Apple Launches New 'Invites' App

[xander49x]

I'm an iCloud+ subscriber running iOS 18.3 on an iPhone 16 Pro Max.

I can't find Invite anywhere. I've searched the App Store, Settings and my iPhone.

it's called Apple invite.

 

[simon3163]

WhatsApp already kills this dead.
Wouldn’t use it as not everyone has an iPhone…

Plus should be integrated into messenger.

 

[The_Gream]

Can you only use Apple music play lists?
Would be nice to have the option for Spotify, etc.

Even if it Apple allowed Spotify, I don’t think Spotify would support it.
Spotify from my understanding promised HomePod support etc and never delivered. Only thing Spotify really needed to add was AirPlay 2 and won’t even do that. They just complain Apple is anti-competitive but won’t take the time to use the APIs Apple includes with the standard developer license that let them do they things they complain about.

 

[dguisinger]

Finally, Apple released something everyone was clammering for.... maybe next they can bring back Microsoft Bob

 

[netsped]

Damn, I really hope that's not supposed to hint at how iOS 19 will look like.. so much transparency 🤢.

 

[brofkand]

Bold of Apple to lock something so basic behind a paywall.

 

[turbineseaplane]

Damn, I really hope that's not supposed to hint at how iOS 19 will look like.. so much transparency 🤢.

Yeah, I agree.
Sadly, their care about usability and accessibility is mostly lip service at this point

 

[aries81]

It is the same idea as the Journal app. If Apple keeps making apps that cover everything you could ever want to do on a phone and get people to use their apps for free instead of paying a 3rd party app, it’s a lot harder for someone to leave and go to Android.

If my life journal is on my phone, all my invites on my iCloud account, all my notes are in the notes app, etc. it creates a gigantic friction point for users to ever even consider switching. This is the game Apple has been playing for some time now. They have been aware of this and has been their strategy for a while.

So basically, Apple’s strategy is to provide services such as notes, a daily journal, sports, everything you would potentially use a 3rd party for, for free. Apple’s value proposition is that they are providing these tools for free, and in exchange, we get further and further locked into their ecosystem. 3rd party notes apps, music apps, journal apps make it very easy to switch platforms. If Apple can convince you to use their apps, they are betting you would never leave because it would be so hard to do so. You would lose everything.

Hotel California… you can checkout anytime you’d like but you can NEVER leave.

Journal still exists???

 

[turbineseaplane]

Journal still exists???

But not on the iPad.
You know the thing that is the size of an actual journal that has pencil support

Absolutely baffling

 

[bmark]

Apple has lost touch with innovation! The invites app was not needed at all.

 

[Jumpthesnark]

Nice idea. Probably dead in the water though since guests need to provide some sort of email to reply...

The way that all other online invitation apps/sites work? If I get an Evite from a friend, for example, they had to send it to my email address.

What would you prefer if not an email for replies? A phone number? WhatsApp account? The app needs a way to exchange responses between users, so if it's not telepathic, it's going to be something.

 

[rungxanh2901]

No thanks. Still gonna use chat apps to plan and send invites

 

[bk125]

The app doesn't seem to support apartment numbers in the address field.

 

[cateye]

HomePod support etc and never delivered.

Given how inconsequential the HomePod is, do you blame them? They're not the only third party streaming service that never bothered to create a HomePod hook.

Only thing Spotify really needed to add was AirPlay 2 and won’t even do that.

When you're in the Spotify universe, Spotify Connect has more features and generally works better than AirPlay. Yes, given Spotify supports Casting to Google devices, AirPlay 2 support would be nice, but its lacking is hardly a limiting factor.

The HomePod is a dongle for an Apple Music subscription. If you're going to insist on locking yourself to HomePods, that's going to be the best pathway to get the most out of them. Or, you get the equivalent Sonos units which support pretty much everything.

 

[Misterioso]

iCards rises from the dead

 

[Astuces iOS]

No Journal app, on iPad, is so bizarre

Like ... hello Apple ... people might like to use the Apple Pencil and "write in their journal"?

Um you can adapt to make it cool.

 

[timeislove]

I have iCloud+, but I think it's hilarious that invite creation is behind a paywall.

Adding to your point, the worst of all is the invited parties have to be Apple account holder!

Who bother to join the event if the invited parties are required to create an Apple account?

Same for the iCloud file sharing which requires the recipient to create an Apple account to access the file!


Apple shall abandon the assumption of sharing among Apple users and facing the fact that nearly 70% of the market are android mobile users !

 

[aries81]

This is also not going to work out great because there are still quite a few countries where Android phones are more predominant than iPhones.

 

[timeislove]

Only for icloud+ and iphone? Their decisions are getting stranger…

And Apple users only as the invited parties have to create an Apple account to join!

Useless feature after all.

 

[jblank]

Bizarre that this is an app that doesn't have an iPad release. It kind of screams "iPad" to me, but what do I know.

 

[ryanasimov]

Not an app I have much use for, but the icon is delightful.

 

[JTK Awesome]

“Can’t innovate, my ass”

 

[KeithBN]

I'm an iCloud+ subscriber running iOS 18.3 on an iPhone 16 Pro Max.

I can't find Invite anywhere. I've searched the App Store, Settings and my iPhone.

It’s on the App Store.

https://apps.apple.com/gb/app/apple-invites/id6472498645 For the U.K. version for example

 

[timeislove]

I need to know / see the following before using it:

- What does it look like when someone on an earlier version of iOS receives the invite? How do they respond?
- What does it look like when an Android user receives the invite? How do they respond?
- What does it look like when I only have an email address for a contact, not phone number? How do they respond?

The invited parties have to be Apple account holders or to create an account to join the event!

Really useless given 70% of the market are using android phones.

Useless feature! Calendar invite is even better!

 

[code-m]

This must be one of the exciting new innovations that Tim Cook mentioned during the recent earnings call. Probably took a programming intern a weekend or a week to get this done plus testing. Odd decision for Apple to keep this behind a paid service, it would be better to have it free for all Apple hardware. Steve Jobs even gave away iLife software for free with every new hardware purchase and I believe it was also free for present hardware insofar it met the hardware requirements to run it.

Penny pinching Tim at it again.