Apple has pulled the embattled women's dating safety app Tea from the App Store, because it continued to fail to meet requirements that mandate content moderation and user privacy.

The viral dating safety app Tea, designed to help protect women, came under fire over the summer for two serious breaches involving user data. Months later, the app's woes have continued, thanks to Apple's decision to take the app down from the App Store.

Attempts to download the app from the App Store are greeted by a warning stating the app is not available in the user's country or region. In effect, it's inaccessible to everyone.

Apple confirmed to 404 Media that the app was taken down by the company, as well as the copycat app TeaOnHer. The app had not managed to abide by parts of its App Store guidelines regarding content moderation and privacy.

The app should not be used to share someone's personal data without their permission, Apple explained. It also needed mechanisms for reporting objectionable content.

Apple also confirmed it had received a large number of complaints about the app, including some about the personal data of minors being posted by users.

As usual for app takedowns, the developers behind Tea can make changes to bring the app to within Apple's guidelines. After that, the app can be reviewed and potentially listed in the App Store once again.

Privacy issues on privacy issues

Failing to abide by Apple's guidelines is bad, but not the worst thing to have happened to an app that promised user privacy and security. Lawsuits started to roll in from July, claiming Tea had failed to adequately safeguard personally identifiable information.

The lawsuits were filed following two major breaches of the app, which involved the exposure of highly sensitive user information. This included user selfies and images of identity documents, which were later shared on image boards.

Over a million direct messages were also seized in breaches, which contained personal details from users. This included discussions of abortions, cheating partners, and other sensitive conversations.

The breaches certainly didn't help an app that tried to offer an anonymous user setup experience and promoted itself as a private service.

Following the breaches, Tea immediately took its direct messaging feature offline, insisting it was investigating the cause of the breach.