Tea Dating Exhortation is an legal app that has unobtrusively existed since 2023?
but it soared to the best of Apple’s legal app store this week after getting a ton of consideration on social media. Since the begin of the week, the app creator says, something like a million modern clients have marked up. Tea is promoted legal as a “dating security tool” for ladies, and it vows to give ten percent of its income to the National Residential Viciousness Hotline.
How does it accomplish security? By letting clients post photographs and assemble data approximately potential suitors. Numerous men online saw the point of how the app might ensure ladies, but a number of individuals communicated stress around the decency and the lawfulness of it all, extending from the philosophical to the individual. “The hazard of manhandle is madly madly high,” said one Redditor in a dialog on /security. “It appears lovely socially pernicious on the off chance that any human can have a social media profile they can’t see made for them without their assent or knowledge,” one Twitter client composed. And, of course: “
They got me fellas,” one man posted on TikTok, appearing what showed up to be a report approximately him on the app. (“Welp time to move,” he concluded.) At that point, on July 25, 4chan clients claimed they found a database related to the app that included photographs of users’ IDs and other data, including more fuel to the protection fire. (The company affirmed the breach to 404 Media.) So what’s the lawful tea? How does Tea work? Tea opens to a nourish showing photographs of men, posted by mysterious clients with screen names. In a few posts, ladies inquire for “tea” — meaning the chatter — on somebody they’re curious about, whereas others give point by point audits of men.
The app doesn’t permit screenshots (on the off chance that you try, all you’ll conclusion up with may be a dark screen). When clients go to post a “man,” the app inquires for the man’s to begin with title, assessed age, and area. They can moreover incorporate a caption and photographs. To distribute the post, clients must select a box that says, “All articulations are genuine.” Clients can respond to posts with green or ruddy banners, include comments, and share content posts on a gathering, where a few clients inquire for exhortation. (In present day dating lingo, ruddy banners liken to caution signs
. Green banners are the inverse — signs of passionate insights or respectfulness, for case.) For occurrence, there’s a greatest of five free looks a month, after which clients are given a choice: pay for Tea’s $15 a month membership or welcome companions to the app and open highlights such as boundless looks. A slew of other paywalled highlights require a membership, counting foundation checks, phone number lookup, and reverse-image look. The app says 10% of benefits are given to the National Household Viciousness Hotline. What are the legitimate concerns?
The incorporation of men âs names, personalities, and other data has activated individuals to inquire:- Does the app empower clients to damage othersâ protection rights? The Teaâs greatest issues are really down to earth, not legitimate. Tea unquestionably raises intriguing questions almost security, the computerized age, and standards of present day sentiment, but to a great extent remains clear of any major legitimate issues within the U.S. by creating the gathering within the way it did. The Teas Dating Exhortation app on Apple’s app store. Rebecca Wright/CNN Is this an attack of protection?
In common, the correct to protection covers the proper to be free from intrusion into oneâs individual undertakings, the capacity to control who has get to to oneâs individual data and the correct to be free from outlandish exposure. We all appreciate a few right to keep private our issues and â pertinent here â our pictures Tea Dating Exhortation, moreover called Tea, is an mysterious app going viral. Screenshot/Apple/Tea Dating Counsel Jul 25, 2025, 1:14 AM GMT+5:30 Spare Spared ⢠Tea, an app where ladies share mysterious dating audits, is going viral. ⢠We broke down how the app works and the responses it’s gotten
. It propelled in 2023 and has been quickly rising the charts within the past few weeks. Sensor Tower, a showcasing insights firm that tracks app information, assessed that downloads expanded 185% within the to begin with 20 days of July compared with the same period in June. Tea was established by Sean Cook, whose LinkedIn page says he already held parts at Salesforce and Shutterfly. Concurring to Tea’s site, Cook propelled the app “after seeing his mother’s unnerving encounter with online dating â not as it were being catfished but unconsciously locks in with men who had criminal records.” The concept for the app isn’t precisely novel.
Facebook bunches, where ladies share encounters with men they’ve dated, risen in 2022. Around a decade prior, there was Lulu, an app where ladies may rate men. Tea’s viral minute has come in an time of swiping weakness, when occupant dating apps and unused new businesses alike are attempting to rethink the dating scene. How does Tea work? Tea opens to a bolster showing photographs of men, posted by mysterious clients with screen names. In a few posts, ladies inquire for “tea” â meaning
the chatter â on somebody they’re fascinated by, whereas others give nitty gritty audits of men. The app doesn’t allow screenshots (if you attempt, all you’ll conclusion up with may be a dark screen) .
When clients go to post a “man,” the app inquires for the man’s to begin with title, assessed age, and area. They can moreover incorporate a caption and photographs. To distribute the post, clients must select a box that says, “All articulations are genuine.” Clients can respond to posts with green or ruddy banners, include comments, and share content posts on a gathering, where a few clients inquire for exhortation. (In advanced dating lingo, ruddy banners liken to caution signs.
Green banners are the inverse â signs of enthusiastic insights or respectfulness, for case.) The app locks a few highlights behind a paywall. Related stories Tea app that lets ladies post mysterious dating surveys was hit by a information breach that uncovered 72K pictures Why the following app for connections won’t see like a dating app, concurring to a VC For occasion, there’s a greatest of five free looks a month, after which clients are given a choice:
pay for Tea’s $15 a month membership or welcome companions to the app and open highlights such as boundless looks. A slew of other paywalled highlights require a membership, counting foundation checks, phone number lookup, and reverse-image look. The app says 10% of benefits are given to the National Household Viciousness Hotline. Another mysterious app goes viral The company posted a story to its Instagram on Wednesday saying the app “gotten more than 900,000 demands to connect” this week. Tea has gotten a warm gathering from clients so distant, with an normal rating of 4.7 out of more than 60,000 appraisals on the App Store
The app has too incited a run of solid responses on social media
. Notices of Tea on both X and Reddit started picking up steam on July 17, agreeing to the social media observing company PeakMetrics. Coincidentally, that adjusts with the unwinding of the Coldplay “kiss cam” adventure. Whereas Tea is centered on women’s dating, it joins the positions of viral mysterious apps â such as Yik Yak and AskFM â that have, in numerous occurrences, been criticized for their potential to cultivate cyberbullying and badgering. In its investigation, PeakMetrics composed that a “noteworthy subject” in online talks on Reddit was the app’s moral suggestions, “especially with respect to protection and the potential for maligning.”