Apple has removed the viral dating apps Tea and TeaOnHer from its iOS App Store, citing persistent issues with content moderation and user privacy. According to data from Appfigures, both apps were taken down on October 21 following a wave of complaints and mounting controversy.
The Tea app, officially known as Tea Dating Advice, gained major traction in July after allowing women to post anonymous reviews of men — a feature that sparked heated debates around dating, privacy, and ethics. Its popularity soon inspired several copycats, including TeaOnHer, a similar version designed for men that briefly went viral in August.
An Apple spokesperson told Business Insider that both apps were removed after repeated violations of the company’s App Store policies. “Both apps failed to meet requirements around content moderation and user privacy,” the spokesperson said, adding that Apple had received an “excessive number of user complaints and negative reviews,” including reports that personal information belonging to minors was being shared on the platforms.
Apple also clarified that it typically works with developers to fix policy violations before taking such action. However, in this case, despite “repeated communication,” the same issues continued to persist.
Tea Dating Advice has not responded to Business Insider’s request for comment.
The removal follows a series of data breaches that plagued the Tea platform. In late July, the company admitted that a breach had exposed more than 72,000 images, including users’ selfies and driver’s licenses used for identity verification. Some users’ direct messages were also compromised, leading to multiple lawsuits.
Scott Cole, an attorney representing one of the lawsuits, told Business Insider in July that he didn’t believe Tea intentionally violated users’ privacy, but said the company was simply “sloppy” with its security practices.
Meanwhile, TeaOnHer faced its own technical controversy in August when its API documentation endpoints were briefly exposed due to a configuration error. Founder Xavier Lampkin told Business Insider that TechCrunch was the only party to access the data and that the issue was fixed within an hour of discovery.
Security researcher Kasra Rahjerdi also found that some users’ posts could be viewed through TeaOnHer’s publicly accessible API — which Lampkin later defended as a “transparency and safety feature.”
Despite Apple’s decision, TeaOnHer’s developer expressed disappointment. Lampkin said his team had implemented extensive safety updates, including AI-driven content filtering, manual moderation teams, enhanced protections for minors, and anti-cyberbullying systems.
“We’ve worked closely with Apple through 20+ rounds of feedback, implementing every safety feature they requested and removing thousands of inappropriate posts daily,” Lampkin said.
As of October 22, users who had already downloaded the apps report that they remain functional on their devices.
Meanwhile, another similar platform — Tea On Her & Him: Overheard — has now climbed to the No. 1 spot in Apple’s Lifestyle category, signaling that despite the removals, public interest in anonymous dating review apps remains high.