Much anticipated X messaging app, XChat now available on IOS

After months of speculation, X has finally launched its standalone messaging application, XChat, on IOS in a major structural change for the app.

Last Year, the Elon Musk-owned microblogging and messaging site announced plans to strip the main X app of its chat feature and launch a new standalone app primarily for chatting on the platform. Despite the launch of XChat, Direct Messaging remains available on X, pending its rollout on other operating systems.

The video of XChat’s product launch, shared by X, revealed extensive messaging features such as the ability to delete and edit messages, block screenshots, and send disappearing messages. The new XChat app also supports video and audio calls, and X claims that all messages sent with XChat are end-to-end encrypted.

The new chat app will also replace X communities, which X management will soon retire. XChat’s group chat can handle up to 350 participants at once, with X planning to increase this number in the coming years.

The new standalone messaging app joins the list of radical changes Musk has made to the platform since acquiring it for $44 billion. Musk, in the early days of the acquisition, pitched the prospect of converting X to an everything app featuring chats, AI, Job boards and essential platforms relevant to its users.

The XChat app follows other radical changes, such as paid verification, creator earnings, Artificial Intelligence, and a higher verification badge for people willing to pay more. The changes to the X app by Musk since taking over reflect a change in thinking by the app’s management from Pro technology to Pro business.

At the time of the report, X boasted roughly 570 million monthly active users, following Telegram, which has about 1 billion MAU, and WhatsApp, at 3.3 billion MAU. X will hope to leverage its unique advantage as the world’s most popular microblogging site to win the messaging app war in the long run.

Last updated: April 25, 2026