XChatX’s standalone messaging app, released to the public on Friday. Initially available on iOS devices, the new app allows users to connect with their X contacts for messaging, file sharing, audio and video calls, and group chats.
The company first began publicly testing XChat with a small group of beta users earlier this year to get their feedback on the new experience.
The XChat app is a key element in the strategic vision for the company, which sees the social network as a launch pad for other services such as messaging or payments. (The latter is also being tested as a standalone app, though it’s not yet publicly available.)
However, X’s decision to break away from one piece of its platform to become its own standalone app is a shift from owner Elon Musk’s previous plan to make X an “everything app,” which would provide a single place to access messaging, payments, creator content, shopping, artificial intelligence and more.
Instead, xAI (Musk’s AI company that owns X and is itself owned by Musk’s other company SpaceX) now offers a range of apps to provide more consumer touchpoints with its services.
At launch, the XChat app offers support for messaging and calling, as well as other features it claims are privacy-protected, including the ability to edit and delete messages for everyone in the chat. support for disappearing messages. and the ability to block screenshots. X claims there are no ads or tracking mechanisms in the app.
The company also claims that all messages are end-to-end encrypted and PIN-protected — although security experts have previously disputed company encryption claims.
Security experts had previously warned potential users that XChat appeared to be less secure than other encrypted messaging apps such as Signal when the app was first introduced. They should re-evaluate the dedicated XChat app, now that it’s widely available, to see if the necessary improvements have been made.
In addition to offering a place for private chats or group chats, XChat is also stepping in to serve as a new destination for X’s Communities, which the company decided to shut down due to lack of use and high amounts of spam. The timing of this news could give XChat an early push into new installations as community members make the switch.
More updates to XChat are apparently still planned, according to X lead designer Benji Taylor, that was annoying that the app is “just the beginning of what we’re building for messaging.”
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