The most downloaded free app on Apple's App Store currently isn't ChatGPT, Threads or Google. It's Tea, a dating advice app that lets women review men they've gone out with, as well as warn other single women about dates they claim went awry.

Tea Dating Advice, an app for helping women vet their dates, is also a top app on the Google Play Store, where it's been downloaded more than 100,000 times. 

The app's maker says it offers a measure of security for users that traditional dating apps don't. Tea doesn't match singles with potential dates; rather, it's a place for women to share information about men they've dated. Tea lets users run background checks on potential matches, check to see if they have criminal records or appear on sex offender databases, and more, all through the app. 

The app also ensures that users who sign up are women by requesting that they submit a selfie for verification. That's aimed at protecting users against so-called catfishing schemes, in which people create fake online personas, often as part of a scheme to defraud others.

Tea declined to comment for this article. 

Safety in numbers

To be sure, most of the features that Tea offers already exist. Social media forums, such as the Facebook group called "Are we dating the same guy?," also let women compare notes about their dates in a community forum. The main difference: scale. Tea has more than 1.6 million users, according to its website.

"What this app seems to be doing is centralizing all that into one very large community," Doug Zytko, an associate professor at the University of Michigan-Flint who researches human-computer interactions for safety, told CBS 魅影直播. 

Zytko, who has extensively studied dating app designs, said that safety "has not been prioritized" for most such tools in the market, which he said helps explain why Tea has struck a chord with women. 

"The dating app safety features that exist are largely reactive in nature. They're not about keeping people safe, but are punitive actions one can take after something has occurred," he added. 

Zytko also acknowledged the concerns of some men, voiced on forums like Reddit, that Tea users could share false information about them.

"If inaccurate information about a man is being shared, that damages his dating prospects and social reputation," Zytko said. "That's scary, but it's not a reason to discount the app."

Another potential risk is one common to all social media platform, and digital information more broadly. Tea confirmed to CBS News that its app was hacked Friday morning, with bad actors accessing a data storage system containing information, including selfies, that members had uploaded prior to February 2024. 

Additionally, hackers accessed almost 60,000 images from posts, plus comments and direct messages, the company said.

"Tea has engaged third-party cybersecurity experts and are working around the clock to secure its systems," the company said in a statement, noting that it is investigating the incident. "At this time, there is no evidence to suggest that additional user data was affected."

• Apple