[Update] Days After Apple’s Takedown, ShareChat Pulls Plug on Social Discovery App Vibely
Apple removed Vibely from the App Store over content moderation concerns, and ShareChat has now decided to wind down the app entirely.
Intelligence analysis by GPT-5.4 Mini
![[Update] Days After Apple’s Takedown, ShareChat Pulls Plug on Social Discovery App Vibely](https://inc42.com/cdn-cgi/image/quality=90/https://asset.inc42.com/2026/06/Apple-Takes-Down-ShareChats-Social.jpg)
ShareChat’s experimental social discovery app Vibely was first pulled from Apple’s App Store after moderation policy concerns, then voluntarily discontinued across all channels, including Google Play. The company said Vibely never scaled meaningfully and was only a small part of the business.
ShareChat had a small app called Vibely, like a side experiment for private chats and calls. Apple said it broke safety rules, and then ShareChat decided to switch it off completely instead of fighting to keep it running.
Analysis
What happened
Apple removed ShareChat’s social discovery app Vibely from the App Store, citing content moderation concerns tied to its rules for apps with user-generated content. The article says Apple pointed to alleged “random or anonymous chat” on the app as the reason for the takedown.
ShareChat’s response
ShareChat parent Mohalla Tech said Vibely was one of its experimental products for testing new forms of trusted social interaction. In its statement, the company said the app contributed only a negligible share of the group’s business and never moved beyond an early experimental phase. It also said it was reviewing Apple’s updated policies and wanted to better understand how they were being applied to the product.
The update
Days after Apple’s removal, the company said Vibely would be voluntarily discontinued across all channels, including the Google Play Store, effective midnight on June 9, 2026. That means the app is being wound down rather than just paused on one platform.
Broader context
Vibely launched in 2024 and focused on one-on-one private voice and video interactions between registered users, including creators and influencers. The episode matters because it shows how dependent consumer social products are on platform rules, especially when the product involves user-generated interaction that can create moderation risk. It also underlines a practical reality for startups: if a product is not scaling and also faces distribution friction, shutting it down can be the fastest way to limit further drag on the business.
On the financial side, the article notes that ShareChat has been cutting losses and keeping revenue broadly flat, which suggests the company is still under pressure to prioritize products with clearer operating value.
Key points
- Apple removed Vibely from the App Store over alleged content moderation violations.
- ShareChat said Vibely was an experiment in trusted social interaction and a negligible part of its business.
- The company later said Vibely would be discontinued across all channels, including Google Play.
- Vibely launched in 2024 and focused on private one-on-one voice and video interactions.
- The episode highlights moderation and platform-policy risk for social apps.
If ShareChat’s reading is correct, ending Vibely could let the company focus more attention on products with stronger traction and clearer economics. The company’s review of Apple’s policy could also help it design future apps that fit platform rules better from the start.
The takedown suggests that apps built around user-to-user interaction can run into moderation problems quickly, even if the company sees them as experimental. Shutting Vibely down may also signal that the product never reached enough scale to justify continued work once distribution and policy issues surfaced.
