Tech Desk 
Mar 05, 2026
Elon Musk-owned X (formerly Twitter) is working on its private messaging service, dubbed X Chat, to a standalone app that will be available to iOS users.
The company confirmed that the initial beta version of the X Chat app was being made available to thousands of early adopters through Apple’s TestFlight testing platform. As per X post by xAI Product Designer Michael Boswell, Musk-owned social media platform will expand the beta beyond the initial 1,000 users “soon.”
"For the past few months, we’ve been quietly building a standalone X Chat app for iOS,” Boswell wrote on X. “Use it. Break it. We want your feedback," said Boswell, adding that X Chat is upgraded version of X’s existing DM (direct messages) feature, which the company claims is end-to-end encrypted.
It is important to note that X Chat app shows a shift away from X owner Elon Musk’s earlier plan to make X an “everything app,” that would provide access to messaging, payments, creator content, and more, centralizing all aspects of the service.
Early users describe the Musk-owned messaging app as a easy, smoother interface for using X Chat compared with the X app. However, the current version of the X Chat app doesn't have 'Message Requests', while other features — like Verified badges and support for making calling, among other things — still in the works.
X has yet to officially reveal the launch date of the X Chat app to a wider audience.
