X is rolling out audio and video calls to Android

Elon Musk’s own social network X is rolling out the ability to make audio and video calls directly from the app to its Android client.

One of the X engineers working on the project posted about the feature release and said it will be available to Android users after an app update.

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

In August 2023, CEO Linda Yaccarino first talked about introducing video calls to the platform and eventually rolled it out to iOS users in October.

Notably, any user can receive a call but only paid users can place a call. It’s one of the long list of things only paid users can do on X. However, X removed the ability for premium users to set an NFT as a profile picture earlier in the month.

Users can enable or disable calling through Settingle > Privacy and safety > Direct Messages > Enable audio and video calling. The same menu gives people the ability to control who can call them: people in their address book, people they follow, and verified users. They can select multiple options from these selections.

X is pretty much still ambitious about becoming an “everything app.” Earlier this month, the company published its vision for 2024 including launching peer-to-peer payment, new xAI-powered features such as “show dissimilar posts,” and more ad products for marketers.

Reports suggested that advertisers are leaving X and opting to spend money on platforms like LinkedIn after Musk told them “Go f*ck yourself” at an event in November 2023.