Elon Musk recently revealed exciting updates to the X platform, introducing a revamped Direct Messaging feature called XChat. This new version promises to enhance user experience with vanishing messages, encryption, file-sharing capabilities, and support for audio and video calls.
While these features are still in their beta testing phase among a select group, Musk anticipates a broader rollout this week. However, this is contingent on whether the team encounters any scaling challenges.
In a series of posts, Musk highlighted that XChat has been developed using Rust and boasts a new architectural design. Interestingly, he referred to its encryption as “Bitcoin style,” which has sparked discussions. Bitcoin itself isn’t “encrypted” in the traditional sense, as it relies on public key cryptography. This has led to speculation about whether Musk was using this term metaphorically or perhaps meant to say “cryptography.”
Musk has expressed his vision for X’s DMs to rival established encrypted messaging platforms like Signal and iMessage. Yet, the phrasing around “Bitcoin-style encryption” has raised questions about XChat’s competitiveness in the encryption space.
A notable feature of XChat is the ability to make audio and video calls without needing a phone number, a step towards enhanced privacy across all platforms.
Before rolling out XChat, the development team paused work on the existing encrypted DM system, suggesting that XChat is slated to take over.
Despite these innovations, X has faced some technical hiccups recently, with outages affecting users’ ability to access timelines and features, including XChat. How this impacts the rollout remains to be seen, but the updates undoubtedly hold promise for the future of the platform.
