A new app launching in Tampa, St. Petersburg and Clearwater is betting that people are tired of scrolling and want help getting out into the real world instead.
NewTree Social is an early-stage community events app built by 29-year-old founder Maddy O’Connor. The idea is straightforward: use your phone to find something happening nearby, make a plan, then actually go do it. The app currently focuses on community, fitness and wellness events around Tampa Bay, and Apple lists it as an iPhone app for discovering local events, RSVPing and meeting new people.
O’Connor said the concept grew out of her own experience living in Washington, D.C., without an established group of friends there, and out of watching growing interest in run clubs, wellness events and other in-person gatherings.
Why now
There’s data suggesting demand for this kind of thing is real, even if it comes from a company with a stake in the outcome. Eventbrite’s 2026 Social Study, which surveyed people ages 18 to 35 in the U.S. and U.K., found 79% planned to attend more events in 2026. Among Gen Z respondents, 46% said they were limiting screen time and 74% said in-person experiences mattered more to them than digital ones. Eventbrite also reported that phone-free events listed on its platform grew 567% globally between 2024 and 2025, with attendance at those events up 121%.
How it works
Open NewTree and you’ll see a feed of nearby events you can browse and RSVP to, with reminders built in. O’Connor, who has a graphic design background, said she wanted the app to feel more like a social platform than a standard events directory. Hosts can add photos and videos to their listings, and O’Connor wants reviews of a host’s past events to affect how visible those events are in the feed, rather than just sitting on a profile page.
The app is entering a space already occupied by Meetup, Eventbrite and Facebook, all of which offer local event discovery and recommendations. O’Connor’s bet is that combining curation, community focus and a social-media feel will set NewTree apart — though whether that’s enough to get people to add another app to their phones remains to be proven.
Safety and privacy
Meeting strangers through an app raises obvious safety questions. O’Connor said she is personally reviewing and approving hosts before their events go public during this early stage. Users can report or block other users, and hosts can remove or report attendees. But NewTree’s own terms say events are generally run independently by outside hosts, and the company does not typically perform criminal background checks or identity verification on users, hosts or attendees. A verified badge on a business profile means NewTree has confirmed the business is who it says it is — not that NewTree is vouching for a specific event.
On age requirements, there’s a wrinkle: Apple’s App Store currently gives NewTree a 13+ content rating, but NewTree itself requires users to be at least 18 to create an account. O’Connor said the App Store label reflects Apple’s content rating system, not the platform’s actual age minimum.
On data, O’Connor said NewTree collects basic account information — name, email, date of birth and location — and can use either a saved profile location or, with permission, a device’s location. She said data is stored through NewTree’s Supabase database with access controls in place. When someone RSVPs to a free event, the host receives that attendee’s name, email and location information to manage communication.
What’s next
O’Connor described NewTree as pre-traction and pre-revenue. Tampa Bay is the test market before any expansion elsewhere in Florida or nationally. She said she’s leaning toward keeping the app free for users while eventually adding paid tools for businesses and hosts, though those features haven’t been finalized. Android support is planned but not yet available.
For now, NewTree remains a small, unproven experiment in a crowded field — one that’s asking whether an app can actually get people to put their phones down once it’s done its job.
