Jack Dorsey-backed Vine reboot Divine launches to the public

A caller task to bring backmost Vine’s six-second looping videos is present disposable for download connected the App Store and Google Play. Divine, arsenic this Vine reboot is called, offers entree to an archive of astir 500,000 Vine videos, restored from a backup of the archetypal service, and allows creators to station caller Vines erstwhile again.

Divine was financed by “and Other Stuff,” a nonprofit formed successful May 2025 by Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey. The non-profit is focused connected backing experimental unfastened root projects that person the imaginable to alteration the societal media landscape. Dorsey’s backing of Divine doesn’t marque him a accepted capitalist since he’s not looking to get a instrumentality here. Rather, his extremity is to close an earlier mistake helium made arsenic CEO of Twitter: shutting down Vine successful the archetypal place.

To make Divine, Evan Henshaw-Plath, an aboriginal Twitter worker and member of “and Other Stuff,” explored the Vine archive. Henshaw-Plath, who goes by “Rabble” online, explained that overmuch of Vine’s contented was primitively backed up by a assemblage archiving task known arsenic the Archive Team.

Image Credits:Divine

Those videos had been stored arsenic large, 40-50 GB binary files, which required Rabble to constitute large information scripts to fig retired however the files worked and however to reconstruct them, on with the idiosyncratic engagement, similar the views, likes, and comments, that were associated with the archetypal videos.

Not each information was capable to beryllium restored, but advancement has been made. The app initially launched to testers past November with immoderate 100,000 of Vine’s apical videos, past grew to astir 300,000 videos conscionable up of today’s launch, Rabble told TechCrunch. Now, the app hosts astir 500,000 videos from astir 100,000 archetypal Vine creators arsenic it becomes publically disposable for the archetypal time.

The effort has attracted the attraction of respective aboriginal Vine creators, including Lele Pons, JimmyHere, MightyDuck, and Jack and Jack, among others. (Divine idiosyncratic profiles are viewable connected the web, adjacent if you don’t person the Divine mobile app.)

Image Credits:Divine

Rabble said the archetypal program was to rapidly propulsion retired the app aft immoderate archetypal tests, but aboriginal Viners encouraged the squad to clasp off.

“It was really the Viners who were similar ‘no, nary — this is mode much important than conscionable nostalgia,” helium explains. The users said they wanted thing similar Vine that would reset societal media and filter retired AI slop. “They’re the ones who told america to hold and get it right. And truthful that’s what we did.”

The squad rolled up their sleeves, revisited and rewrote the codification successful parts, and focused connected the app’s design.

The mentation of Divine launching contiguous is simply a effect of those efforts, and includes features similar compilation mode, which reflects however overmuch of today’s youngest procreation grew up watching Vines. With this mode, radical tin make their ain lists of videos to marque their ain compilations.

To usage compilations, you could sojourn a hashtag, similar #cats, and it volition autoplay a watercourse of matching Vine videos. You tin halt the watercourse to interact with the content, similar reposting oregon liking the videos, oregon you tin conscionable beryllium backmost and watch.

Image Credits:Divine

Another cardinal facet of Divine’s worth proposition is its deficiency of AI-generated content.

“I decided that I was going to filter retired AI contented due to the fact that I personally don’t similar seeing AI content. I don’t similar feeling tricked,” Rabble says. “I don’t similar the thought that tons of contented tin beryllium made precise rapidly and with small humanity oregon thought.”

To support the web escaped from this unwanted content, oregon “AI slop,” arsenic it’s often called, DiVine requires users to either grounds videos straight successful the app oregon verify however uploaded videos were created utilizing C2PA, an unfastened manufacture modular that establishes the root and the edits to integer content.

Beyond offering the acquisition of bringing backmost Vine, the app’s different ngo is to popularize unfastened protocols — thing that delivers connected Rabble’s imaginativeness for reclaiming societal media from the tech giants. Divine itself is built connected the unfastened societal protocol Nostr, and the squad is experimenting with integrating the unfastened root AT Protocol, which powers Bluesky. In the future, Divine whitethorn besides integrate with the ActivityPub protocol, which underpins alternate societal networks similar Mastodon and Flipboard, and is built into Meta’s Threads.

Divine has nary gross exemplary and is structured arsenic a nationalist payment corporation. But Rabble believes that it could let integer creators to instrumentality backmost immoderate power implicit their online presence, which they could monetize via marque deals oregon collabs, arsenic they bash currently. He besides likes the Patreon exemplary for supporting creators straight and the thought of a Pro relationship that would supply further features.

“Many of america came from Vine, and it was the opening of everything,” said OG Viner, Lele Pons, astir the app’s relaunch. “An iconic app. It was specified a cardinal infinitesimal successful my ain idiosyncratic journey, and successful net culture, it makes maine truthful blessed to spot these aboriginal classics brought backmost to life, and to person the accidental to marque caller ones.”

Divine is disposable arsenic a escaped download connected the App Store, Google Play, and the Nostr-powered Zapstore. Initially, it volition rotation retired entree to those connected the waitlist and volition fto others successful gradually via the usage of invitation codes.