X Leans Harder into Vertical Video with New Immersive Player

X is rolling out a redesigned immersive video player that puts vertical, mobile-first viewing at the centre of the platform’s video experience, further aligning the service with TikTok-style consumption.

The update, announced by X head of product Nikita Bier, is currently reaching iOS users. Bier acknowledged that the previous video player “badly needed a refresh,” and the new design is meant to make watching videos on phones more engaging and straightforward.

With the new player, a single tap expands a video to full-screen mode. Once in that immersive view, users can swipe up to move to the next video in the feed, echoing the interaction pattern popularized by TikTok and now seen across Instagram Reels and other short-form video platforms.

However, the approach is already drawing mixed reactions. Some X users say the change effectively forces all videos into a cropped, full-screen presentation, removing the option to watch in the original aspect ratio. One user’s blunt reaction, shared publicly, summed up the frustration: “This UI sucks so bad. Let me just watch full-scale videos.”

Responding to questions about orientation, Bier confirmed that X’s preferred format is portrait. He framed the decision as a mobile-first choice consistent with broader trends, noting that vertical videos now dominate platforms including TikTok and Instagram Reels. Streaming services are also experimenting with the format, with Disney+ cited as a recent example of a service adding a vertical video feed.

Bier also argued that earlier design decisions around cropping had steered behaviour on the platform. “Sorry, but cropping the video incentivized people to post square videos. We are a mobile company,” he said, adding that X will stop cropping vertical content going forward.

The timing of X’s video overhaul comes as TikTok undergoes major changes in the United States, where its U.S. operations were sold to an American investor group last month. Against that backdrop, X is trying to position itself as a viable alternative for short, swipeable video, for both viewers and creators.

The immersive player builds on X’s broader video strategy. Last year, the company launched a dedicated vertical video feed that rolled out globally, giving users a more continuous, algorithmically driven stream of clips. The latest redesign deepens that TikTok-style experience inside the main app, reinforcing vertical video as the default way to watch.

X is also layering in AI tools around this video push. The company has been integrating features from its Grok AI system, including a text-to-video generation capability designed to let users create clips from prompts. Alongside that, Grok offers image generation, though that feature has recently run into controversy.

According to TechCrunch’s reporting, Grok’s image-generation tools were used to create sexualized and nude images of women and children. As a result, access to those image features has been restricted to paying subscribers on X. That move highlights the tension between rapid AI feature rollouts and the platform’s responsibility to manage abuse.

For now, X’s latest player redesign underlines where the company is placing its bets: a full-screen, swipe-driven, portrait-first video experience that mirrors much of what has worked for TikTok and Instagram. The trade-off is a less flexible viewing experience for users who prefer landscape or original-aspect video, a point critics are already seizing on as the update lands on more devices.