Elon Musk acquired Twitter in 2022 and renamed it “X.” Last year, the company announced that it was rebuilding the Android version of its app from the ground up. Now the new version of the app is here. It is available to download through the Google Play Store.

Unlike a routine update, the new Android app was built entirely from scratch rather than being patched on top of the old one. X says the rebuild brings improvements to loading times, scrolling, notifications, and overall reliability. X's head of product, Nikita Bier, called it "one of the largest engineering projects" in the company's history. Announcing the release, he wrote on X: "We rebuilt the X Android app from scratch. It's faster, smoother and more reliable. But most of all: it will enable us to build new features at lightning speed."

A long time coming

The Android app had fallen noticeably behind its iOS counterpart over the past few years, to the point where basic functionality broke down at times. At one point last year, the app was reportedly unable to even load X posts when users clicked on links, a fairly fundamental failure for a social media app.

Work on the rebuild began in earnest last August, when Bier said X was assembling an Android "dream team" to reshape the experience. That fall, he also pointed out that X had recorded one of its biggest weeks ever for Android downloads in October, which became part of the reasoning for prioritising the rebuild.

What's still missing

Despite the milestone, Bier acknowledged that the new app isn't fully finished. Performance on older Android devices still needs work, and support for Spaces, X's live audio feature, hasn't made it into this release yet. Bier said those improvements are still underway, along with other features like a new video editor, the ability to react with video, cashtags, and custom timelines, all of which are expected to arrive on Android soon.

The timing of the release is notable given how dominant Android is in global smartphone markets. A more reliable app could help X win back users in regions where the platform has been neglected for years, or convince new users to give it another shot. The rebuild also comes as X continues expanding its broader ecosystem, having recently rolled out standalone apps for X Money and X Chat.

Existing Android users can get the new app by updating through the Google Play Store.

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Published On:

Jul 21, 2026 15:03 IST