Elon Musk's xAI rolls out Android app for Grok but some key features are missing

Grok's Android app launch launch comes about a fortnight after the release of Grok 3 AI model

Elon Musk's artificial intelligence (AI) startup, xAI, launched a standalone Android app for its AI chatbot, Grok, on March 4 in an effort to boost adoption amid increasing competition from rivals such as OpenAI's ChatGPT, Google's Gemini, Anthropic's Claude, and Meta's Meta AI.

This launch comes about a fortnight after xAI released the next major version of its AI model, Grok 3. The startup had previously launched an iOS app earlier this year. The chatbot is also available on X, the social media platform previously known as Twitter.

Currently in beta, the app however lacks key features such as voice mode, which is garnering significant attention, as well as reasoning capabilities through the Think and DeepSearch features for now.

Read: Elon Musk's X nearly doubles X Premium+ price in India after Grok 3 launch

The Grok app also doesn't allow users to purchase the SuperGrok subscription, which unlocks access to Grok's Thinking and DeepSearch capabilities, along with increased image generation and higher rate limits for Grok 3. However, it indicates that the subscription will be available soon.

The app currently allows users to choose between Grok 2 and Grok 3 for their text or image-related queries.

In December, xAI raised $6 billion in funding from a slew of high-profile investors that include A16Z, Blackrock, Fidelity Management & Research Company, Kingdom Holdings, Lightspeed, MGX, Morgan Stanley, QIA, Sequoia Capital, Valor Equity Partners and Vy Capital. Nvidia and AMD also participated in the funding round that brings xAI's total funding to $12 billion since its launch in July 2023.

The startup had also extended its chatbot to all users on X in the same month, after previously restricting it to only the paying subscribers on the social media platform.

xAI claims that Grok offers "unfiltered answers with advanced capabilities in reasoning, coding, and visual processing". The chatbot also taps into X platform to provide users real-time updates on what's happening in the world. In recent months, xAI has also added features such as web search, citations and an improved image generator called Aurora.

These moves come as rivals OpenAI, Google, Meta, Anthropic, and Microsoft continue to enhance their chatbots by integrating advanced AI models, introducing new features and experiences, and strengthening their existing offerings.