Elon Musk's 'WeChat' hasn't arrived yet — a pirated copy already reached No. 2

Fake beats launch

IT Home (IT之家) reports that Elon Musk's standalone messaging app XChat — billed as end‑to‑end encrypted, ad‑free, tracking‑free and not requiring a phone number — opened for pre‑orders on Apple's App Store last weekend and is slated to officially launch on April 17. But before the official arrival, a pirated app using the "XChat" name briefly surged to No. 2 on Apple's China free apps chart, second only to Doubao (豆包). A bold start. An awkward one.

The clone and user reaction

The app listing for the impostor, labeled simply "XChat App," is written in Russian and markets itself as a privacy tool that auto‑deletes chats every 30 days and blocks screenshots and microphone/camera access. IT Home found the fake was first published in July 2024 — months before Musk first announced XChat in June 2025 — so it has been reported that the package name could have been squatted, renamed, or is a coincidental lookalike. Users who downloaded the clone complained of being misled and left low ratings; the store score sat at about 2.3.

Security claims under scrutiny

Apple's official App Store page for the genuine XChat says the app is written in Rust, requires iOS 26 or later and supports voice/video calls, ephemeral messages, edit-after-send and screenshot interception. But the listing also appears to show the app may collect location, contacts, search history and certain identifiers — reportedly at odds with XChat's "no tracking" slogan. It has been reported that Musk described XChat as using "Bitcoin‑style encryption"; security researchers reportedly say that phrase risks conflating public‑key methods used in cryptocurrency transaction verification with the distinct cryptographic needs of private two‑party messaging.

A test for trust — and for enforcement

For Western readers: app clones and name squatting are familiar headaches in many app stores, and China’s market is no exception — app visibility can swing quickly and misinformation spreads fast. Geopolitically, claims about encryption and data collection are being watched closely amid global debates over app security and cross‑border data access. Will the real XChat arrive cleanly and convince wary users? Or will a rocky rollout and privacy questions do more harm than a pirated listing ever could?