Tea, a women’s dating app that has surged to the top of the free iOS App Store listings, suffered a major security breach last week. A new report reveals that private messages exchanged by over 1.1 million users were leaked online, exposing deeply personal conversations, including those discussing cheating partners, abortions, and phone numbers.
This breach comes just days after selfies and government-issued IDs of users were exposed. The latest leak involves a newer and significantly larger cache of data, raising even greater concerns about the platform’s security practices. According to the report, the internal API of the app was left exposed, allowing anyone with access to view private user messages.
The messages date back to early 2023 and extend up to the past week. Unlike the earlier breach, which Tea claimed involved outdated storage systems, this issue affected active infrastructure, making it more severe. The exposed chats revealed women finding out they were dating the same man, sharing identifying details like the car he drove. Others discussed sensitive personal experiences such as abortions and troubled relationships. Some messages came from wives who had discovered their husbands on the app and contacted other users.
Despite Tea’s recommendation that users choose anonymous usernames, many included their real names, phone numbers, or links to social media accounts in conversations. This has led to renewed fears about the safety and privacy of those using the app.
Tea, which boasts over 1.6 million users and had recently climbed the App Store charts, became popular for its strict verification process that relied on user-submitted selfies. However, the consecutive breaches have raised questions about the platform’s data protection capabilities. There is still uncertainty over whether others, beyond the researcher, accessed the exposed data. With both sensitive identity documents and personal conversations now potentially compromised, concerns around user safety have reached a critical level.
