Updated Feb. 5 with details of the new Invites app now it’s been confirmed by Apple, and how the new app will work.
Apple has just released a surprise new feature for the iPhone to help you invite people to parties and other events, according to a new report, as part of a revamp to Apple’s calendar app. And it’s available now. It’s an iPhone app, also available on the web, for anyone wanting to send an invite, but open to pretty much anyone to receive one.
Apple Invites.
What sets the app apart is how cleverly it’s integrated with the iPhone, for iCloud+ users, anyway, but also offers value to people who don’t subscribe to iCloud+ or even to those who don’t have an iPhone at all.
On Tuesday, Feb. 4, Apple announced that Apple Invites app had gone live: “a new app that brings people together for life’s special moments,” as it described it. This is the app that was predicted by Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman on Sunday, Feb. 2, when he rightly said it could go live within days. You can read all about his report below.
Here are the details Gurman didn’t have. It’s an iPhone-only app, it’s free to download and it’s available exclusively to iCloud+ subscribers. It’s designed so that users can create invitations. You don’t need an iCloud+ subscription to RSVP, though, or even an Apple device—anyone can reply.
“To get started with Apple Invites, users can choose an image from their photo library or from the app’s gallery of backgrounds — a curated collection of images representing different occasions and event themes,” Apple says. And there are cool details. Thanks to being integrated with Apple Maps and Weather, it “gives guests directions to the event and the forecast for that day.”
Users can even make the most of Apple Intelligence on compatible iPhones, to create original images through Image Playground.
With Invites, “you can generate a quick digital invitation that, when shared with your friends, lets them gather all the info about the event, RSVP, and add it to their calendar. That includes your Android friends, who can access invites using a web-based version of the app on the iCloud site,” as The Verge explains.
What makes it especially convenient is that you don’t have to try and get every detail into a text message or WhatsApp chat. It’s simple t add details like time, date and location. And then you can go to town with images of your own creation or your own curation.
There’s granular control over who can invite others and you can send notes to those who are invited. You can add a photo album or a music playlist via Apple Music, for instance.
Although it’s not as seamless an experience for Android users, as they have to enter their email addresses, it’s still pretty simple.
The app is available now and is free to download for iCloud+ subscribers. Here’s how we first heard about the app.
“As early as this coming week, Apple plans to introduce a new iCloud-based service dubbed ‘Confetti’ internally. As the festive code name implies, the service offers a new way to invite people to parties, functions and meetings,” according to Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman in his latest Power On newsletter.
Note that Gurman refers to it as a service, so it’s possible that it won’t be a standalone app but rather an enhanced part of the Calendar app or iMessage, perhaps.
“For years, Apple has been seeking to revamp its calendar app — and this new initiative could be the beginning of a broader effort. The release is tied to iOS 18.3, which just started rolling out last Monday,” Gurman goes on.
This chimes with a report from 9to5Mac in January which referred to something called Invites, discovered in the iOS 18.3 code, which “suggests that the Invites app will integrate with iCloud and will even have a web version on iCloud.com. The new app also integrates with a new iOS 18 daemon called GroupKit, which manages database models for groups of people. This daemon has been present since the first release of iOS 18.0 and hasn’t been used by any Apple apps so far.”
It seems that it will work by showing a list of the people invited to that event and which ones have confirmed their attendance. It could be that “Apple has plans to integrate it with other parts of the system (such as a mini iMessage app). Presumably, the app will have a more fun interface than what the Calendar app currently provides for inviting someone to an event,” 9to5Mac goes on.
What’s most intriguing is that Apple has never dropped the slightest hint that it’s working on this update, which could mean it won’t appear. But Gurman’s belief is that it might be just days away from employee testing, which could mean public release will follow soon after. More details as they emerge.
