Months after launching on iOS, X brought voice and video calls to it’s Android app this week, gradually rolling out to users running on the latest version.
While it’s helpful to have these extended features, X locks them behind a paywall, letting only premium users to make calls. Well, the free users can receive calls from premium subscribers but can’t initiate calls.
Voice and Video Calls on X
X Android app has gained support for voice and video calls this week, as noted by it’s platform developer Enrique Barragan(via The Verge). The same was brought to the X iOS app in October last year, allowing eligible users to connect through new means.
audio and video calls on X slowly rolling out for android users today! update your app and call your mother
— Enrique (@enriquebrgn) January 18, 2024
While it’s an essential feature to materialize Elon Musk’s ideology of transforming X into an all-in-one platform, voice and video calls are locked behind a paywall! Barragan says the ability to make voice or video calls is only available to X Premium users, while the free users can just receive calls.
X Premium starts at $3 a month for the Basic tier, but it isn’t clear behind which plan X hid the outbound calls yet. If you’re a premium user and haven’t found the voice and video call options yet, update the app and recheck. Users can turn this feature on or off by going to Settings > Privacy and Safety > Direct Messages > Enable audio and video calling.
When enabled, users can set restrictions on who can call them – like receiving calls only from people in their address book, following people, or just those with blue ticks.
Reserving outbound calls only to X Premium subscribers is one of the ways to push more free users to pay up. The company has done similarly with TweetDeck, ad earnings, etc, in the past, offering them only to paid users.
This aside, the company is also working on adding payments to the platform, allowing users make financial transactions like PayPal or Venmo. It’s in the pursuit of obtaining relevant licences and they may lock this feature behind a paywall too.
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