(Credit: Nikita Bier/X)
UPDATE (4/27): Following weeks of testing with a small group of volunteers, X's standalone XChat app has made its debut on the Apple App Store. All iPhone users can now download the app and sign in using their X (formerly Twitter) credentials.
Encryption and privacy form the core of the app's marketing materials. "Chat with anyone on X in a private, focused space built for conversation. No ads. No tracking. Fully end-to-end encrypted," reads the app's App Store description.
In addition to these safeguards, the app lets users edit or delete messages, block screenshots, share large files, and enable disappearing messages.
Group chats with up to 350 members are another key feature. Users can join chat groups through invite links. This feature is intended to replace X’s Communities, which will be discontinued on May 6, "due to declining usage," Nikita Bier, X's product head, said last week. The 350-member limit will be increased in the future, he added.
I was able to download the X app on my iPhone, but couldn't test all the features right away.
Original Story (3/4): Yet another encrypted messaging service is about to enter the market. X, formerly known as Twitter, is now testing its standalone X Chat app for iOS on Apple’s TestFlight platform.
As TechCrunch reports, X on Monday invited 1,000 testers to try the app's initial beta, but the slots filled up within the first two hours. The company then expanded the program to 5,000 users and is now seeking early feedback from them.
“For the past few months, we’ve been quietly building a standalone X Chat app for iOS… Use it. Break it. We want your feedback,” xAI’s product designer, Michael Boswell, posted on Tuesday.
X Chat is the mobile app version of X’s messaging tab, which received a major upgrade in November. It improved upon X’s vanilla DM feature by adding encryption and allowing editing, deletion, or automatic removal of messages after a period of time. You can also create chat groups, share files, and assign a dedicated passcode for the refreshed messaging tab.
Encryption, however, has remained X Chat's biggest selling point. On Joe Rogan’s podcast in October, X owner Elon Musk said that the service was built on a peer-to-peer encryption system similar to Bitcoin and was the “least insecure of any messaging system.”
Earlier this year, when a lawsuit claimed WhatsApp's encryption could be penetrated, Musk used the moment to promote X Chat's encryption. “WhatsApp is not secure. Even Signal is questionable. Use X Chat,” he tweeted. WhatsApp chief Will Cathcart responded, saying it's a "no-merit, headline-seeking lawsuit brought by the very same firm defending NSO after their spyware attacked journalists and government officials."
A few testers have shared screenshots of the X Chat interface, and it appears to be borrowing design elements from X and Grok. An Android version of the beta app is expected soon, according to Grok's response to a user query.