It seems like X has gone shy with its plan to phase out all post function buttons from in-stream. And its compromised approach could well be one of the best updates that it has rolled out in some time.

Presented with the opportunity to hold its banner high, X engineer May Ly today revealed that iOS users can now turn on side-swiping like and reply options, where those functions are available within your "Timeline" options.

You can also turn off the engagement buttons and numbers that appear under each post, if you wish.

So X isn't imposing this as a new function and UI, as many had expected and as X owner Elon Musk had said would be the case. Instead, X is offering users the chance to get accustomed to it as an option, which might turn into a more spontaneous behavior later on.

Even more interesting is that as you can see in the last frame above, users can actually choose what function their side-swipes perform. So if you want to set your right-swipe as an easy bookmark option instead, you can, or you can even set a side swipe as no action if you want.

Which is a much more restrained approach, being very unlike how Musk has applied most of his other preferred changes in the app.

In March, Musk renewed his promise to eliminate the function buttons and engagement counts in-stream to clean up the timeline.
Many users voiced concerns over this approach, warning that it will likely reduce interaction in-stream and leave new users, in particular, confused as to how they engage.

Yet Musk seemed determined to push ahead with the plan in order to improve the "esthetics" of the feed.

But now, it appears that X has reversed course, toward a more measured, intuitive solution.

Will that eventually see all the engagement buttons and counts removed in-stream? Well, maybe, and this could still be a step toward that eventual next stage. But it is far more collaborative one, too that could lead to new user behaviors that help guide X's thinking on this option.

I’m not sure that many people will choose to activate these side-swiping options, but it’s an interesting approach either way, which could be helpful for users.

And if X does decide to remove the buttons entirely, as per its original plan, it can still do so at a later stage.