SA’s Mxit CEO Admits Where He Went Wrong As the Social App Disappeared

• Alan Knott-Craig shared his experience as Mxit CEO, admitting mistakes that led to the decline of South Africa’s most popular social network
• The company failed to adapt from feature phones to smartphones and tried to compete with global messaging giants like WhatsApp
• Users reminisced about meeting friends and even life partners on Mxit, recalling the app’s peak influence on communication

Despite its downfall, Mxit remains a nostalgic symbol of South Africa’s tech history, reminding locals of the early mobile internet era and the lessons learned from trying to scale a homegrown platform globally.

On 12 February 2026, entrepreneur, author and TikTok user @alan.knottcraig shared a reflection on his time as CEO of Mxit. The app was South Africa’s former biggest social network. He explained that he ran the company for a year after it was acquired in 2011. Knott-Craig said the company made several strategic errors, particularly trying to compete with large American platforms such as WhatsApp.

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User @alan.knottcraig admitted that Mxit was more of a dating app than a general messaging service. He also acknowledged that they failed to migrate features from feature phones to smartphones. The mistakes, he said, led to a business model that ultimately didn’t work. His partners lost patience, and he was eventually fired.

Lessons from a lost social media pioneer

Mxit had millions of daily users in South Africa at its peak. The platform allowed users to message each other using mobile data at less than 1 cent per message. At the time, sending an SMS could cost up to 80 cents. By 2012, Mxit had more than 10 million active users and added tens of thousands of new users daily. Knott-Craig said he regretted not taking the app to the next level, but not the experience. Even after he left, Mxit continued to operate for a few more years before it eventually disappeared.

Many users recalled meeting long-term friends or even partners on Mxit. Netizens filled the comment section praising the role the app played in connecting them during the early days of mobile internet. For many South Africans, it was a bittersweet trip down memory lane, reflecting on how a homegrown innovation once shaped everyday communication in the country.

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Here’s what Mzansi said

Jay wrote:

“We lost our soulmates because of you!”

Olivia Abell 🇿🇦 wrote:

“Privacy wasn’t a thing. I was a child talking to men.”

mimiblackfitboutique wrote:

“Wait, Mxit was a South African app? Wow.”

nathan06_sa wrote:

“Owning up to mistakes like this is very rare.”

Samuel M said:

“I am married because of Mxit. 😅”

Smash Mashabela wrote:

“I really believe BlackBerry’s BIS contributed greatly to the demise of Mxit…”

ɪᴄᴇ$ᴛᴇᴇ wrote:

“I met my husband on it, and we have been married for 19 years. 🥰”

Juice_lee wrote:

“Joe banker himself. 😂”

Nwabi wrote:

“We want Mxit back. 😳😳”

BlacCherry wrote:

“1st tech CEO to apologise in public. 😅”

Check out the TikTok video below:

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• The arrival of Walmart app in South Africa caused quite a stir on social media, as many have been discussing the store's opening.
• A 23-year-old Durban student has developed South Africa's first-ever service delivery app, CityMenderSA, to bridge the communication gap between citizens and local municipalities.
• Vutlharhi Donald Valoyi, CEO of Zulzi, successfully built the foundational technology for Checkers Sixty60 app and continues to maintain the successful platform.

Source: Briefly News