can imagine, it seems like a pretty enticing source of information to women in the current dating landscape- especially young women. Below each man in question, users comment their experiences, opinions, rumors, and really any relevant hearsay, creating a sense of community in rallying behind these subjects.
Founder of the app, Sean Cook, began this project in hopes of protecting his mom against anymore “terrifying” dating experiences. The app boasts features like background checks, criminal record search engines, and even identification of sex-offenders. The catch however, is that all of these features are placed conveniently behind a $14.99/month paywall. As wonderful as these safety features sound hypothetically, the majority of users are confined to scrolling through faces and leaving their reviews.
Photo from The Tea App official Instagram
On October 21 of this year, the “Tea” app was removed from the App Store. This came as a result of multiple violations of the Apple Store’s user privacy and content moderation policies, as well immense backlash and negative reviews of the app. It currently remains to be seen if the app will return to the App Store after making modifications, or if it was simply the internet’s latest hyper fixation.
A major argument against use of the app is its possible hypocrisy. Many feel that if the roles were reversed, and an app was popularized that ultimately just encouraged men to rate and comment on other women, the internet would be in an uproar. (It’s important to note that just last month the App Store released “TeaOnHer” which was not in commission long enough to gain much traction before being taken down.) On the other hand, there are also many who claim that there wouldn’t be a need for tools like the “Tea” app if women could genuinely feel safe dating and spending time with men without first vetting them.
Are apps such as these a chance for women to claim a sense of security in an otherwise frightening and male dominated dating space, or is the “Tea” app just another opportunity for people to take shots at each other behind the safety and anonymity of a screen?
Sources: Spilling the Tea on Tea, Apple confirms it pulled controversial dating apps Tea and TeaOnHer from the App Store, Forget ChatGPT. Tea is the most dowloaded app on Apple’s App Store, I Tried the Tea App so you Don’t Have to- Here’s What I Found
I really liked this topic because I’ve heard a lot about the Tea app and how it’s been ruining relationships or making people not trust their partners. Some of the posts on there could even be lies, which makes it even worse. I get that the app was supposed to help people feel safer, but honestly, it just seems toxic overall.
I really liked this topic because I’ve heard a lot about the Tea app and how it’s been ruining relationships or making people not trust their partners. Some of the posts on there could even be lies, which makes it even worse. I get that the app was supposed to help people feel safer, but honestly, it just seems toxic overall.
Aliah, ou do a great job unpacking both the empowering and problematic sides of the “Tea” app, especially how something designed to promote safety can quickly cross into privacy and ethical gray areas. I really appreciate how you highlight the gender dynamics and double standards at play. It invites readers to question whether digital “protection” tools truly solve deeper issues or simply repackage them. Your closing question perfectly encapsulates the tension between accountability and anonymity in today’s online culture.
I really enjoyed reading this, and feel kind of old because I’ve never heard of this app. I find it kind of silly that this app was made by a man, yet only women are “allowed” on the app. I think it’s fitting that the app was taken down from the app store, especially since this promotes cyberbullying and slander of individuals for clicks. This reminds me of apps like YikYak, where harassment and bullying could go just as far, yet there are no regulations on that app.
I really enjoyed reading this post! I’ve mostly heard negative things about the app, like issues with stealing people’s identities and cybersecurity leaks. I thought the idea of scanning your face to make sure you’re a girl was very strange. Who is approving that? I get that it’s meant to keep guys off the app, but imagine getting denied because they decide you “don’t look like a girl.” It makes sense why the app is now deleted.
I really enjoyed reading this post, I have only heard very negative things about the app like issue with stealing peoples identity and cypbersecuty leaks. I though the idea of scanning your face to make sure you were a girl is very strange, like who is aproving that, I get its to make sure no guys are on there but i first thought imminge getting denied becuase they decide you “dont look like a girl” it makes sense why the appis now deleted.
I think this is a very interesting topic, considering the intention of the app and what it became from there. The general concept of creating a space where women can share experiences and stay safe in the dating field is great, however, I’m not surprised that this went so wrong. I think even labeling it the “tea” app invites more drama-centered responses and users as well as younger users, and kind of negates the original intention of the app. Seems not shocking that this became toxic and got removed from the app store. I would be interested to see something of this vain actually go successfully.
Hey Aliah, the Tea app is quite the hot topic right now. I feel like every day I hear at least one comment about the app. It was interesting to read about why the creator made the app, and I feel like it has strayed away from its original purpose. All I have heard recently is slander and cyberbullying of defenseless men.
Hi Aliah. I loved this post! I have had a lot of discussions with friends lately about the Tea app. I think there is a very significant argument for its benefits, as it can help keep women safe from predatory or unsafe men. I have seen many comments about guys that I have interacted with that have given me reason to be wary. However, this app opens up a major controversy: is it unethical to have an app where you can anonymously rate other people in your community? Based on that premise, I think the answer becomes clearer. I wonder how the attitude towards the app would have shifted if it had been created to rate women instead.
Hi Aliah!
I enjoyed reading your post! I think that this topic is interesting because it shows how quickly intention can be lost in the online world. A lot of the conversations I’ve had with my friends about this app were about how we couldn’t take many of the comments seriously because there’s no credible way of knowing which reviews were true. Even though I believe a lot of the people who initially downloaded this app were trying to be helpful in their reviews, I think it started to stray off as an opportunity to anonymously take shots at people. I also liked how you mentioned the conversation on hypocrisy. I think that there would be a louder demand for this app to be deleted if roles were reversed.