Hive Social is Back Online, Two Weeks After Security Issues Shut It Down

Hive Social is back online, two weeks after its creators abruptly shut down the service to address security concerns.

The app, which is best described as a combination of Twitter and Instagram, has been around for a few years, but has recently seen a huge increase in sign-ups over the past month and a half amid mounting issues at both Instagram and Twitter. Instagram has been heavily criticized for straying too far from its roots as a photo-sharing app as many users try to leave Twitter after Elon Musk’s takeover of the app in October.

In late November, Hive Social revealed that it had reached one million users, and more than 250,000 new sign-ups overnight, causing the app to move to the top spot in the social media category on the US App Store rose.

But two weeks ago, the app’s founders shut down the social network’s servers in response to security concerns raised by researchers who discovered several critical vulnerabilities on the app. They say even after signing up with Hive, several remained unsolved.

“Fixing these issues will require our servers to be temporarily shut down for several days,” the company said on Dec. 2.

Now, 14 days later, the app’s servers have been restored and users have been sent more than three push notifications to let them know it’s back online. That said, the app doesn’t seem to have a way for Hive to explain what’s changed, even if you tap on those notifications, and the company also doesn’t have a blog or news platform on its website.

Some users who have tried the app since its relaunch have reported that it generally works faster, but there are still multiple bugs, including some who report that profile pages appear blank or that nothing loads for them.

PetaPixel reached out to Hive Social to ask for details on security and privacy changes, but did not immediately receive a response.