Twitter Blue subscriptions launch in Canada and Australia first

Twitter has finally confirmed its plans to offer monthly subscriptions in its app. The company’s new “Twitter Blue” service, which gives users access to “exclusive” features for a few bucks a month, is launching in Canada and Australia, the company announced.

For now, Twitter Blue adds only a handful of additional features, including folders to organize bookmarks and a “reader mode” to make it easier to view long threads. There’s also an “undo tweet” feature, which is likely the closest Twitter will ever come to an edit button. Similar to a feature in paid Twitter client Brizzly, Twitter’s “undo tweet” allows users to set a delay of up to 30 seconds so typos or mistakes can be corrected before the tweet publishes.

Twitter Blue also adds a few extra customization options to the app (for now, Twitter Blue features are mobile only), like the ability to set a custom app icon and color themes. Subscriptions cost $3.49/month in Canada and $4.49/month in Australia. The company declined to comment on when Twitter Blue would be available in the US or other countries, but the new subscription was quietly added to the company’s iOS app last week as a $2.99/monthly in-app purchase.

In a blog post, the company says that this is merely the “first iteration” of Twitter Blue, so it’s fair to expect that more features will be added over time. Separately, Twitter executives have spoken about making it easier for users to view paywalled content, and the company recently acquired a startup that allows subscribers to view ad-free news articles.

For now, Twitter is billing it as a set of premium features meant to appeal to power users rather than something it expects the average Twitter user to buy. The company also emphasized that there will always be a free version of Twitter. But a move into subscriptions comes as the company is experimenting with other paid features. The company will allow some users to sell tickets to conversations in Spaces, its Clubhouse competitor. It also added in-app tipping, and is working on paid “super follows.”