Elon Musk today announced that X (formerly Twitter) users will soon be able to call each other without requiring a phone number. It looks like the feature will be available on the majority of platforms like iOS, Android, Mac and Windows.
According to a post by Musk on X, video and audio calls are coming to the platform with X acting as the ‘effective global address book’. It might mean users won’t have to save phone numbers and will be able to call each other by simply looking up their username.
Earlier this month, X CEO Linda Yaccarino confirmed that the platform is working to bring the feature during an interaction with CNBC. Andrea Conway, a designer at X, also shared pictures of the new video calling option that can be found in the top right corner of X’s DM menu, which looks similar to Instagram’s feature.
Moreover, X is implementing restrictions to prevent spam calls, but it’s likely that the platform will prevent non-premium subscribers from accessing certain features.
While the social media platform already offers a way to engage in live conversations via ‘Spaces’, it is not suitable for a one-on-one conversation since the feature is meant for people to engage in discussions.
The ability to make calls on X might help the platform distinguish itself from rivals like Bluesky and Threads. The move seems to be in line with Musk’s vision of transforming X into an all-encompassing app like WeChat. However, Musk has yet to share details on when the feature will be available to everyone or if it will be limited to Blue subscribers.
