For the last few weeks, I have been using X Premium (formerly Twitter), more specifically the Basic tier that costs $4 a month if you subscribe via in-app purchases in the App Store.
Previously for me, I have been skeptical of X Premium overall because I am a former Tweetbot user that paid about $5.99 a year to use Tweetbot in its later versions because I truly loved the design and used the app for about 10 years across my iPhone, iPad, and Mac.
With that said, before we get further into this review, I want to point out that I will not be talking about X’s AI assistant Grok since my subscription tier of X Premium does not include it.
What I do like about X Premium, if I had to say my favorite feature so far, it is the option to write longer tweets. Normally you only have the 280-character limit but with X Premium, that makes it so you can write up to 2,000 characters.
Even though I do understand that X/Twitter has always been made to get to the point and escape the “fluffy” posts of Facebook and Instagram, sometimes 280 characters is not enough.
Next up is a feature I’m glad is there, which is the ability to change the colors of the theme and app icons in the app.
Since the fall season is coming here in a little more than a month from now, there are people like me who absolutely love that time of the year and want to have things they use often to reflect that so they can get even more into the spirit of the upcoming fall season.
However, I do need to point out that even though X Premium does have that ability, it is still not as good as the old “Pumpkin” theme from Tweetbot.
Other features of X Premium Basic include “longer video uploads, reply prioritization, text formatting, bookmark folders, custom app icons, and more.”
I will say that I have not used features like the longer video posts just because I have no reason to since my account is not really used for posting videos. The only non-text media I will post are either photos or GIFs.
If there is one thing that the Basic tier lacks, it is premium features. That might sound silly to some, but if this is a social network that I am putting money into monthly, I expect more than what the Basic tier offers. Sure, I could always upgrade to a higher tier, but when I previously spent $5.99 a year on Tweetbot, I still think I got more out of it than I do the modern day X app.
The question now is”¦should you get X Premium? Is it worth it?
I’m going to go out on a limb and say”¦.no. Yes, you get more characters to use, longer video posting options, and the ability to change your theme and app icon. However, features like that, especially the theme and app icon stuff, should already be free. But I suppose that is another reason and way for X CEO Elon Musk to get more money from users if they lock it down to just X Premium users.
All in all, while X Premium’s Basic tier for $4 a month does have some decent features to it for such a small monthly price, I still am giving it 2.5/4 stars. For that price, I only somewhat feel like an X Premium user and if you’re putting money into a social media app/service today, you really need to offer more and that is not what the Basic tier of X Premium currently offers.
Rating: 2.5/4 stars
