iWorld
Sooperfly launches ‘Mission Everest’ web series
MUMBAI: Sooperfly has launched a new web series on YouTube that captures the adventure and tribulations of the two young mountaineers, Samir Patham and Sauraj Jhingan through Mission Everest 2015.
Sooperfly, which is a joint venture between India’s The 120 Media Collective and UK based Diagonal View, has created the web series from concept to finish and will manage Mission Everest, which documents real-life experiences.
Sooperfly business head and senior vice president Vishal Nongbet said, “At Sooperfly, we support fresh narratives and share compelling content through custom distribution. Mission Everest follows Samir and Sauraj – two youngsters who chose to help rather than flee in the wake of a crisis. It is a narrative that appeals to fellow youth on a medium that is most accessed by them.”
About a month into their 29,030-feet climb, on 25 April, a massive avalanche triggered by a 7.8 earthquake tore through Everest Base Camp, Nepal, leaving in its wake, 19 dead and over 60 casualties.
“We emerged from the avalanche to witness a trail of destruction. The quake had claimed our camp as well. We were confronted with the choice of retreating from the valley to safety or staying back and helping,” Sauraj adds.
“We decided to do the unconventional, leaving our day jobs and following our dream to climb Mount Everest. After two years of preparation and giving it our all, the biggest tragedy in the history of mountaineering hit us. Sooperfly helped us tell our story as it happened,” recounts Samir, one of the two qualified mountaineers, with wide trekking and climbing experience, featured on Mission Everest.
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.
