Old Messages Encryption

Yes. Messages in XChat remain stored in encrypted form, including older history from months ago or beyond. As long as the private key remains on your device, you can still view and decrypt that history normally.

From the user side, this feels invisible. You open a chat log and the messages appear in plain text because the decryption happens locally in the background. But technically, the stored data remains ciphertext, and no one without your private key should be able to read it.

One thing to remember before switching phones is that message history may not transfer as easily as ordinary app data. That is one of the tradeoffs of real end-to-end encryption: migrating history is harder because the keys themselves cannot just be casually synced through the cloud. If you plan to change devices, it is wise to understand the backup and restore model in advance.