I feel that’s exactly what it was built to compete against especially with the shared photos after etc
Then think bigger please!
Is it 2006?
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No one uses WhatsApp in the US.
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WhatsApp would disagree with you there… (as for active users, who knows?).
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So I’ve spent a lot of time (two periods) throughout my life living and growing up in America. Most of the folks I know are American and live there. I don’t know any who use WhatsApp (they use Facebook’s messenger app instead). But every Brit I know, on the other hand, uses WhatsApp.
Now you see, I only know 1 person who uses WhatsApp in the UK. Everyone else I communicate with uses iMessage. I suspect it’s all rather subjective.
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Well even when I arrange things in the US it’s just done over iMessage. It’s not a deep thing. Creating whole events just is not done once you become an adult.
Well those folks aren’t going to just use iMessage. It’s not cross platform. They’ll likely have another client on their phone too, and in the U.K., that’s very likely to be WhatsApp.
It’s far more ubiquitous here, which was the point I was trying to make with my hyperbole retort, so doesn’t exist as the same solution it does in the U.K.
According to Statistica, 79% of the UK population are WhatsApp users as of 2023, and according to Cybercrew by way of Tyntec, 94% of them use it at least weekly, and 73% at least daily. That 100 million figure for the US, in contrast, is only about 30% of the US population, and doesn’t stipulate that they actively use it. So there’s quite a big disparity there.
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It certainly was hyperbolic, hence my response. 
Now you’ve explained further, your wider point does make some sense.
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I just don’t think adults are the target for this really at all.
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Maybe not. I just wish more actually useful or groundbreaking things came out of Apple.
At times I feel like they’ve gone “Monzo” and obsess over stuff I’ve never in my life met an adult ask for eg. Emojis and the like.
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It’s certainly niche, which is why it’s its own thing rather than baked into the calendar app. But I rather like it. I suspect the disconnect here is more American vs Brit than adult or otherwise. Or perhaps generational.
This looks like something totally in tune with the way folks I know do things, particularly back in the US, and particularly with the little ecosystem tie-ins. It’ll be very popular for weddings and birthdays, I bet, where RSVP card invitations are the norm. Baby showers/gender reveal parties too. The test my friend just did is for their housewarming party next month. Looks a good solution for that too. And aside birthday parties, those are typically adult events. Beats the chaos of trying to plan things via a group chat, too.
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That’s definitely true for the Invites app. It’s not even fully functional for all iOS users (even those with the latest devices), in order to send invites you have to upgrade to iCloud+
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I’ve never had much chaos to organise something before this. I’ve certainly never worried about the weather much if it’s indoors.
Much like how I know you like the Genmojis and such I sometimes wonder if your friends are very different to a lot of others here. Having lived in the US I have a lot of US friends and take regular trips there and we just send a time and place via a chat and that’s it. If we share photos it’s a shared album or sent via chat.
It’s currently so basic it’s a solution looking for a problem.
It absolutely doesn’t need to be a standalone app.
I think you’re making the age old mistake of believing that because it isn’t useful to you (or your social group), it mustn’t be for anyone else, either!
It sounds like your meet-ups are only ever small affairs of just a few folks, and if that’s the case, it probably is just better to arrange it over iMessage. But if you’re throwing a beach BBQ (or any of the kind of events I listed as an example in my post above) in the summer for about 20 folks, you’re really going to prefer something like this over a group chat.
I think an app like this just streamlines the entire thing for larger gatherings. An interface where you can clearly see who is or isn’t attending, the weather at the the time and location of the event, one-tap rescheduling, a single dedicated place for photos from the event (something that’s always been a hellish experience for even a small group of us going to Disney), and associated with a group chat.
I think it’s a very good solution to a niche problem, and I think that’s why it’s better off for being its own dedicated app that is an optional install. I think being its own thing makes the experience a lot better, too.
We’ll see how it goes with the housewarming party next month, but my general first impressions are that I like this a lot even if I’ll only use it once or twice a year, and probably never as a host.
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Are you not just doing the same? 
And it’s not just me. Or my social group. Nobody here is particularly thrilled. Read the comments over on MacRumors or other tech sites. It’s not gone down as a particularly useful app. Sure it might be okay every now and then but nothing very useful.
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Changes to the calendar app though would be an iOS update, probably with it being previewed at WWDC and released as a major update. Maybe this is their way of getting something out quickly, see how it goes, and then later on integrate it if it’s successful.
This is definitely a ‘competitor’ for something like Facebook Events invites (which my whole life seems to be based around) and with the current backlash/exodus going on (at least in the US) from Meta services due to their change in dealing with fake news on their platform and fact checkers, maybe they saw this as an opportunity to grab a bit of that market with something that’s not in a particular crowded market.
You’re probably right, though I think it’s a weird way to do it.
Anyway it’s an app; if one of us uses it a lot then by sheer volume of Apple customers globally there’ll be a good number of users to keep them happy.
Just like Clips app 
No, I don’t think so. I acknowledged and agreed that it’s not especially useful to you (or to most folks). I described it as niche, even, in both my posts. I don’t know if you just glossed over my scenarios where I see a benefit for me, but you replied doubling down on the fact that you (and most folks here and elsewhere) believe it is still not useful.
I just can’t imagine how anyone could plan and organise an event on the scale of a wedding (or any large gathering for that matter) over a whastapp group chat, for instance, whereas this app would trivialise it (I see the competing standard as something you would traditionally send out invitation cards for, not arrange over group chat). But if you can arrange your wedding over a WhatsApp group chat, and even prefer it that way, all the power to you!