Post voice memos to X May No longer is possible, but you can now share audio messages in X’s instant messaging system, X Chat, once again. The social network announced late Wednesday that support for Voice Notes is now available on its private messaging service.
The feature, which works in both one-on-one messages and group chats, is activated by tapping the voice input icon to the right of the chat text box. At startup, you have to keep pressing the button to record the voice message, but we found that a long press gesture followed by an upward swipe allows it to record without having to hold your finger on the button.
The new addition could make X Chat more competitive with other messaging apps, where recording audio voice memos has long been a standard option. This is especially important for the company given the recent spinout of X Chat as its own standalone app.
It could also relieve angry users who didn’t appreciate that the upgrade to X Chat removed the Voice Notes feature.
The move follows X’s recent beta testing of an X Chat app on iOS, which offers access to X’s upgraded DM feature. While the company claims chats are end-to-end encrypted, security experts have warned that the service is less secure than other encrypted messaging apps like Signal.
The introduction of the new app reflects a shift in strategy for the social network, as owner Elon Musk once said X would become a super all-in-one, or “app for everything.” Now, the company is trying to make pieces of its app available as their own experiences. X Money, X’s payments service, is also being tested as a separate app, for example.
Voice Notes has been on the X Chat roadmap for quite some time despite its temporary removal. When X for the first time was introduced its new chat platform in November, said the audio feature would be “coming back soon.”
Currently, X Chat also supports other features such as the ability to edit and delete messages, block or receive notifications for screenshots, share files, make voice and video calls, and set messages to disappear automatically.
