Twitter Spaces links now appear as clickable cards on mobile apps

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Twitter Spaces links now appear as clickable cards on Twitter's mobile apps while a Tip Jar is under development

By Tushar Mehta

Published Mar 11, 2021

Twitter Spaces links now show up as cards on Twitter's iOS and Android apps, while a new tipping feature is under development.

Twitter is not typically known for imitating features from other social media apps. Even for the features that Twitter does replicate or has replicated in the past â€” such as Fleets, it has not been as prompt as Facebook. Twitter Spaces, however, is an exception, and the company did not waste any time before jumping the gun with this feature that resembles the viral voice-networking app, Clubhouse. It even beat Facebook when it comes to making a Clubhouse clone. While Spaces is officially limited to iOS and being tested on Android, Twitter is adding new ways to engage more users. These new ways include a new card-style layout for Spaces links and an upcoming Tip Jar for creators.

Twitter apps for Android and iOS now automatically convert links to a Twitter Spaces conversation into interactive card previews, as first spotted by TestingCatalog. Twitter users who have access to Spaces, i.e., those using the iOS app or Android beta, will be able to tap on the cards to see the information about the host, speakers, and the listeners in that Space. These cards can also be shared via Fleets in full size.

Besides the new card view, the upper half of the Space window is reserved for speakers' tweets during the live interaction. Clicking on this shared tweet will minimize the Space window and open the tweet normally.

While the ability to host Spaces is limited to a handful of lucky users as of now, The Verge reports everyone will be allowed to host Spaces starting April. Even though there was no written communication, the announcement came directly from the company's developers during a recent Space roundup talk hosted by the official Twitter Spaces handle makes a lot of sense.

At the same time, app researcher and reverse engineer Jane Manchun Wong also discovered that Twitter is working to enable a "Tip Jar" feature for Spaces. This feature will allow hosts to accept tips during a Space conversation. Wong also identified that users would be able to use popular payment services such as Bandcamp, Cash App, Patreon, PayPal, and Venmo for tips. The feature is yet to go live.