Elon Musk announces X update he claims FaceTime can't match

(Image credit: Twitter / X)

In March, Elon Musk said he was bringing video and audio calls to Twitter. Now, a name change and six months later, Musk is highlighting the unique factors coming to X’s (formerly Twitter) FaceTime rival that he claims Apple’s offering just can’t match.

Taking to X, Musk highlighted a combination of three factors that are “unique” to X: Compatibility across iOS, Android, Mac & PC, No phone number is needed, and the fact that “X is the effective global address book.”

Musk’s statement would imply that X’s user base is the largest on the internet, giving users a new way of reaching out to a “global address book.” While X’s user base is vast, at around 400 million users, it doesn’t quite reach the size of other social networks like Instagram, with over one billion users, for example.

It’s a hyperbolic claim from Musk, but this is what we’ve come to expect since his purchase of Twitter last year. Musk thinks video & audio calls on X will be a game-changer for the social network, but we’ll have to wait for the feature to launch to see its potential.

Video & audio calls coming to X:- Works on iOS, Android, Mac & PC- No phone number needed- X is the effective global address book That set of factors is unique.August 31, 2023

Video & audio calls, so what? — iMore’s take

Elon Musk wants X to be the go-to place for your video & audio calls, displacing FaceTime and WhatsApp as the best options for calling your loved ones. Personally, this has absolutely no appeal to me, and the lack of need for a phone number to make a call makes the whole service a little uncomfortable.

Like most things Musk does, there’s a lack of information to explain how and why choices are being made. Earlier this month, Musk claimed that he wanted to remove the ability to block from X, and if that were to happen alongside the ability to make phone calls to other users without a phone number, then X would be a breeding ground for spam calls.

More options in tech are always a good thing, but whether or not Musk is wasting everyone’s time with more desultory promises is anyone’s guess.

John-Anthony Disotto is the How To Editor of iMore, ensuring you can get the most from your Apple products and helping fix things when your technology isn’t behaving itself. Living in Scotland, where he worked for Apple as a technician focused on iOS and iPhone repairs at the Genius Bar, John-Anthony has used the Apple ecosystem for over a decade and prides himself in his ability to complete his Apple Watch activity rings. John-Anthony has previously worked in editorial for collectable TCG websites and graduated from The University of Strathclyde where he won the Scottish Student Journalism Award for Website of the Year as Editor-in-Chief of his university paper. He is also an avid film geek, having previously written film reviews and received the Edinburgh International Film Festival Student Critics award in 2019. John-Anthony also loves to tinker with other non-Apple technology and enjoys playing around with game emulation and Linux on his Steam Deck.

In his spare time, John-Anthony can be found watching any sport under the sun from football to darts, taking the term “Lego house” far too literally as he runs out of space to display any more plastic bricks, or chilling on the couch with his French Bulldog, Kermit.