Amid its ongoing controversies, X has continued to release updates, including the rollout of DM editing for iOS users over the weekend.

As noted in a post from X's engineering lead, Michael Anderson, iOS users can now edit their direct messages in the app, aligning X’s DM features more closely with other messaging platforms.

However, X still lags in one significant area, particularly noteworthy given its emphasis on free speech and privacy. Although owner Elon Musk promised to make encryption the default for all DMs, this has yet to be implemented.

Verified users can currently enable encryption for their messages, but Musk himself has acknowledged that the existing system is “clunky.” Meanwhile, audio and video calls are encrypted by default.

This slow progress is not surprising, especially considering that Musk has cut the company’s workforce by around 80%. The delayed timelines for various projects make sense in this context. Recently, there has been a noticeable decrease in the scale of updates being introduced as the platform aims to integrate new features and work towards Elon’s vision of an “everything app.”

In the last two months, X has continued to roll out updates consistently, but the most notable changes have included:

- Video conference calls
- Post reply sorting options
- Auto-advance mode for video viewing
- Enhanced analytics tools

While these updates are useful, they are not “game-changing” and may not generate significant interest in the app. Although Musk aims to integrate more functionalities and features, offering underdeveloped versions of tools available in other apps might not be the best strategy for expanding X's user base at this time.

Additionally, X is focused on enhancing its Grok AI chatbot, which now includes image creation capabilities, and is working on integrating payment options into the app. The platform is also in the process of developing a new UI that will hide like and comment counts from the main feed view.

While there are substantial updates planned, the pace of innovation has understandably slowed due to staffing changes.

While X is innovating more than Twitter did, which had long faced criticism for its lack of updates, there's a chance that these additional functionalities will encourage more users to explore diverse uses of the platform over time.

However, it feels like X is still playing catch-up in many areas, and the alternative options it offers often don't match the level of its competitors.

Perhaps that's not a significant issue, and the introduction of DM editing could indeed increase user engagement with X's messaging features, even without default encryption.

I’m skeptical about that, but regardless, users can now edit their DMs.