Elon Musk Says Will Discontinue His Phone Number, Use 'X' For Calls

Tech mogul Elon Musk on Friday announced that he plans to use only social media platform X, formerly known as Twitter, for messages and audio/video calls and is going to stop using his phone number.

"In a few months, I will discontinue my phone number and only use X for texts and audio/video calls," he posted on X on late Thursday night.

In a few months, I will discontinue my phone number and only use X for texts and audio/video calls — Elon Musk (@elonmusk) February 9, 2024

Musk's move is seen as an attempt to promote the audio/video calling features of X, which were rolled out in October in last year. He has since been fervently advocating for X to evolve into an "everything app". 

X launched an early version of video and audio calling for some users last year. Musk described a post on the platform instructing users on enabling the feature as an "Early version of video & audio calling on X".

However, calling on X does not appear to be encrypted, unlike other similar services such as WhatsApp or Apple's FaceTime.

According to X's website, all accounts can receive calls but only premium subscribers can make audio and video calls. The social media platform offers enhanced call privacy, a new setting on X, that helps protect user's privacy, according to the website. 

With this setting enabled, the IP address will be hidden from people one calls and receive calls from.

After rebranding Twitter as X, the tech billionaire signalled he would turn the platform into a super-app, offering a range of services from messaging and social networking to peer-to-peer payments, reported news agency Reuters. 

Teasing the feature in August last year, Musk had said users would not need a phone number for the features, which will be available on Apple's iOS, Google's Android, and personal computers.

Earlier this month, X said it will test a new subscription model under which it will charge $1 (roughly Rs. 83) annual fee for basic features.

The new subscription termed "Not A Bot" will charge users for likes, reposts, or quoting other accounts' posts, and bookmarking posts on the web version of the platform.

(With inputs from Reuters)