Grok, the chatbot created by Elon Musk-owned xAI, is going independent, releasing a standalone app for the iPhone and a dedicated website grok.com.

Previously, Grok was only available with an X account, but in order to better compete with industry giants like Gemini, ChatGPT, and Claude, xAI is launching a version accessible without an X account.

The move comes as X makes Grok available to all users for free and integrates it more deeply into the platform by allowing users to generate images from their posts and correct grammar and spelling issues using Grok before posting.

The app is currently only available in Australia and a handful of countries while xAI tests it, but will soon be available everywhere.

Grok has come a long way in a very short time. When it was first launched late last year, it was far behind Google Gemini, OpenAI's ChatGPT, and Anthropic's Claude.

However, the xAI team seems to be working hard to close that gap, and its text and code response is as good as any other major model, and it can now analyze and generate images.

Its image generation model is very impressive. I pitted Grok against Google Gemini's Imagen 3 in seven rounds, and Grok did quite well in terms of realism.

Once the stand-alone app is available, users will have access to all the same features that are in Grok on X, including real-time data from the web and the X platform.

Although not confirmed, it appears that users will be able to sign up for a Grok account with either an X.com account or a Google login.