Apple Invites is a new app that helps iPhone users create and share custom invitations, send RSVPs, and add information to calendars. The app also facilitates contributions to shared photo albums and Apple Music playlists. Users can download Apple Invites from the App Store or access it on the web through icloud.com/invites. An iCloud+ premium subscription is necessary to create and send invitations, but anyone can RSVP and share in group activities, regardless of whether they have an Apple account or use iOS or Android. Additionally, the Invites app integrates with Apple Intelligence.

“The launch marks Apple’s latest instance of ‘Sherlocking’ a service,” which means “introducing a new feature or app that offers the same functionality as an existing popular third-party app,” TechCrunch writes, noting “Invites is pretty similar to Partiful, a popular invitation app that was crowned Google Play’s Best App of 2024.”

Also competing in the space are Posh, Evite, Paperless Post, and Sendo Invitations.

“When creating an invitation with Apple Invites, users can select a photo from their library or pick one from the app’s gallery,” TechCrunch adds. “The app integrates with Maps and Weather to give guests directions to the event and to notify them about the forecast for that day.”

Participants can add photos and videos to a dedicated Shared Album within each invite to preserve memories for those who would like to relive the event, and collaborative playlists allow Apple Music subscribers to create a curated event soundtrack that guests can access directly from Apple Invites.

Additionally, those with phones that have Apple Intelligence can use it to enhance their Invites, Apple explains in a newsroom post that says “users can tap in to the built-in Image Playground experience to produce original images using concepts, descriptions, and people from their photo library” and use Writing Tools “to help find just the right turn of phrase to meet the moment.”

The Verge calls it “a mostly straightforward, easy-to-use app that offers a better way to invite friends to things than trying to cram all the details into a text message or make sure everyone checks their Facebook events.”

“You can invite people by picking from your contacts, manually entering phone numbers or email addresses, or copying a link to your event and sending it from outside the app,” The Verge explains. “The app also lets you choose whether each person is allowed to invite others, and you can send notes to invitees after the event is created.”