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.

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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."

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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.