Twitter X rebrand causes mayhem on Microsoft Edge and Apple App Store

What you need to know

• Twitter has been rebranded to X (The Everything App).
• You might receive a security prompt from Microsoft Edge asking you to uninstall the app.
• Edge ships with a security feature dubbed Progressive Web App Icon Change designed to notify the user whenever an app name or icon is changed.
• X ran into some issues while rebranding on iOS, but they appear to have been resolved.

Last week, Elon Musk announced Twitter's rebrand to X. The move cause mixed feelings and emotions, with multiple users highlighting their preference for the old design over the new one. Still, the rebrand did take place, and the little blue bird we've all come to know and love is now in thin air.

And while the changes are still rolling out to users, the transition to X is proving difficult. As spotted by BleepingComputer, Microsoft Edge views Twitter X as a potential security threat after the rebrand and is currently displaying security warnings. 

The alert is prompted by a security feature dubbed Progressive Web App Icon change, which is in place to notify users whenever the icon or name of an application is changed, as is the case with Twitter's rebrand.

Florian, a "Windows user and fan since the 90s" and also a Windows Insider MVP in  2021, flagged the issue on X and shared a screenshot with the following prompt from Microsoft Edge: If this web app is trying to trick you into thinking it's a different app, uninstall it.

We'll have to wait to see if Musk and the team at X work with Microsoft to stop this prompt from appearing.

Windows Central take

Likewise, the rebrand transition hasn't been seamless for iOS users. This is because of Apple's strict App Store rules. There are guidelines regarding naming apps, and X doesn't meet the cut, as highlighted by our sister site, iMore. One-character names aren't allowed on Apple's App Store, as explained by Nick Sheriff on X. 

Since the rebrand was announced, I've noticed subtle changes on the platform, but the app logo and name remained the same until yesterday when a new update popped up for myself and others. This made the transition imminent.

Perhaps, this could mean that the naming issue has been resolved, as the X rebrand is now consistent across my home page and App Store, and the bird logo is also gone! Musk also hinted that the rebrand would transform it into "The Everything App." There's little to base this on at the moment but there's a likelihood that more changes are coming for X.