I don’t really get why Elon and Co. are so excited about this. But apparently, X’s new audio calling feature is now live in the latest iOS version of the app.
BREAKING: Audio calling is now LIVE! pic.twitter.com/9nfLp1aUp1
— X News Daily (@xDaily) October 25, 2023
As you can see in this example, shared by X News Daily, users can now make an audio call from their X DMs, with video calls coming soon.
X News Daily also notes that because the system is using CallKit on iOS, audio calls received via X will look like regular phone calls on your device.
So, cool, now people on X will be able to call you on the phone, though considering that some 88% percent of Millennials prefer texting over audio calls, and few people even bother to answer their phone these days, I’m not sure that this is the killer update that X seems to think.
These days, the only phone calls I get are from spam marketers or my family, while overall trends show that more and more people are turning to DMs to stay in touch. Which X already has, so I don’t see why adding audio or video calls will be a significant update for the app.
But it’s all part of Elon’s “everything app” vision.
Elon’s view is that X will become an all-encompassing platform, where you can conduct every type of interaction and transaction in one place. Audio and video calls are a part of that, and it’ll be interesting to see if people actually use it, or if it leads to more unwanted calls or related issues as a result.
It’s not clear as yet whether both options will be X Premium only features, though that has been the direction they’ve been heading in development.