X to Shut Down Communities Feature in May, Replaced by XChat Group Chats

X is shutting down its Communities feature on May 30, 2026, according to an announcement by Nikita Bier, Head of Product at X. The feature, which was introduced before Twitter was acquired and rebranded by Elon Musk, allowed users to create, join, and moderate public groups focused on specific interests.

Communities enabled users to follow feeds curated by people or topics they cared about. However, Bier noted that the feature failed to meet X’s expectations in terms of engagement and usage.

"Communities had a great vision, but they were used by less than 0.4% of users — yet contributed to 80% of spam reports, financial scams, and malware on X," Bier stated in a separate post. "It occupied half the team's time some weeks, while the rest of the app suffered."

Bier also highlighted that while some real users utilized Communities to organize around niche topics, the most active groups were often "user-acquisition channels for Kick or compensated clipper communities," deviating from the feature’s intended purpose.

To replace Communities, X is introducing XChat, a new app designed to host group chats. Currently, XChat supports group chats of up to 350 members, with plans to expand this limit to 1,000 members in the future. Moderators can pin links in their Communities to allow members to join group chats before the feature is fully retired on May 30, an extension from the previously announced deadline of May 6.

However, XChat’s group chats differ significantly from Communities. Unlike the asynchronous, separate timeline experience offered by Communities, group chats are typically active and demand real-time attention. For users seeking a timeline of posts focused on specific interests, X is directing them to its new custom timelines feature, which uses Grok to automatically organize posts into feeds based on topics such as food, art, or photography.