(Credit: X)
X (formerly known as Twitter) moved one step closer to becoming Elon Musk's “everything app” this week with the introduction of new audio and video calling features. But it also moved one step back as a community note soon appeared on the post introducing the feature, letting users know that making calls could reveal their IP addresses.
Since audio and video calling is turned on by default on X, you’ll need to go into your settings and make some changes if you don’t want to run the risk of exposing your information—and also if you don’t want to receive random calls on the site. Here's how.
To start, if you use X via a web browser and not a mobile app, the first step to take is to download the app, as these changes can only be made through the mobile interface. After that, do the following:
- Open the app, click on your avatar, scroll down to Settings and Support and click,
- Next, click on Settings and Privacy. Toward the bottom, select Privacy and Safety, then Direct Messages.
- You’ll see Enable Audio and Video Calling, which will be on. Tap the slider to turn to disable audio and video calling.
Alternatively, you can also open the app, tap on the envelope icon at the bottom of your screen, then select the settings wheel at the top right. You’ll see Enable Audio and Video Calling which will be on. Tap the slider to turn it off to disable audio and video calling.
(Credit: X)Should you want to make and receive calls between certain people, you can leave audio and video calling enabled and then select from:
- People in Your Address Book
- People You Follow (this is the default)
- Verified Users
- Everyone
If you do want to use audio and video calling but do not want to share your IP address, on this last screen, just look for Enhanced Call Privacy and tap the slider to turn it on. This should prevent your IP address from showing during calls.
(Credit: X)When you click on Learn More under Enhanced Privacy, you see: “Enhanced call privacy is a new setting on X that helps protect your privacy. With this setting enabled, your IP address will be hidden from people you call and receive calls from. Specifically, if both parties to a call have this setting disabled (which it is by default), once our servers facilitate the initial setup, the call itself is routed peer-to-peer such that each parties IP address may be visible to the other. However, if either party has this setting enabled, a call between the two will be relayed through X infrastructure, and the IP address of any party that has this setting enabled will be masked.”
We should note that PCMag tested calling with Enhanced Call Privacy turned off and we were not able to see an IP address.