X Calls (call.x.com): What It Is and How It Works
X Calls is X’s standalone video meeting app at call.x.com, in beta since October 2, 2026. You sign in with your X account to start or schedule a call, and anyone can join from a link or code without an X account.
It is X’s answer to Zoom and Google Meet: a meeting room with its own link, a waiting room, a whiteboard and a calendar, instead of a call you start inside a group DM.
Short answer: X Calls is the room. Carly is the assistant that gets everyone into it: it finds a time across all your Google and Outlook calendars, sends the invite with your X Calls link on it, and handles the “can we push to Thursday?” emails afterwards.
What follows comes from X’s help center, the live call.x.com web app as of October 3, and what early testers have posted. Where X hasn’t said something, we say so.
X Calls vs calling inside X DMs
X has had audio and video calls since 2023, but they live inside Messages. Per X’s help page on audio and video calls, a one-to-one call only goes through if the other person has sent you a DM before, a group call starts from a group chat and reaches only that chat’s members, and screen sharing in group calls is web only.
X Calls takes the chat out of the picture:
| Calls in X DMs | X Calls | |
|---|---|---|
| Where it starts | Inside a DM or group chat | Its own link or 9-character code |
| Who can join | People in that conversation | Anyone with the link, unless the host restricts it |
| Guests without an X account | No | Yes, they just type a name |
| Scheduling | No, calls are started live | Yes, including repeating calls and email invites |
| Host controls | Your own mic and camera | Waiting room, admit or decline, a who-can-join setting |
What you can do in X Calls today
Here is what the call.x.com web app offers as of October 3, 2026.
Before the call
- Start now or later. Start an instant call, or create one for later and share it as a link (in the form call.x.com/abc-def-ghj) or as a 9-character code.
- Schedule it. Add a title, description, time and invitees, set it to repeat, and choose whether X emails the guests. Invitees are X accounts, and X notes that they need email notifications and DMs turned on in their X settings to receive the email. Anyone else gets the link, which you can copy as a ready-made invite.
- See your calendar. Link Google Calendar or a Microsoft calendar and those events appear beside your calls in day, week or month view, with an optional second time zone. Only you see the event details; people you share your availability with see busy time.
- Decide who gets in. Three settings: Everyone (anyone with the link), Verified Organization (only verified people from the organization), or Only people approved by an admin (everyone waits in the lobby until they’re let in).
- Host from a brand account. If you manage delegate accounts on X, you can switch between them and your personal account.
In the call
- A lobby to check your camera and mic before you join
- Side chat and emoji reactions
- Raise hand with a numbered queue, and your hand drops on its own when you start talking
- Screen sharing (entire screen, one window, or a browser tab) and a shared whiteboard
- Background blur, soft blur, and backgrounds generated with Grok Imagine
- Noise reduction, push-to-talk (hold the space bar while muted) and pinned speakers
- Admit or decline people waiting to join, one at a time or all at once
That background picker is the only place Grok shows up. We found no AI notes, summaries or transcript options anywhere in the beta.
How to start, schedule or join an X call
Start or schedule a call
- Go to call.x.com, click Continue with X, and sign in with your X account.
- Start a call right away, or create one for later and copy its link or code.
- To book it ahead, choose Schedule a call, add a title, time and invitees, set a repeat if it’s a standing meeting, and decide whether to send invitation emails.
- Open the call options and set Who can join before you send the link to anyone outside your organization.
X is switching the beta on account by account. If you see “Scheduling isn’t available for your account yet” or “Linking calendars isn’t available for your account yet,” that is X’s rollout, not a setting you missed.
Join a call
- Click the link you were sent, or go to call.x.com, click Join, and paste the link or code.
- Type your name. You don’t need an X account unless the host limited the call to their organization, in which case you’ll be asked to log in.
- Check your camera and mic in the lobby, then join. If the host approves every guest, you wait in the lobby until they let you in.
Joining works in a browser on a computer or a phone, and the app walks you through camera and mic permissions for Chrome, Safari, Edge and Firefox. Early testers report that Android and iOS work too.
Limits and open questions in the beta
- Who can host. You need an X account, and features are being switched on per account. X hasn’t said whether hosting will open to every account or stay focused on Verified Organizations, and testers have flagged the same question.
- Participant cap. Not published.
- Time limit. None published. The app does ask “Are you still there?” when you’ve been alone in a call, and removes you in under two minutes if you don’t answer.
- Recording and transcripts. There is no record or transcript option in the beta, and X hasn’t said whether either is coming. If a call needs a recording, run it on Zoom or Meet for now, where recorders like Fathom and Fireflies already work.
- Encryption. X’s help center says group calls in DMs are not yet end-to-end encrypted. X hasn’t published a security statement for X Calls, so plan confidential calls accordingly.
- Price. No pricing announced, and nothing in the beta app mentions X Premium.
- Invites outside X. Scheduled invites go to X accounts. Clients and vendors who aren’t on X get the link from you, which puts you back to sending invites by hand. Carly sends those to anyone with an email address.
X Calls vs Zoom vs Google Meet
Facts as of October 3, 2026, from X’s web app and help center and from Zoom’s and Google’s own plan pages.
| X Calls (beta) | Google Meet | Zoom | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Host needs | An X account | A Google Account | A Zoom account |
| Guests need an account | No, a name is enough (unless the host limits it to their organization) | Free Meet: a Google Account or the organizer’s approval. Workspace: no | No |
| Free time limit | None published | 60 minutes per meeting; 1:1 and mobile calls have no limit | 40 minutes per meeting |
| Participant cap | Not published | 100 on the free plan | 100 on the free plan |
| Recording | Not in the beta | Paid Workspace plans from Standard up | Local recording on the free plan |
| Calendar | Built-in scheduler; links Google and Microsoft calendars | Google Calendar | Zoom Calendar, inside the Zoom app |
| Encryption | No statement yet for Calls | Encrypted by default | Optional end-to-end encryption |
| Price | Not announced | Free; more through paid Workspace plans | Free Basic; Pro $14.16/user/month billed annually |
The free caps are where Meet and Zoom bite: Meet stops free group calls at an hour (our Google Meet time limit guide covers the workarounds) and Zoom at 40 minutes. X hasn’t published a cap at all, which in a beta can change by the week. For the full head-to-head on the incumbents, see Google Meet vs Zoom; if you’re shopping wider, start with Google Meet alternatives or Zoom alternatives.
Who X Calls suits right now: creators, communities and businesses that already meet people on X, and quick calls where nobody wants to make an account. Who should wait: anyone who needs recordings, a published participant cap, or a security statement before putting client calls on it.
Where Carly fits
X Calls gives you a room. The part that eats your week is getting people into it: the back-and-forth over times, the invite, the reschedule. That is what Carly does, wherever the call happens.
Here’s how it looks. Josh Whitaker at Shopify emails asking for 30 minutes next week. You reply with Carly on CC: “Find 30 minutes with Josh next week and use my X Calls link, call.x.com/abc-def-ghj.” Carly checks every calendar you’ve connected, offers Josh times that are actually free, books the one he picks, and sends the invite with your link on it.
- One request covers all your calendars. Carly connects all of your Google and Outlook calendars at once and finds time across all of them, not only the one you linked to X.
- Any meeting link. Give Carly your X Calls link and it goes on the invite and the calendar event. For Google Meet, Zoom or Teams, Carly creates the link itself.
- Booking pages. Make a booking page with your standing X Calls link as the location, and people who aren’t on X can book themselves.
- Reschedules by email or text. When Emily Parker writes “can we move this to Thursday?”, Carly finds the new slot, moves the event and sends the update. You can text Carly the same request from your phone.
- Work that runs on its own. Describe a workflow in plain English, for example “an hour before any external meeting, email the guest the link and the agenda,” and Carly builds it and runs it on every calendar event.
- The follow-up. For calls you record on Zoom or Meet, Carly works from your Fathom or Fireflies notes, and its AI agents send the recap and file the tasks.
Carly connects to thousands of apps, from HubSpot to Slack, through its integrations page. It works on the web, by text, and from its own email address you can CC. Pricing: Free Zapier-style workflows; AI agents from $35/month. Get started.
If you are comparing assistants rather than meeting apps, see the best AI scheduling assistants, plus our picks for Google Meet and Zoom.
FAQ
Is X Calls free?
X hasn’t announced pricing. In the beta, joining needs no account and costs nothing, and nothing in the app mentions X Premium. Expect that to be settled before a full launch. Whatever you host on, Carly handles the scheduling around it.
Do I need an X account to join an X call?
No. Open the link, or enter the code at call.x.com, type your name and join as a guest. The exceptions: a host can limit a call to their Verified Organization, which asks you to log in, or make every guest wait for approval.
Can X Calls record or transcribe meetings?
Not in the beta. There’s no record or transcript option, and X hasn’t announced one. For recorded meetings, use Zoom or Google Meet with a recorder like Fathom or Fireflies, and Carly’s agents turn those notes into follow-up emails and tasks.
How many people can join an X call?
X hasn’t published a limit for X Calls, and its help center doesn’t give one for group calls in DMs either. If you need a guaranteed number today, Google Meet and Zoom both allow 100 people on their free plans.
How is X Calls different from calling someone in X DMs?
DM calls start inside a conversation and only reach people in it, and a one-to-one call needs the other person to have messaged you first. X Calls gives each meeting its own link or code, lets guests join without an X account, and adds scheduling, a waiting room and a whiteboard.
Can Carly schedule X Calls meetings?
Yes. Give Carly your X Calls link and it adds it to the invites and events it creates, across all your Google and Outlook calendars, and you can put it on a booking page. Carly creates Meet, Zoom and Teams links itself; if you want X Calls links generated the same way, tell us on a quick call.
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"Before Carly, I relied on a Calendly link, but the whole process felt impersonal and not very professional. Carly changed that by handling all the back-and-forth, so I'm no longer stuck in endless email threads trying to line up schedules.
Now Carly reaches out to candidates, shares my real-time availability, lets them pick a slot, then sends a Zoom link and drops it straight into my calendar. She sends reminders to both of us before each call, which has significantly reduced no-shows and last-minute confusion.
On top of scheduling, Carly acts like a full executive assistant, sending me my schedule the night before so I can prepare for each call. It reminds me of the old x.ai assistant, but Carly is noticeably smarter, faster, and better suited to my healthcare recruitment business."
