Remember that viral Tea app? The controversial ‘dating safety’ platform is back, this time on the web

Two data breaches , multiple class action lawsuits , and a removal from the Apple App Store later, the popular and controversial dating safety app Tea for Women is back and launching a new website version of its services today. Billed as a “Yelp for men,” Tea was created in 2023 but was relatively unknown until July 2025, when it quickly became a viral sensation and shot to the top of App Store downloads—at one point outranking ChatGPT on the Apple App Store. Similar to “Are We Dating the Same Guy?” Facebook groups, Tea offered women what they thought was a secure forum to obtain information and advice on men they had matched with on dating apps. Women using the platform wanted to ensure that romantic prospects were safe to meet in person and to root out abusers, predators, and cheaters, which Tea allowed them to do through built-in background checks, a sex offender map, and reverse image searches. Users could also vote on whether a man’s behavior was desirable or shady by selecting red or green flag icons under someone’s post, offering the creator a sort of pulse check that they might otherwise have had to wait for until their next girls’ night out. But after landing on the public’s radar, the app quickly faced backlash and sparked debates about gender divides in dating and men’s right to privacy in a digital-first era. Back-to-back data breaches ensued: Hackers gained access to 72,000 images, including users’ government IDs and selfies, and over 1 million messages, then posted them to 4chan, an anonymous forum primarily used by men and historically a home to incel culture and hate speech . [Image: Tea] Legal fallout and App Store ban At least 10 potential class action lawsuits followed, alleging that Tea had been negligent in its data practices. At the time of the hack, Tea’s privacy policy asserted that users’ selfies were deleted once their profiles had been verified. Images leaked in the breach, however, dated back to 2023 , contradicting the app’s own privacy policy. (As of August 11, 2025, Tea’s privacy policy has been updated to state that it retains user data for “as long as [a user’s] account is active as needed to provide [a user] the Services, or where we have an ongoing legitimate business need.”) In October, the app was removed from Apple’s App Store for failing to meet standards around privacy, content moderation, and user experience. On the Google Play Store, where Tea is still available for download, a notable number of negative reviews complain of glitchiness, trouble staying logged in, and a lack of free features. Some reviewers also reported that they were denied the ability to use the app after submitting a selfie to prove their gender identity—Tea is a women-only platform—alleging that they were rejected for not appearing feminine enough. New Tea aims to right past wrongs The launch of Tea 2.0, the new website version of the app, aims to remedy these safety issues...

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