The social media platform “X” has officially launched the version of the “XChat” messaging service for Android, expanding the scope of the standalone application to include devices other than the iPhone, and allowing millions of users to access the application’s growing list of communication features.
According to an X platform post, Android users can now download XChat, which moves direct messages from within the main X app into a dedicated standalone experience.
The app supports end-to-end encrypted messaging, self-disappearing messages, voice and video calls, group chats, media sharing, and file transfer, making it a direct competitor to apps like WhatsApp, Telegram, and Signal.
The launch of the application for Android comes after its first appearance on iPhone devices earlier this year, and represents a new milestone in the gradual transformation of the platform beyond just a social networking network.
Rather than treating messaging as just another feature within the X platform, the company is increasingly working to establish XChat as a standalone communication platform that can eventually support broader services within the X ecosystem.
Besides the basic features, XChat also includes PIN-protected chats, higher-quality media sharing, and support for sending files up to 2 GB in size.
What attracts the attention of users is that launching the application on Android may be as important as adding new features, as the Android system accounts for the largest share of the global smartphone market, and without it, it was expected that XChat would face difficulty in becoming a widespread messaging platform.
It is worth noting that with XChat now available on the two major smartphone platforms, the “X” platform has overcome one of the biggest obstacles it faced.
