Apple’s ‘Invites’ App: A Not-So-Subtle Nod to Partiful

Apple has a habit of “Sherlocking” successful third-party apps—quietly watching their rise, then rolling out a built-in alternative that threatens to make them obsolete. The latest target? Partiful.

If you’ve hosted a party in the past year, you’ve probably used—or at least received an invite from—Partiful. The platform took off by making event planning actually fun, mixing nostalgia for early internet aesthetics with a dead-simple interface. It won Android App of the Year and was a finalist for Apple’s App of the Year—a rare achievement for a niche, non-billion-dollar company.

And now, Apple has released Invites, a new native app for iPhone that does… basically the same thing.

At first glance, Invites feels like Apple’s usual minimalist take: clean UI, deep iMessage integration, and a seamless Apple Calendar connection. But dig a little deeper, and it’s hard to ignore the similarities to Partiful—emoji-heavy RSVPs, shareable event links, and a lightweight, social-first approach to event planning.

The timing is suspect. Partiful just hit mainstream adoption, winning major industry recognition. Instead of acquiring them (or at least acknowledging their influence), Apple did what it often does: built a rival product directly into its ecosystem. This move makes it harder for Partiful to compete, since Invites will have prime real estate on every iPhone.

For indie developers, this is the nightmare scenario. You spend years crafting a breakout app, only to have Apple—or another tech giant—drop a near-identical feature and position it as the default. It’s happened before (RIP clipboard managers, weather apps, and email clients). But this one stings because Partiful was actively celebrated by Apple just months before.

Will Invites kill Partiful? Not necessarily. Apple’s track record with social apps is spotty (remember Ping? Game Center?). And Partiful still has its cult following. But it’s another reminder that in the app world, success doesn’t just put you on the map—it puts you in Apple’s crosshairs.