XChat, the new standalone app for accessing X’s messaging feature, is now available to download on iOS. X first indicated it would be separating direct messaging from the main platform in 2025. For anyone who relies on X for communication, this is the app to have. It is, by most measures, a considerable improvement over the messaging experience within X itself.
The app arrives thoughtfully designed. Users can manage settings including light and dark mode, message permissions, and the left-swipe interaction — choosing between a like or an info action. It is a small detail, but it speaks to an interface built with the dedicated messenger in mind.
At launch, XChat supports standard messaging alongside the ability to edit and delete messages for all participants in a conversation. Disappearing messages are supported, as is the ability to block screenshots. Notably, X has stated there are no advertisements or tracking mechanisms within the app — a meaningful distinction in an era of increasingly surveillance-heavy platforms.
Privacy is clearly central to the proposition. Chats are end-to-end encrypted using a unique key pair protected by a local PIN. According to the App Store listing, this means that no one — including X itself — can read message contents. Users are invited to “chat with anyone on X in a private, focused space built for conversation”.
XChat is also set to absorb the communities that formed around X’s Communities feature, which is retiring at the end of May. Group chats currently support up to 350 participants.
Future plans may stretch well beyond messaging. XChat has the potential to become a cornerstone of Elon Musk’s long-stated vision for X as an “everything app” — a single destination for messaging, creator content, shopping, artificial intelligence, and payments. Spinning out a dedicated messaging application may well be the first visible piece of that much larger puzzle falling into place.
As X’s lead designer Benji Taylor put it, the app is “just the beginning of what we’re building for messaging.” On this evidence, it is a promising start.