Twitter will be adding encrypted direct messages (DMs) and voice and video chat to its app.
The encrypted DMs “should happen” Wednesday (May 10) and the voice and video chat is “coming soon,” Twitter CEO Elon Musk said in a Tuesday (May 9) tweet.
With latest version of app, you can DM reply to any message in the thread (not just most recent) and use any emoji reaction.
Release of encrypted DMs V1.0 should happen tomorrow. This will grow in sophistication rapidly. The acid test is that I could not see your DMs even if…
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) May 9, 2023
These are the latest steps in Musk’s plan to grow Twitter into an “everything app.”
“Release of encrypted DMs V1.0 should happen tomorrow,” Musk said in the Tuesday tweet. “This will grow in sophistication rapidly. The acid test is that I could not see your DMs even if there was a gun to my head.”
The latest version of the app will also let users DM reply to any message in a thread — not just the most recent one — and use any emoji reaction, Musk said in the tweet.
“Coming soon will be voice and video chat from your handle to anyone on this platform, so you can talk to people anywhere in the world without giving them your phone number,” Musk said in the tweet.
This announcement comes about two weeks after Musk said Twitter will start letting media outlets charge users on a per-article basis with one click — letting those who would not sign up for a monthly subscription pay a higher per-article price to read an occasional article.
About two weeks before that, Musk said users can apply for a new Subscriptions offering that allows them to monetize their content on the platform and offer long-form text and video to their subscribers.
Earlier in April, Musk released his plans for Twitter’s transformation from social media platform to financial institution and super app.
As PYMNTS reported April 17, super apps are popular in Asia, where these offerings can handle everything from ride hailing and eCommerce to mobile payments, photo sharing, video chatting and government services.
While super apps have yet to catch on in the West, 50% of consumers in Australia, Germany, the United Kingdom and the United States said they use connected devices to make shopping more convenient, and 41% said they would increase their banking activities if they had access to a super app, according to “The Super App Shift: How Consumers Want to Save, Shop and Spend in the Connected Economy,” a PYMNTS and PayPal collaboration.
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