Answering customers on X now that DMs are end-to-end encrypted

For a lot of Nigerian brands, X is where the loudest customers are. A complaint posted in public gets the most attention, but the conversation that actually fixes things happens in the DMs.

Since November 2025, those DMs work differently.

What changed on X

X replaced direct messages with XChat. Once both people are on XChat, new messages are end-to-end encrypted: only the two people in the chat can read them. Not even X can.

That's good for privacy. But it caught many support tools out, because they were built for the old DMs. They can still see messages from people on the old system, and nothing from anyone on XChat. Some businesses only noticed when customers asked why they were being ignored.

Why it matters for support

A customer who DMs you on X has usually already tried something else. They're one unanswered message away from posting about it in public instead.

So a tool that misses some of your DMs is worse than no tool at all: you think you're on top of X, and you aren't.

How Frictionless reads encrypted chats

Your encryption keys are protected by your XChat PIN, the passcode you set when you turned on XChat. When you connect X to Frictionless, you enter that PIN once. Frictionless uses it to open and answer your encrypted chats, the same way the X app on your phone does.

Customers still on the old DMs arrive too. You see one list of X conversations, whichever system each customer uses.

One inbox, every channel

X chats land in the same inbox as your WhatsApp and website chats, with the same tools:

• Assignment: whoever replies first owns the chat, so two people never answer the same customer.
• Saved replies: type / for the answers you give every day.
• Private notes: leave context for a teammate without the customer seeing it.

When a customer sends a photo or file on X, the chat tells you so you can open it in X. Text replies go straight from the inbox.

What it costs

X charges for API messages, so each plan with X includes a monthly allowance: 250 messages on Growth, 500 on Pro and 1,000 on Business. See every plan on our pricing page.

Start a free trial and connect X alongside WhatsApp in a few minutes.