X Rebuilds Its Android App from Scratch: What's New

Nearly a year after announcing a full rebuild, X (formerly Twitter) has shipped a completely new Android app. The update, available as of Monday, represents one of the most significant engineering pushes in the company's history. The X app was built from the ground up using Kotlin and Jetpack Compose, replacing a version that had long lagged behind its iOS counterpart.

Why a Full Rewrite?

The old Android app had serious problems. Users reported that posts sometimes failed to load when opened via links, and the overall experience felt sluggish compared to iOS. In August of last year, X head of product Nikita Bier announced the formation of an Android “dream team” to reshape the experience. By October, the company saw one of its biggest weeks ever for Android downloads, making the rebuild a clear priority.

Bier described the effort as “one of the largest engineering projects” in the company’s history, emphasizing that the team built the app from scratch rather than patching the old codebase. The rewrite was a human engineering feat, with no AI assistance from Grok in the core codebase stats, according to a statement from Grok itself.

What's New in the Rebuilt Android App

The new Android app promises faster loading, smoother scrolling, and more reliable notifications. X’s engineering team stated that the foundation has been modernized so that “everything just feels better: scrolling, loading, notifications, you name it.” The clean Kotlin and Jetpack Compose stack is designed to enable faster feature development going forward.

Alongside the main X app, X launched standalone X Money and X Chat apps. These dedicated apps bring focused features and stability improvements, allowing users to access payments and messaging without the overhead of the full social network.

What's Coming Next

Bier noted that the new foundation will allow the team to roll out new features at “lightning speed.” The Android release could help X attract users in global regions where Android dominates the smartphone market, or win back those who left after years of platform decline. The company has not specified exact timelines for future updates, but the rebuilt architecture is expected to accelerate the pace of innovation.

For developers and power users, the shift to a modern Android stack means better performance on older devices and a more consistent experience across screen sizes. The X app is available now on the Google Play Store.

This rebuild comes at a time when X is expanding its ecosystem with new services like X Money and X Chat, signaling a broader strategy to become a multi-app platform. The success of this Android rewrite will likely determine whether the company can regain its footing in key markets.