The Jack Dorsey-backed Vine reboot goes public

A new project to bring back Vine’s six-second loop videos is now available for download at App Store and Google Play. Divine, as this Vine reboot is called, offers access to an archive of around 500,000 Vine videos, restored from a backup of the original service, and allows creators to post new Vines once more.

Divine was sponsored by “and other things”, a non-profit organization founded in May 2025 by Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey. The non-profit organization focuses on funding experimental open source projects that have the potential to transform the social media landscape. Dorsey’s backing of Divine doesn’t make him a traditional investor, as he doesn’t want a return here. Rather, his goal is to correct an earlier mistake he made as CEO of Twitter: shutting down Vine in the first place.

To create DivineEvan Henshaw-Plath, a former Twitter employee and member of “and Other Stuff,” explored the Vine archive. Henshaw-Plath, who reads “Rabble” online, explained that much of Vine’s content was originally supported by a community archiving project known as File group.

These videos were stored as large 40-50 GB binary files, which required Rabble to write big data scripts to understand how the files worked and how to reconstruct them, along with the user engagement, such as views, likes, and comments, associated with the original videos.

Not all data could be restored, but progress has been made. The app first launched to testers last November with about 100,000 of Vine’s top videos, then grew to about 300,000 videos just before today’s launch, Rabble told TechCrunch. The app now hosts around 500,000 videos from nearly 100,000 original Vine creators as it becomes publicly available for the first time.

The effort has attracted the attention of several early Vine creators, including Lele Pons, Jimmy Here, MightyDuckand Jack and Jackamong others. (Divine user profiles are viewable on the web, even if you don’t have the Divine mobile app.)

Rumple said the original plan was to quickly push the app after some initial testing, but early Viners encouraged the team to hold off.

“Actually, the Viners were like ‘no, no — this is way more important than nostalgia,'” he explains. Users said they wanted something like Vine that would bring back social media and filter AI. “They’re the ones who told us to wait and get it right. And we did.”

The team rolled up their sleeves, reviewed and rewrote the code in parts, and focused on designing the app.

Today’s version of Divine is a result of these efforts and includes features like the dub mode, which reflects how much of today’s younger generation grew up watching Vines. With this feature, people can create their own video playlists to make their own collections.

To use collections, you could visit a hashtag, such as #cats, and it would automatically play a stream of matching Vine videos. You can pause the stream to interact with the content, like reposting or liking videos, or you can just sit back and watch.

Another key aspect of Divine’s value proposition is its lack of AI-generated content.

“I decided I was going to filter out AI content because I personally don’t like seeing AI content. I don’t like feeling cheated,” says Rabble. “I don’t like the idea that tons of content can be created very quickly and with little humanity or thought.”

To keep the network free of this spam, or “artificial intelligence hole” as it’s often called, Divine requires users to either upload videos directly to the app or verify how uploaded videos were created using C2PAan open industry standard that defines the origin and changes to digital content.

Aside from offering the Vine restore experience, the app’s other mission is to promote open protocols — which it offers Rabble’s vision for reclaiming social media by the tech giants. Divine itself is based on the open social protocol Nostr, and the team is experimenting with integrating the open source AT protocol, which powers Bluesky. In the future, Divine may also integrate with the ActivityPub protocol, which supports alternative social networks such as Mastodon and Flipboard and is integrated into Meta’s Threads.

Divine has no revenue model and is structured as a non-profit corporation. But Rabble believes it could allow digital creators to regain control of their online presence, which they could monetize through branding deals or partnerships, as they currently do. He also likes the Patreon model for directly supporting creators and the idea of ​​a Pro account that would provide additional features.

“A lot of us came from Vine and it was the beginning of everything,” OG Viner Lele Pons said of the app’s relaunch. “An iconic app. It was such an important moment in my personal journey and in internet culture, it makes me so happy to see these early classics come back to life and to have the opportunity to make new ones.”

Divine is available as a free download at App Store, google play, and Nostr-powered Zapstore. Initially, it will release access to those on the waiting list and allow others to gradually enter through the use of invitation codes.