What’s Twitter Blue, Elon Musk’s $8/month verification scheme?

On Saturday, Twitter quietly rolled out its first set of App Store updates preparing Twitter Blue, its monthly subscription service, for a revamp.

According to update notes on the App Store, iOS users in select countries including Canada and the U.S. will be able to rent a blue check mark next to their names for $7.99 a month — “just like the celebrities, companies and politicians you already follow.”

Other countries with the update include Australia, New Zealand and the U.K.

However, the new Twitter Blue isn’t live yet, clarified Esther Crawford, director of product management at the company — “the sprint to our launch continues but some folks may see us making updates because we are testing and pushing changes in real-time,” she said on Twitter.

It’s unclear when the Twitter Blue revamp will go live for iOS; Crawford said Android will come soon after. “Team is cranking at full speed but I don’t want to give any dates,” she tweeted.

Shortly after the update shipped, users reported seeing a new tab on the notification screen that automatically showed verified accounts. People also reported being greeted with a pop-up reading: “Blue looks good on you. Enjoy your verified account and blue checkmark” on signing up for the subscription.

For now, the check mark is the only new addition to the optional Twitter Blue, which launched last year. The update notes tease future paid subscription bonuses including: reducing ad volume by half and making them “twice as relevant”; the ability to post videos longer than 2 minutes and 20 seconds; and priority ranking of the user’s content in replies, mentions and search.

Current Blue users have access to the long-awaited undo or “edit” button, ad-free news stories from select publishers,the ability to change the app icon colour and more for a price of $4.99 a month.

Billionaire and “Twitter Complaint Hotline Operator” Elon Musk teased the new system days after purchasing the social media platform for $44 billion. While he reportedly first contemplated pricing Blue at $20 a month, Musk later changed the subscription to $8 after facing widespread backlash.

In a series of tweets, Musk said the price would be adjusted “by country proportionate to purchasing power parity” and that it would allow users to bypass news paywalls for “publishers willing to work with us.”

“This will also give Twitter a revenue stream to reward content creators,” he said.

According to the Verge, currently verified users will have 90 days to subscribe or lose their check marks.