X Brings Audio and Video Calls as a Subscriber-Only Feature for the Users

X is once again in the news and this time for all the good reasons. X is finally bringing audio and video calls for the users for X’s Directing Messaging function. However, the feature will solely be a subscriber-based feature which will only be accessible by the premium users.

The confirmation of the video call feature coming to X was already dropped by the CEO Linda Yaccarino last month. And now the addition of the audio call feature comes as another surprise for the users.

The feature won’t be available for all users and to be able to access the feature, users will have to become a premium member by subscribing to X. Also, the feature is optional thus the users who wish to receive audio and video calls from other verified users can choose to turn on the feature while others can opt out!

The feature description says, “Take messaging to the next level with audio and video calls”. “Turn the feature on and then select who you’re comfortable using it with”.

This feature was discovered within the X app’s code by the tech veteran-turned-investor Chris Messina. As per the image of the code shared, it shows various commands given to the system.

https://www.threads.net/@chris/post/Cxd2ezwyRRn

Some of these commands include “audio and video calls are a premium feature”, “Enable audio and video calling”, “subscribe to gain access” and others describing how the audio and video call feature works and urging the users to opt for the premium subscription. The code also explains that a warning will be reflected every time a user tries to DM another user on the platform.

The update comes as a part of X’s agenda of making it an all-rounder app, the app for everything if we say more precisely. Also, the premium subscription feature hasn’t garnered much interest from users. In a scenario where X has over 550 million monthly active users, only 1 million subscriptions have been subscribed so far.

Making this audio and video call feature a complete subscription-based offering can be seen as a new attempt to attract active users to subscribe to the X premium plan thus increasing its revenue. Another reason behind the introduction of this new feature is potentially to combat bots and spam accounts on the platform as mentioned by Elon Musk in a statement.

Since the verification process on the X app will probably be made mandatory sometime in the future, Musk is also planning to bring a cheaper payment tier for the users soon. It is so that more users can verify themselves and all the bots and spam accounts can be easily eliminated from the app.