X (formerly known as Twitter) is inching closer to becoming an “everything app” as it has officially begun rolling out audio and video calling support on the microblogging platform.
Elon Musk’s X Rolls Out Audio And Video Calling Feature
Several X users have confirmed the arrival of this new feature, as they were greeted with notifications upon opening the app, which read, “Audio and video calls are here!”
X’s CTO and owner Elon Musk, who had been teasing this feature for a long time, too, took to the platform and announced it as an “Early version of video and audio calling on X.”
Early version of video & audio calling on 𝕏 https://t.co/aFI3VujLMh
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) October 25, 2023
X also wrote on its website, “We’re releasing a new way of communicating on X, Audio and Video Calling. Audio and Video calling is now available on iOS and will soon be available on Android.”
While all accounts can receive calls, only X Premium (Twitter Blue) users using iOS devices can make audio and video calls. One can control who can call them from the Direct Messages Settings.
By default, users will be able to receive calls from accounts they follow or have in their address book, verified users, or all three. To be able to call another user, both the user and the person they want to call must have exchanged at least one Direct Message with each other.
How To Make An Audio Or Video Call On iOS
- Tap the envelope icon. You will be directed to your messages.
- Tap on an existing DM conversation or start a new conversation.
- Tap on the phone icon, and from there you can:
- a. Tap Audio call to start an audio call
- b. Tap Video call to start a video call
Once you initiate a call, the account that you call will get a notification that you are calling them. If they don’t answer it, they will be notified that they missed a call.
For those unaware, in August, Musk announced that voice and video calls were in the works at X as part of his vision to transform the platform into a versatile, multi-purpose app offering a range of services from messaging to creating content to sharing videos to peer-to-peer payments.
The audio and video calling features would work on iOS, Android, Mac computers, and regular PCs, and no phone number would be needed to use these features.
“X is the effective global address book,” the billionaire added at the time.
Earlier this month, X announced that it is testing a new paid subscription service called “Not A Bot,” designed to defend against bots and spammers who attempt to manipulate the platform and disturb the experience of other X users.
The new paid subscription model will be first available for “new users” in New Zealand and the Philippines for an annual fee of $1 (prices vary by country and currency), which will allow them to carry out specific actions on the web version of the platform, such as post content, Like posts, Reply, Repost and Quote other accounts’ posts, and Bookmark post.
