Elon Musk’s XChat app is more similar to Facebook Messenger than Signal

Elon Musk spent Friday retweeting criticism of competitors following the app’s launch XChat applicationa standalone messaging option for X users. “Signal, WhatsApp, Telegram, and iMessage are all experiencing serious security issues,” the message read. Musk Partially republished. “XChat is the only secure and encrypted messaging app.” Crypto experts I spoke with in the lead-up to this launch expressed cautious skepticism about XChat’s implementation and defended other communication platforms, like Signal, as strong options.

One red flag for XChat is that users must connect to an existing X account to log in and start messaging. “I’m a little skeptical about this, because the more data points you tie together about someone, the more you can track what they’re doing,” says FBI attorney Maria Villegas Bravo. Electronic Privacy Information Center. Bravo considers Musk’s previous attacks on other apps troubling and self-serving.

Last year, when Musk unveiled XChat as a revamped, encrypted version of direct messaging on X, security experts asked The effectiveness of storing users’ encryption keys on X servers instead of on the device, as Signal does. “Given XChat’s history of vulnerabilities, I would be hesitant to use this until it has been thoroughly audited externally,” says Cooper Quentin, a senior technologist at XChat. Electronic Frontier Foundation.

While Musk wants the discussion to be about which encrypted messaging app is better, XChat, Signal, or WhatsApp, that’s a false comparison. After downloading XChat and giving it a hands-on experience, there’s another, less exciting chat app that reminds me of it: Facebook Messenger. That app you might have on your phone out of obligation to text your grandmother from time to time? exactly. Instead of launching a sleek new encrypted messaging app, Musk dropped an isolated, unconventional extension of his social media platform that happens to include encrypted messaging.

Late release

When the XChat team posted earlier this month about the app’s wide release, the “expected” launch date listed on Apple’s App Store page was April 17. This date was changed several times before release, changing from the original date to April 23, then April 24. The app also showed April 25 and April 27 as potential launch dates, before unexpectedly dropping on Friday, April 24. (An official launch date for Android has not yet been announced.)

During this pre-launch period, the correct app did not always appear when searching for its name. An app also named “XChat App,” though designed in Russian and has no connection to Musk, has risen to at least seventh place on Apple’s free download charts in the social media category. “Fraud app,” one user read, “This is not the real XChat app.”

When XChat finally arrived, the launch seemed haphazard. Initially, people in the US could access the app, while people in the UK could not. “UK broadcast should be coming soon; I’ve hit one snag,” Nikita Beer, head of product at X, wrote in response to frustrated posters on social media. When early downloaders also complained about confusion during the setup process, Pierre told them to “blame Apple” and its app requirements.

First impressions

When I first downloaded XChat, I wasn’t sure who to message first. Looking through my iMessage History, none of my five best friends and family members I text most often have X accounts. So, on top of that, I felt like XChat was a good fit for my actual messaging needs, any encryption concerns aside.

Lost and trying to find someone, anyone to message on XChat, I spent the afternoon going through old DMs and decided to reactivate three past chats. After I sent my alerts, a pop-up appeared in the chat logs, “This conversation is now fully encrypted.” Although I didn’t really need it because no one texted me back while I was testing XChat, I only received pathetic heart-shaped reactions and flame emojis to my messages.