XChat launch pushed to April 23 — what to do now
XChat didn't ship on the original April 17 date. The App Store now lists April 23, 2026 as the expected release. Here's the updated plan.
XChat did not ship today. The App Store listing now shows an expected release date of April 23, 2026 — a six-day slip from the original April 17 target. The pre-order page is still live and pre-orders placed before or after the date change remain valid; nothing on the user side needs to be redone.
What changed. The only visible difference on the App Store listing is the “Expected Apr 23, 2026” banner where it previously read April 17. X Corp has not published an incident note or a public reason for the shift. App size, age rating (16+), category (Social Networking), and supported language list are unchanged.
What to do if you’ve already pre-ordered. Nothing. Your pre-order stays in place. On April 23 the app will automatically download to your iPhone the moment it’s released, provided your device is online and automatic downloads are enabled in iOS Settings.
What to do if you haven’t pre-ordered yet. Open the App Store on your iPhone, search for XChat (published by X Corp), and tap Pre-order. Verify that your device runs iOS 26 or later (iPadOS 26 on iPad) — the launch build does not support older iOS versions. The app is free, about 175.8 MB, and ships with no ads, no tracking, and end-to-end encryption on by default.
What launch day will look like. When the app unlocks on April 23 you’ll sign in with your existing X account, XChat will surface the people you already follow who have also installed it, and every message you send will be encrypted on your device before it leaves. There is no setting to turn encryption off; there is no plaintext backup.
We’ll publish an updated launch-day walkthrough the moment the app is live. Until then, the pre-order page is the one authoritative source of status, and we’ll update this post if the date moves again.