XChat, the standalone app for accessing X's messaging characteristic, is on the market to obtain now for iOS. X first instructed it might be stripping direct messaging from X in 2025, however at the least for now, XChat is on the market within the authentic X app, the net and this new app.
Based mostly on its launch video, the brand new XChat app affords most of the components of contemporary messaging X had already launched to its chats characteristic, like the flexibility to delete and edit messages, block screenshots and ship disappearing messages. The brand new XChat app additionally helps video and audio calls, and X claims that every one messages despatched with XChat are end-to-end encrypted.
XChat can even be anticipated to be the house of any teams that shaped round X's Communities characteristic. The social platform not too long ago introduced that it was retiring Communities on the finish of Might, and instructed that XChat's assist for bigger group chats may very well be a worthwhile various. XChat's group chats can presently have 350 members, however X plans to broaden that quantity sooner or later.
The every thing app, which requires 3 apps to make use of the core product. pic.twitter.com/1aJF4n2par
— camol (@camolNFT) April 23, 2026
Elon Musk's authentic pitch after he rebranded Twitter as X, was to show the platform into an "every thing app," the place issues like an algorithmic feed, messaging, job boards and even funds may exist side-by-side. A standalone messaging app looks as if the precise reverse of that, but it surely may additionally mirror the place X finds itself in 2026. The corporate is now a subsidiary of xAI, and xAI itself is a part of SpaceX. Musk's push into AI seems to be the going concern, and cloning one thing like WeChat may simply be much less necessary.
This text initially appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/apps/xchat-the-standalone-app-for-messaging-on-x-is-available-on-ios-now-214826886.html?src=rss