Before the data breach, Tea reported a "massive surge in growth" in recent weeks, as the app gained attention through videos and discussions on social media about dating and gender dynamics. The app was listed as the "top free app in Apple's download charts", said The New York Times, "and was also highly ranked in the Google Play store".

Tea, a women's dating safety app that recently surged to the top of the free iOS App Store listings, suffered a major security breach last week. The company confirmed Friday that it "identified authorized access to one of our systems" that exposed thousands of user images. And now we know that DMs were accessed during the breach, too.

The Tea app has shut down its messaging service after another database filled with sensitive info has been leaked online.