{"id":174660,"date":"2026-04-28T11:28:31","date_gmt":"2026-04-28T08:28:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/digitrendz.blog\/?p=174660"},"modified":"2026-04-28T11:28:31","modified_gmt":"2026-04-28T08:28:31","slug":"elon-musks-xchat-app-resembles-facebook-messenger-more-than-signal","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/digitrendz.blog\/z\/tech-news\/174660\/elon-musks-xchat-app-resembles-facebook-messenger-more-than-signal\/","title":{"rendered":"Elon Musk\u2019s XChat App Resembles Facebook Messenger More Than Signal"},"content":{"rendered":"
\u25bc Summary<\/summary>

– Elon Musk promoted XChat by reposting criticism of Signal, WhatsApp, Telegram, and iMessage, claiming XChat is the only secure encrypted messaging app.
– Encryption experts expressed cautious skepticism about XChat, with some defending Signal and noting that linking an X account to XChat raises privacy concerns.
– Security experts criticized XChat for storing cryptographic keys on X\u2019s servers rather than on-device, and recommended thorough outside auditing before use.
– XChat\u2019s launch was chaotic, with multiple date changes, a scam app appearing in search results, and inconsistent regional availability.
– The app feels like an insular extension of X, as users need an X account and many contacts lack X accounts, limiting its practical use for messaging.
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<\/p>\n\n

E<\/mark>lon Musk spent his Friday resharing criticism of rival platforms after the launch of XChat<\/a><\/strong>, a standalone messaging app for X users. \u201cSignal<\/a>, WhatsApp<\/a>, Telegram<\/a>, and iMessage<\/a> all have serious security problems,\u201d read one post he amplified, adding that \u201cXChat is the only secure, encrypted messaging app.\u201d Encryption experts I consulted before the launch expressed cautious skepticism about XChat\u2019s execution and defended alternatives like Signal as reliable options.<\/p>\n\n

A major red flag: users must connect an existing X account to log in and start messaging. \u201cI’m a little suspicious of that, because the more data points you connect together about a person, the more you can track what they’re doing,\u201d says Maria Villegas Bravo<\/a>, counsel at the Electronic Privacy Information Center<\/a>. Bravo views Musk\u2019s past attacks on other apps as both concerning and self-serving.<\/p>\n\n

Last year, when Musk first pitched XChat as a revamped, encrypted version of X\u2019s direct messages, security experts questioned the wisdom of storing users\u2019 cryptographic keys on X\u2019s servers rather than on-device, as Signal does. \u201cGiven XChat’s history of security vulnerabilities, I would hesitate to use this until it’s received a thorough outside auditing,\u201d says Cooper Quintin<\/a>, a senior staff technologist at the Electronic Frontier Foundation<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n

While Musk wants the debate to be about which encrypted messaging<\/a> app is best,XChat vs. Signal vs. WhatsApp<\/strong>,that framing misses the mark. After downloading XChat and testing it hands-on, I found a much less exciting comparison: Facebook<\/a> Messenger<\/strong>. You know, that app you keep on your phone mostly to message your grandma out of obligation? Exactly. Rather than delivering a sleek, new encrypted messaging tool, Musk released an insular, clunky extension of his social media platform that happens to include encrypted messaging.<\/p>\n\n

A Rocky Launch<\/strong><\/p>\n\n

When the XChat team announced the app\u2019s wide release earlier this month, the \u201cexpected\u201d launch date on Apple<\/a>\u2019s App Store was April 17. That date shifted multiple times, moving to April 23, then April 24. It also showed April 25 and April 27 as potential dates before unexpectedly dropping on Friday the 24th. (An Android<\/a> launch date has yet to be announced.)<\/p>\n\n

During this prelaunch period, searching for the app didn\u2019t always yield the right result. An unrelated app also named \u201cXChat App,\u201d with a Russian-language interface and no connection to Musk, climbed to at least the seventh spot on Apple\u2019s free download charts in the social media category. \u201cScam app<\/a>,\u201d read one user review. \u201cThis is not the real XChat.\u201d<\/p>\n\n

When the real XChat finally arrived, the launch felt haphazard. Initially, users in the US could access the app, while those in the UK could not. \u201cUK should be live soon; had one snag,\u201d wrote Nikita Bier<\/a>, head of product at X, in response to frustrated social media posts. When early downloaders also complained about confusion during onboarding, Bier told them to \u201cblame Apple\u201d and its app requirements.<\/p>\n\n

First Impressions<\/strong><\/p>\n\n

When I first opened XChat, I wasn\u2019t sure who to message. Scanning my iMessage history, none of my top five most-texted friends and family members even have X accounts. Right from the start, XChat felt too niche<\/strong> for my actual messaging needs, encryption concerns aside.<\/p>\n\n

Lost and searching for anyone to chat with, I spent my afternoon scrolling through old DMs and decided to revive three previous conversations. After I sent my nudges, a pop-up appeared in the chat logs: \u201cThis conversation is now end-to-end encrypted.\u201d I didn\u2019t really need it, though, because no one texted me back during my testing. I only received pitiful heart and flame emoji reactions to my messages.<\/p>\n\n(Source: Wired<\/a>)<\/em>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

XChat, a new encrypted messaging app for X users, launched with Elon Musk promoting it by criticizing rivals like Signal and WhatsApp, though security experts expressed skepticism about its execution and noted its requirement to connect an existing X account raises privacy concerns. Experts highl…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":174659,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_themeisle_gutenberg_block_has_review":false,"cybocfi_hide_featured_image":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[57,6579,3297,3327,3254],"tags":[200703,10491,200704,200702,193888],"entities":[1756,1096,200706,4025,17339,816,916,13568,200705,1677,125777,11236,6114,1680,1531,193754],"class_list":["post-174660","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-tech-news","category-bigtech-companies","category-cybersecurity","category-newswire","category-technology","tag-elon-musk-messaging","tag-encrypted-messaging","tag-facebook-messenger-comparison","tag-x-social-media","tag-xchat-app","entity-android","entity-apple","entity-cooper-quintin","entity-electronic-frontier-foundation","entity-electronic-privacy-information-center","entity-elon-musk","entity-facebook","entity-imessage","entity-maria-villegas-bravo","entity-messenger","entity-nikita-bier","entity-signal","entity-telegram","entity-whatsapp","entity-x","entity-xchat"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/digitrendz.blog\/z\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/174660","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/digitrendz.blog\/z\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/digitrendz.blog\/z\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/digitrendz.blog\/z\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/digitrendz.blog\/z\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=174660"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/digitrendz.blog\/z\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/174660\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/digitrendz.blog\/z\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/174659"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/digitrendz.blog\/z\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=174660"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/digitrendz.blog\/z\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=174660"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/digitrendz.blog\/z\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=174660"},{"taxonomy":"entity","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/digitrendz.blog\/z\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/entities?post=174660"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}