X just rolled out a brand new video player, and it’s making a clear statement: portrait mode is the future on this platform.
Nikita Bier, X’s head of product, announced the update earlier this week. He didn’t sugarcoat the reasoning either, openly admitting the old video player “badly needed a refresh.” So what changed, and why is it stirring up controversy?
The New Full-Screen Video Experience
The update is currently rolling out to iOS users. Once it hits your phone, tapping a video expands it to full screen instantly. From there, you can swipe up to jump to the next video, a gesture that should feel immediately familiar if you’ve spent any time on TikTok or Instagram Reels.
That’s clearly the inspiration here. The swipe-up, short-form vertical video format has become the dominant way people consume content on mobile. X wants a piece of that attention.
But here’s where things get a bit messy.
Portrait Mode Is Now the Priority
Some users pushed back almost immediately. The main complaint is that the new player forces videos into a cropped, full-screen view without giving viewers the option to watch content in its original aspect ratio.
“This UI sucks so bad. Let me just watch full-scale videos,” one user wrote. It’s a fair frustration, especially for creators who produce widescreen or square content.
Bier’s response was pretty direct. When asked which orientation X prefers, he confirmed portrait is the way to go. He also added that X will stop cropping vertical content moving forward, which is a meaningful change for creators who’ve been burned by the platform’s previous handling of aspect ratios.
“Sorry, but cropping the video incentivized people to post square videos. We are a mobile company,” he said.
That’s an honest acknowledgment of a problem, and the fix makes sense from a creator’s perspective. If X wants people to shoot vertically, it should display vertical video properly.
X Isn’t the Only Platform Making This Move
X’s shift toward vertical video isn’t happening in isolation. Platforms across the board have been leaning hard into portrait-mode, short-form content. TikTok essentially invented the modern version of this format. Instagram Reels followed. YouTube Shorts joined the race. Even Disney+ recently launched a vertical video feed, which tells you how mainstream the format has become.
X launched a dedicated vertical video feed globally last year. This new immersive player builds on that foundation. Plus, Bier hinted that more video-focused updates are coming, so this is clearly a sustained push rather than a one-off tweak.
Timing Is Everything Here
It’s worth noting when X is making these moves. Last month, TikTok’s U.S. operations were sold to an American investor group following ongoing regulatory pressure. That shook up the short-form video landscape in a real way.
X appears to be positioning itself as a destination for both creators and viewers who might be looking for alternatives. Adding an immersive, swipe-friendly video experience is a smart play if you’re trying to attract that audience.
X is also weaving in AI-powered tools alongside these updates. Grok, the platform’s AI assistant, now includes a text-to-video generation feature. That said, Grok’s image-generation tool recently ran into serious controversy after it allowed users to create explicit and nude images of women and children. As a result, that feature is now restricted to paying subscribers on X. It’s a reminder that adding AI capabilities quickly can come with significant risks if proper guardrails aren’t in place.
Should Creators Start Shooting Vertically for X?
If you create video content and X is part of your distribution strategy, the answer is trending toward yes. The platform is explicitly designing its experience around portrait-mode video, and that’s only going to become more pronounced.
Bier’s promise to stop cropping vertical content is meaningful. Creators who’ve avoided posting tall video because of how X used to mangle it now have reason to reconsider.
For everyday users, the new player is a genuine improvement for mobile browsing. Swipe-up navigation feels natural, and full-screen playback is simply more enjoyable than watching a small video embedded in a timeline. The trade-off is less flexibility for people who prefer watching things in their original format.
X is betting that mobile-first, portrait-mode video is where user attention lives. Based on what TikTok proved, Instagram reinforced, and YouTube Shorts confirmed, that bet looks pretty solid. Whether X can actually compete for creators and viewers in that space is the harder question, and the answer won’t come from a single product update.
More changes are coming, according to Bier. It’ll be worth watching how creators respond and whether the audience follows.
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