In October of last year, X (formerly Twitter) introduced video and audio call support for iOS users, allowing those with iPhones or iPads to enjoy the feature for quite some time now. Unfortunately, Android users were initially excluded, but now it looks like this is about to change.
It’s been a bit of a wait, but audio and video calls are finally making their way to the X app for Android. According to X developer Enrique Barragan (via The Verge), you might need to update the app to access this feature. Additionally, it seems that any user can receive calls, while the privilege of placing calls is reserved for X Premium subscribers.
Restricting outbound calling and other recently introduced features, including extended posts, to X Premium subscribers seems to be the company’s strategy to attract new subscribers. X Premium costs $8 per month or $84 annually. Actually, X Premium subscriptions kick off at $3 per month for the Basic (with ads) tier. However, it remains unclear from X’s Help Center which tier includes the perk of outbound video and audio calling.
The rollout to all Android users might take a bit, but the feature is on its way soon. Whether you are on iOS or Android, tweaking it is simple – just head to Settings > Privacy and Safety > Direct Messages > Enable audio and video calling to turn it on or off.
If you enable it, you can also manage who can call you. You have the flexibility to set restrictions, allowing calls only from people in your address book, users you follow, or exclusively verified users.
X’s CEO, Linda Yaccarino, shared the news about video and audio chat hitting the platform back in August 2023. It’s all part of her and owner Elon Musk’s big idea to turn X into an “everything” app. And it looks like they’re getting closer to that vision because just recently, the company got its 15th money-transmitter license. That’s opening the door for new payment features, letting users send money to each other.
