Gen Z date-rating app Tea has women cheering — and…
There’s a new app inflicting males to break into a cold sweat — and it’s not because they forgot their pockets on a first date.
Tea, a women-only app that lets customers post nameless Yelp-style evaluations of males they’ve dated, has shot to the highest of the Apple App Store — and smack into the center of a digital warfare between security and slander.
The platform, launched in 2023, lets women share tales and warnings about exes, Tinder flops, and potential predators.
Forget ghosting — this app has males begging to be left off the grid. Studio Romantic – stock.adobe.com
Users can toss out “green flags” or “red flags” — or, in some instances, blast a man’s whole romantic résumé into our on-line world.
The feed is full of candid commentary, catfish alerts, and more than a few “avoid this man” declarations.
“I see men freaking out today about this Tea app,” TikTokker @azalialexi mentioned in a latest video.
“If you don’t want things like this to exist then maybe look into advocating for women’s safety and actually holding your fellow men accountable.”
Tea’s web site claims the app was born after its founder, Sean Cook, “witnessed his mother’s terrifying experience with online dating — not only being catfished but unknowingly engaging with men who had criminal records.”
It now boasts almost 1 million customers, and it’s not just the protection options — like reverse image search and felony background checks — that are turning heads. The public evaluations are what actually set the app ablaze.
Launched in 2023, the app lets women dish on shady dates, dodgy exes and full-on predators — one swipe and horror story at a time. .tiktok/@theteapartygirls
“It’s kind of like a Carfax situation,” Sabrina Henriquez, 28, who came upon some of her exes had less-than-stellar scores on Tea, informed The Washington Post in a latest interview.
“It kind of saved [other women] from putting themselves in that situation.”
But not everybody’s right here for the gossip.
“I think the app has good intentions, it’s just very messy,” Donovan James, 21, also informed the outlet. “You’re always going to look bad in somebody’s eyes.”
Others fear it’s turning into digital vigilantism.
Apps like these or Facebook teams like “Are We Dating The Same Guy” are the “equivalent of whisper networks,” Chiara Wilkinson wrote for Dazed.
Or as Dazed author James Greig put it: “It’s digital vigilantism; the TikTok equivalent of a citizen’s arrest.”
Douglas Zytko, a professor at the University of Michigan at Flint, mentioned to The Washington Post that the app is filling a void courting apps never addressed: security.
Still, fears of false claims linger — and TikTok is crawling with jittery dudes doom-scrolling the injury. Mdv Edwards – stock.adobe.com
“There are multiple studies now showing that around 10 percent of overall cases of inappropriate assault are attributed to a dating app,” he famous.
Still, false accusations stay a concern. TikTok is now flooded with males nervously scrolling.
“Hot take: The tea app is toxic,” wrote @johnnysaysgo, who had a feminine buddy go undercover to see what women had been saying about him. “These women were clearly just upset… I was honest with them and respectful.”
User @david.serna.cadena warned: “Be careful.” He added that he can see the “vision” behind the app but famous that he is aware of “how vile” people who would possibly use it could possibly be.
And customers like @kristakilduff are just having fun with the drama after getting accepted into the app. “The men are not safe,” she mentioned with a giggle in a latest clip. “The Tea app has me weak — stay safe.”
The backlash — and buzz — around Tea is just the newest signal that the digital courting panorama is shifting, and not essentially for the higher.
As The Post beforehand reported, not all matches made in algorithm heaven are constructed to final.
A new research revealed in Computers in Human Behavior discovered that married {couples} who met online reported decrease ranges of satisfaction and stability than those who met IRL — a phenomenon dubbed the “online dating effect.”
Researchers pointed to elements like geographic distance, delayed household approval and lack of shared social circles as potential causes.
So, while courting apps may be great for scoring first dates and flings, they might not all the time ship fortunately ever after.
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