X is slowly rolling out audio and video calling to users who don't pay for its premium subscription service, formerly known as Twitter Blue. Enrique Barragán, company engineer, has shared the news on the platform. The company initially launched the feature for iOS users last year, giving paid subscribers the option to call other people through the app, and was a step toward making X the “everything” app that Elon Musk wants to make be. At the beginning of this year, capacity reached Android devicesbut the ability to make calls was limited only to Premium subscribers.
In late January, Musk said that X will make audio and video calling available to everyone as soon as the company is confident in its robustness. We're still prompted to subscribe to X Premium to be able to make calls when we tap the phone icon in direct messages, but those who receive the update will be able to make calls even if they're not a paying subscriber. The official X support page The feature now says that all accounts can make and receive calls, although both parties must have been in contact via direct messaging at least once. In the past, it only said “Premium subscribers have the ability to make audio and video calls.”
In addition to announcing the launch of the capability, Barragán revealed that users will now also be able to receive calls from everyone in the app if they wish. Audio and video calling were automatically turned on when we checked our direct messages settings menu, set so that we (thankfully) can only receive calls from people we follow. However, we're already seeing the “Everyone” option there, ready to be chosen by the most intrepid X users.
