By Abhik Sengupta: The Twitter Blue subscription is relaunching today, December 12. The revamped Twitter Blue will allow users to get the Blue verification mark, which was earlier restricted to celebrities, journalists, and select personalities. Twitter had earlier said that people who are already verified would need to pay for the Blue subscription to retain their blue badge. The Blue subscription will cost $8 (roughly Rs 660) for the web platform and $11 (roughly Rs 900) for iPhones. It is priced higher on Apple’s platforms to compensate for the 30 per cent fee app developers pay to the Apple App Store.

The Android pricing remains unclear since Twitter is seemingly testing Twitter Blue with iPhone and web users first. Twitter Blue subscription could be priced higher on Android as well to compensate for the app store fee.

Twitter says users who want to get the Blue badge on their profiles will need to verify their mobile numbers. The company introduced this security option as many spam and parody profiles got verified last time when the Blue subscription was rolled out. Apart from the Blue badge, Twitter Blue members will get early access to new features. Twitter says some features coming to subscribers include fewer ads (50 per cent less), better visibility of profiles and posts, and the ability to post longer videos.

Twitter is also taking measures to restrict verified users from changing their profile names. The last time Twitter Blue was available to users, many parody accounts changed their names and DP (display image), mainly to imitate famous personalities like Elon Musk. This caused a lot of confusion and misinformation.

Twitter says, “Subscribers will be able to change their handle, display name or profile photo, but if they do, they’ll temporarily lose the blue checkmark until their account is reviewed again.”

India-specific availability details of Twitter Blue remain unclear at the moment.