How to Turn off Audio and Video Calling on X (Twitter)

X (formerly Twitter) receiving the audio and video call functionality is not exactly new, and talks of it have been making rounds of the internet since last year. Although iOS and Android users received the feature previously, it was locked behind a Premium paid subscription.

The feature, very recently, was made available for free to everyone, and this rollout has raised a lot of privacy concerns among netizens. Why? Because audio and video calls are turned on by default, meaning anyone can call you on Twitter. The feature reveals the IP address of both the caller and recipient to each other. So, if you wish to protect your privacy and turn off the audio and video call feature, the following post will explain how you can do it.

Turn off Audio and Video Calls on X (Android and iOS)

The good thing is that the X app’s interface is similar on both Android and iOS. So, you won’t have to worry too much about the steps being different. For your information, we have outlined the steps below using an Android device. Take a look:

• Open the X app and tap on the message icon at the bottom right corner.
• When your inbox loads up, tap on the cogwheel icon at the top right corner.
• Here, turn off the Enable audio and video calling toggle to disable audio and video calling on X.

How to Turn On Enhanced Call Privacy on X

Besides the ability to enable or disable calls, X also offers an Enhanced call privacy setting that you can turn on to hide your IP address from the people you connect to via calls. The feature is disabled, by default, and when it’s disabled for both parties on a call, X’s servers route the call via a peer-to-peer connection, making their IP addresses visible to each other.

If you wish to safeguard your IP address from malicious individuals, you can turn on the Enhanced call privacy setting. This will stop sharing your IP address with the other person and any calls you make or receive from others will be routed via X’s servers. To turn on Enhanced call privacy, follow these steps:

• Open the X app on Android or iOS and go to the message icon -> cogwheel icon.
• On the Messages settings screen, scroll down and turn on the Enhanced call privacy toggle.

In addition to this, you can choose who can make audio and video calls with you. You can configure this by checking the relevant boxes next to People in your address book, People you follow, Verified users, or Everyone under the “Allow audio and video calls from:” section.

How to Audio or Video Call Someone on X (Twitter)

In case you feel that you will need the calling feature on the platform, it’s pretty easy to use. Follow the steps below:

• Open the X app on your Android or iOS device and go to the message icon.
• When in your X inbox, simply tap on a conversation to open it.
• At the top right corner, tap on the phone icon and select Audio call or Video call.

You can only call people with whom you communicated with X’s Direct Message. Also, do note that to get a call on Android, you will need to enable push notifications for X. For more information on this, give X’s official page for the feature a visit.

It’s good that at least you get the ability to toggle the setting off. However, there’s something that bothered me. During my testing, the X audio and video call feature didn’t work as intended. Even though I had the setting turned off, I could receive calls. So, that’s a BIG problem I’m sure Musk needs to figure out ASAP. Hopefully, this issue will be fixed.

Your IP address being out there is not at all safe, and your account’s privacy is definitely at stake. I don’t know what’s up with the feature, but I do understand why everyone is freaking out about it. Still, I’d highly suggest keeping the feature toggled off. For additional measure, also restrict your DM settings and don’t keep it at Everyone.

With where X is headed, Musk seems to be gradually scrapping off everything that made Twitter, well, Twitter. I understand that, but the audio and video call functionality rollout just does not feel right. I mean, who wants X to become like other social media platforms?

Do share your thoughts about the same in the comments down below. I’d like to hear them out.