The Twitter bird is gradually disappearing from more surfaces in the app, and soon, it’ll be gone entirely, as the newly named X platform takes shape.

And if you’re wondering what your X icon will look like on your device, here’s a preview, with some initial X options shared by X News Daily.

As you can see, Twitter Blue (or now X Blue) subscribers will soon have a range of icon options to choose from, with the new X branding.

That’s in addition to the various X references now appearing in the app, including on the loading screen, the welcome page, at the top left of the feed, etc.

Which is somewhat surprising, given that the icon is reportedly not even finalized as yet. But clearly, the new X management felt they could wait no longer, and that now is the time to make X happen, ready or not, with the finer details being ironed out as they go.

Which also includes potential trademark and copyright concerns, and other challenges to the update. Those are seemingly not big enough concerns to slow up progress, which will see the bird app, as you know it, soon become a wholly transformed entity.

Twitter’s also having its San Francisco headquarters re-painted with X logos, as all the birds and bird references are exited from the building.

In turn, some websites are also now updating their Twitter icons, while physical stores will also have to change their signage to reference the new info.

Which will make this a costly, time-consuming exercise, but it is happening, and it seems very unlikely, at this stage, that there’ll be any backtracking to the old Twitter logo, so you might need to start considering how that applies to your business.

The visual shift underlines a broader change in focus at the app, which is more aligned with owner Elon Musk’s vision for a bigger, more encompassing platform, that’ll eventually include integrating banking and payment options, and will then facilitate a wider range of interactive and transactional processes.

Though that, too, will take some time. While X Corp has been approved for preliminary payment licenses in some U.S. states, gaining full approval is still a long way off, while it’ll also need to win regulatory support in any other region where it’s looking to provide payment and finance tools.

That won’t be a straightforward process. Access to Meta Pay, for example, is still limited, with the Zuckerberg-led giant struggling, at times, to gain regional approval due to unique local requirements, as well as skepticism surrounding Meta’s intentions. Most regions are not overly keen to enable a digital finance player to come in and usurp the local market, especially one that’s not fairly contributing to the local economy, and Musk will now face the same roadblocks in his payments push, especially if he looks to build banking, and secure transactional accounts, into the app.

Musk’s main focus, of course, is the U.S. market, and building these systems for American users. But history has shown that Western consumers are not overly enthused by in-stream payments, so even if he is able to build such options, there’s no guarantee that’ll lead to major opportunity either way.  

And when you also consider that 70% of X’s audience is outside the U.S., the American emphasis could actually be misplaced. X would likely gain far more in this regard by facilitating payments in, say, Japan, which is its second-biggest user market. Asian users have shown much more interest in social commerce solutions, yet while opportunities like this are indeed present, Musk has also cut many staff from the company’s international teams, which could hinder progress.

So while the ambition for X is grand, and the end of Twitter is near, it’s going to take some time for Elon Musk’s ‘everything app’ plan to take shape, or not, as it works through the new push.

But X itself is taking shape. That’ll either be a springboard to the next stage, or a single-letter epitaph for the Twitter experience.