X’s new DMs characteristic, XChat, has begun rolling out to beta testers. Some X customers who pay for the platform’s subscription product have reported that they will entry XChat, whereas reverse engineer Nima Owji confirmed to TechCrunch that the brand new messaging system seems to be able to ship.
XChat is meant to be a extra sturdy model of X’s current DMs (direct messages) characteristic, which is a holdover from earlier than Elon Musk’s acquisition of Twitter.
Some options which were rumored to be a part of XChat embody group messages, end-to-end encryption, vanishing mode, the flexibility to mark messages as unread, and file sharing. Messages additionally seem like secured behind a 4-digit passcode.
X introduced on Thursday that it was pausing work on its encrypted DMs characteristic, which may very well be associated to the upcoming launch of XChat, since this new system would render the prevailing DMs interface out of date. Paid subscribers on X have had entry to a restricted model of encrypted messaging for 2 years.
Within the years since he purchased Twitter, Musk has spoken on numerous occasions about his ambitions to make a Sign-like messaging service embedded into X. If XChat actually is gearing up for public use, then this information may characterize Musk’s follow-through on that aim.