X’s long-anticipated WhatsApp and Telegram rival, XChat, made its standalone app debut Friday afternoon, landing on the iOS App Store after nearly a year since it was rebranded under its new name. The launch marks the full rollout of Elon Musk’s overhauled DM platform, which emphasizes user privacy.

Chat with anyone on X.
Completely private.
Now on your home screen.

Download for iOS: https://t.co/wBBfjJyJmu pic.twitter.com/u0QeGs1Z3D

— XChat (@chat) April 24, 2026

Pre-orders opened last week, with X touting XChat’s fully encrypted messaging as its flagship feature. Beyond end-to-end encryption, the app promises zero user tracking, no ads, and an array of in-message privacy tools — including the ability to hide photos from recipients after sending.

There’s a casualty, however. X’s Communities feature is being axed to make way for XChat, a move that may sting for its niche but loyal user base. Communities functioned as X’s answer to Reddit’s subreddit forums, letting users follow curated feeds around specific interests — not unlike Bluesky’s Feeds. But according to X’s Head of Product Nikita Bier, the feature saw minimal traction: only 0.4% of users ever engaged with it, and those who did were largely “user-acquisition channels for Kick or compensated clipper communities.”

Today we're announcing two product changes for organizing communities on X:

1. XChat now supports joinable links for groupchats. Create a public link & share direct to Timeline. With support for 350 members per chat (and growing), Groupchat Links are the fastest way to bring… pic.twitter.com/GNcRB99Opc

— Nikita Bier (@nikitabier) April 22, 2026

In its place, XChat will offer large-scale group chats — currently capped at 350 users, with plans to expand that ceiling to 1,000. Communities officially goes dark on May 30.