iWorld
Airtel partners with VOOT to bring more premium content
KOLKATA: Airtel today announced a partnership with VOOT to bring more premium digital content on to its Airtel Xstream platform. Under the partnership, it will allow users to get access to premium VOOT content across multiple screens.
The rich portfolio of VOOT includes movies, originals, new episodes of their shows from Colors, MTV India and other Viacom-18 owned TV channels. This includes shows like Splitsvilla, MTV Roadies, Naagin, Kaisi Yeh Yaariaan, Choti Sarrdaarni, Bahu Begum, Bepannah in Hindi, the upcoming season of Bigg Boss as well as many regional language shows.
Airtel Xstream users can also enjoy a host of English shows like Feet Up with Stars, Work it Up with Sophie, BFF’s with Vogue, VH1 Inside Access with Miss Malini, Urban Wanderers and Trend Setters amongst others. The content from VOOT comes in seven languages – English, Hindi, Tamil, Gujarati, Kannada, Bengali & Marathi.
India, which has the world’s second-highest number of internet users is seeing a massive surge in demand for video content as smartphone penetration deepens. With this partnership, Airtel Xstream has added to its premium content library of over 10,000 movies & shows and hundreds of LIVE TV channels.
Bharti Airtel content business and partnership head Nupur Chaturvedi said, “We are on a mission to deliver best-in-class digital entertainment experience to our users and make Airtel Xstream app the go-to destination for India’s entertainment needs. We are thrilled to partner with VOOT and bring their premium video content to our users.”
Viacom18 digital ventures COO Gourav Rakshit said, “We at VOOT have been keeping the country’s spirits high during these challenging times through various partnerships to bring meaningful and entertaining content for our viewers. Given the exponential demand for content, our collaboration with Airtel Xstream will help us reach and deliver our content experience to a larger audience base. We are elated to partner with a like-minded brand that resonates with our ideologies and is sure to help us make content viewing an enriching and engaging experience for all our viewers.”
iWorld
X launches XChat messaging app on iOS with calls and encryption
Standalone app marks shift from “everything app” vision, adds E2E messaging.
MUMBAI: From one big app to many small chats, X seems to be splitting its ambitions. X has rolled out its standalone messaging app, XChat, to iOS users, opening up a new front in its evolving product strategy. The app allows users to connect with existing X contacts through private and group messages, file sharing, as well as audio and video calls. The launch follows a limited beta phase, where the platform tested the product with a smaller user base to refine the experience. Now available publicly, XChat marks a notable pivot from earlier ambitions championed by Elon Musk to turn X into a single “everything app” combining messaging, payments, commerce and more.
Instead, the company under xAI ownership and backed by SpaceX appears to be building a suite of standalone applications, each targeting specific use cases while expanding its broader ecosystem.
At launch, XChat includes end-to-end encrypted messaging, PIN-based access, disappearing messages, and features such as message editing, deletion for all participants, and screenshot blocking. The company has also said the app is free from advertisements and tracking mechanisms, positioning it as a privacy-first alternative in a crowded messaging space.
However, security claims around the platform are likely to face scrutiny. Earlier iterations of XChat drew criticism from experts who argued it fell short of established encrypted platforms like Signal. With the wider rollout, the app is expected to undergo fresh evaluation to assess whether those concerns have been addressed.
Beyond messaging, XChat will also house X’s Communities feature, which is being discontinued on the main platform due to low usage and spam concerns. Migrating these users could provide an early boost to adoption, effectively turning XChat into both a communication and community hub.
The move underscores a broader recalibration at X less about cramming everything into one app, and more about spreading bets across multiple touchpoints, one message at a time.
