Mobile social network Mxit has announced the phased roll-out launch of its version 7 applications at a time when competition in the instant messaging space is heating up in Africa.

South African based Mxit has on Tuesday announced the release of Mxit 7 for feature phones, to be followed on November 15 by versions for Apple iPhone and iPad devices.

Mxit says that its iOS app has been “rebuilt from the ground up for iOS 7.”

Meanwhile, Mxit 7 is scheduled for launch on Android and BlackBerry devices in the coming weeks, and Windows Phone early next year, says Mxit in a statement.

More than 8,000 devices, including tablets, are planned to have access to the app, which has a revamped user interface for chat experiences.

Also, users of Nokia Asha feature phone devices are set to get messages when they are offline as well, says Mxit.

Other features of the app include switching between multiple ongoing conversations.

"Our users love to chat, so we improved the chat experience across all versions of Mxit. We're also building on the things that made Mxit great in the first place – the fact that we can reliably deliver half a billion messages every day – and extending that with new features like group chat," says Vincent Maher, chief product officer of Mxit.

Mxit chief executive officer, Francois Swart, adds: "Mxit 7 is the result of our renewed focus on offering an affordable and rich chat experience that bridges the gap between feature and smartphone users. This is a significant rollout for us, but it is only the beginning – there is plenty of innovation to come.”

But Mxit’s move to launch its version 7 app comes amid tough competition in both the instant messaging and social network space in Africa.

According to a research report by World Wide Worx and Fuseware called “A Social Media Landscape 2014”, instant messaging service 2go has overtaken Mxit in Africa.

The report said 2go has 10.5 million monthly active users across Africa while Mxit has 7.4 million active users on the continent.

In addition, Facebook has overtaken Mxit in South Africa to become the country’s biggest social network, also according to research from World Wide Worx and Fuseware.

The two companies say that Facebook has 9.4 million active users in South Africa.