X, the social media network formerly known as Twitter, is expanding its audio and video calling capabilities. Previously a perk for Premium (what used to be called “Twitter Blue”) subscribers, this feature will now be available to everyone on the platform.
As reported by Engadget, Enrique Barragan, an engineer at X, announced the expansion via a post on the platform. This was done while quoting Elon Musk’s promise back in January where he said this would arrive to all users when the feature was robust enough.
The move brings X closer to Elon Musk’s goal of making the platform an “everything app,” as he has so often expressed. Calls were added for iOS users last year, followed by Android, but only paying subscribers could use them.
How does it work?
The official support page says that you are able to control your audio and video calling options from the Direct Messages settings. From there, you will notice that by default, you are able to receive calls from accounts you follow or have in your address book — provided that you give X access to your address book. However, in order to call another user, both the caller and the recipient must have been in contact at least once via X’s Direct Messages (DMs).
X’s Audio and Video call settings in Direct Messages
This doesn’t mean that you cannot allow calls from everyone on the platform, though. If you are feeling adventurous, you can go ahead and do just that by turning on that option. However, if you plan on doing so, our advice would be to also turn on the new “Enhanced call privacy” setting, which hides your IP from people you call and receive calls from. As a matter of fact, you should probably turn on this option anyway if you plan on calling people from X.
The updated calling features aren’t instantly available for everyone. X is slowly rolling them out, likely in batches, and it appears that they are automatically turned on without prompting. If you do not wish to make and receive calls on X/Twitter, you may need to log in to the app and navigate to your Direct Message settings to turn the feature off.
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