X (formerly Twitter) rolls out audio and video calling in a push to become an “everything app”

X, formerly known as Twitter, today announced the launch of an early version of video and audio calling for some users, X owner and chief technology officer Elon Musk said in a tweet this evening.

The launch is part of Musk’s push for X to become an “everything app” and sets the stage for X to compete with Meta’s WhatsApp, which currently has over a billion users.

The news comes less than two months after Musk shared a sneak peek of this feature in late August, stating that users wouldn’t require a phone number to access these features, and they would be available on Apple’s iOS, Google’s Android, and personal computers.

In a post on Wednesday, Musk described a post on the platform instructing users on enabling the feature as an “Early version of video & audio calling on X.”

https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1717303305997566037

The latest functionality comes amid a series of changes and new features to the core experience of the platform since Musk’s acquisition of the social media company nearly a year ago.

Since rebranding Twitter to X in July, Musk has signaled he would turn the platform into a super app offering similar to Tencent’s WeChat which offers a range of services from messaging and social networking to peer-to-peer payments.

Musk has made a lot of changes to Twitter since he acquired the platform for a whopping $44 billion a year ago. Last month, he rebranded the social platform from Twitter to X to reflect his vision of transforming the platform into what he refers to as an “everything app.” The change is set to reshape the platform and potentially expand its functionality beyond its traditional social media roots.

The company’s iconic blue and white bird logo of Twitter was retired, giving rise to the new identity, X. Renaming of Twitter services, including TweetDeck, quickly followed suit.