Get the Party Started: Apple Officially Debuts ‘Apple Invites’
Credit: Apple
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Every once in a while, Apple moves ahead so fast that it makes our heads spin. Only two days ago, Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman revealed that Apple was preparing to roll out a new party planning app “internally” to employees. However, it seems that Apple had a more ambitious plan in mind.
Instead of only going with internal employee testing, Apple officially unveiled Apple Invites to the public this morning. Rather than merely an extension to the Calendar app and a cloud service like some were anticipating, Apple Invites is an entirely standalone app that you’ll need to download from the App Store.
To be clear, it’s still tied into a back-end iCloud service, and folks who don’t have the app can access it by visiting icloud.com/invites in any modern web browser. In fact, that’s what you’ll need to do if you’re using a Mac or an iPad, as the standalone app is iPhone-only.
This is a common trend with Apple’s “extra” apps. Apple Music Classical launched solely for the iPhone in early 2023, and while it’s since expanded to the iPad and even added CarPlay support, that only happened after it landed on Android. Meanwhile, Apple’s Journal app that arrived with iOS 17.2 remains iPhone-only, much to the disappointment of journalling enthusiasts. Ditto for Apple Sports.
So, it’s not a big surprise that Apple Invites is also limited to the iPhone. There’s no word on when it will come to Apple’s other platforms, but at least the web-based interface provides a usable option.
The other catch is that Apple Invites will be tied to an iCloud+ subscription. That’s a pretty low bar since it’s something many iPhone users are already paying for. Every iCloud storage plan — even the $0.99 per month 50 GB tier — includes all the iCloud+ features, and Apple Invites won’t be an exception.
With Apple Invites, an event comes to life from the moment the invitation is created, and users can share lasting memories even after they get together. Apple Invites brings together capabilities our users already know and love across iPhone, iCloud, and Apple Music, making it easy to plan special events.
Brent Chiu-Watson, Apple’s senior director of Worldwide Product Marketing for Apps and iCloud
How it Works
To be clear, you’ll only need an iCloud+ plan to create invitations. Anyone can RSVP, and they don’t even need an Apple device or Apple Account (nee Apple ID) to do so. You can send out invites via a public link that can be posted on a website, shared in a group chat, or dropped just about anywhere else, and guests can enter the details when they RSVP.
You can also choose to approve the guest list, and you can still invite friends and family directly from your contacts list, in which case they’ll get a unique invite link.
To ensure greater privacy, invitees without an Apple Account will still need to enter and verify their email address to see more details about the event and RSVP to it. If you’ve chosen to require your approval before guests can RSVP, you’ll receive a notification when someone signs up with an email address you haven’t explicitly invited. They won’t be able to see any event details until you approve their request.
If you haven’t set your event to require approval, anyone who signs in with a valid email address can see the full details of your event, although their address will be added to your list of invitees as soon as they sign in, even if they don’t choose an RSVP option.
You can also allow guests to invite one to five additional guests and remove the background preview from the sign-in page for greater privacy. You can also post updates for everyone you’ve invited; they’ll get an email to let them know there’s a new message available, but they’ll have to sign in to see what you’ve written.
Apple Invites also has a few other handy tricks up its sleeve. You can choose from a collection of abstract event backgrounds, select your own image from your Photos library, or capture a new one with your camera. If you have an iPhone 15 Pro or newer, you can also call up Image Playground directly from the Invites app to create an AI-generated background.
There’s integration with Apple Calendar and Apple Maps here, of course, plus Apple Weather so you can see a forecast for the date and time of the event right in the invite. You can even create a Shared iCloud Photo Album and Apple Music Playlist to allow guests to contribute their own photos and tracks for the event. Invitees will need an Apple Account to participate, but an Apple Music subscription isn’t required.
Apple Invites is now available for free download from the App Store. It requires an iPhone running iOS 18 or later. Older iPhone models — and Macs and iPads — can access Apple Invites on the web at icloud.com/invites or by signing into the iCloud web app and clicking the new Invites button.
