Elon Musk's X is almost ready to take on FaceTime with video and audio calling

(Image credit: Future)

Elon Musk's X social network is reportedly getting ready to launch video and audio calling to its iPhone-owning subscribers after previously confirming the feature was in the works.

Musk announced that he was keen to bring video and audio calls to X back in August, saying that it would be one of a handful of features that would be part of a unique set of factors — the others include cross-platform support and the fact that no phone number would be required. Musk also believes that X "is the effective global address book," too.

Now, code found in the X app for iPhone has confirmed that video and audio calling is now closer to release than ever, but only for those who pay.

Ring ring, hello?

The news comes after X developer and code-diver @aaronp613 shared screenshots of references to the new feature and while it's yet to go live, it now seems to be closer than ever.

Looks like X is getting ready to launch audio and video calling on iOS for premium subscribers pic.twitter.com/LCWZnZxUfjSeptember 21, 2023

The new calling feature looks set to become an X Premium-only affair, and it's clear that iPhone owners will be among the first to gain support.

Support for video and voice calling will of course give iPhone owners another option for those who aren't into FaceTime. It'll also be cross-platform, but with the App Store already full of apps that offer similar features X's implementation will need to be solid if it is to compete.

There's currently no official timeframe for when we can expect video and voice calling to come to the social network, but given Musk's fondness for throwing features at the wall and seeing what sticks we can't imagine that there will be a months-long testing period here.

X will no doubt hope that these calling features will bring more paying Premium customers online but, again, with so many free options it could prove to be a hard sell for many.

Oliver Haslam has written about Apple and the wider technology business for more than a decade with bylines on How-To Geek, PC Mag, iDownloadBlog, and many more. He has also been published in print for Macworld, including cover stories. At iMore, Oliver is involved in daily news coverage and, not being short of opinions, has been known to 'explain' those thoughts in more detail, too. Having grown up using PCs and spending far too much money on graphics card and flashy RAM, Oliver switched to the Mac with a G5 iMac and hasn't looked back. Since then he's seen the growth of the smartphone world, backed by iPhone, and new product categories come and go. Current expertise includes iOS, macOS, streaming services, and pretty much anything that has a battery or plugs into a wall. Oliver also covers mobile gaming for iMore, with Apple Arcade a particular focus. He's been gaming since the Atari 2600 days and still struggles to comprehend the fact he can play console quality titles on his pocket computer.