X, the service formerly known as Twitter, has announced that the company will launch a standalone messaging app called XChat for iPhone and iPad on April 17.
Your encrypted chats deserve their own app.
Pre-order now: https://t.co/TM8Lk7AMGV pic.twitter.com/ZJ3yROXK1t
— XChat (@chat) April 10, 2026
The announcement did not provide any additional information about the service but the app description in the App Store says “Chat with anyone on X in a private, focused space built for conversation. No ads. No tracking. Fully end-to-end encrypted”, which more or less the same features of the current messaging app in the space. XChat is basically the spin-off X/Twitter’s DM and the web version of XChat is available at https://x.com/i/chat/. It remains to be seen if spinning-off DM to a separate app/service will be enough to drive more engagement to the service, specially if it will be competing to established messaging service like Facebook’s Messaging, WhatsApp and Apple’s Messages.