The phone and social media

Every Grand Theft Auto since the fourth has put a phone in the protagonist's pocket. In Grand Theft Auto 6 it carries more weight than before, because the person on the other end is usually the other playable character.

Texting the other lead

Rob Nelson, co-studio head at Rockstar North, played part of the game for IGN and described the system as he went. As reported by RockstarINTEL and Inven Global, you can text and call [Lucia](/wiki/characters/lucia-caminos) while playing as [Jason](/wiki/characters/jason-duval), and the other way round, at any point.

The example he gave is small, which is what makes it useful. The two can spend a whole day apart. Late on, one texts the other to say they are heading to bed and asks if everything is all right. Reply with something short and that is fine. Ignore it and the relationship takes a small hit.

Inven Global's account of the same interview has Nelson saying the romance is not something Rockstar wants to force on players, and that whether you have nurtured it or not will have a bearing on how the story plays out. That is the strongest statement Rockstar has made about the relationship having consequences.

A feed you can read but not post to

The in-game social network, which Inven Global's report calls Snapmatic, lets you follow accounts and look at their posts. You cannot share anything as Jason or Lucia. The reason given is a story one: they are a couple on the run, and people on the run do not post.

Both trailers lean on that feed. The first was cut largely from it, with vertical clips framed by usernames, captions and Follow buttons.

A follow-only feed is a neat way to give the world a voice without handing the player a megaphone. It also suits a game whose police build cases from evidence. A protagonist who could post would be publishing evidence against themselves.

Headphones

Rockstar's radio announcement on 8 October added the other new use of the phone: Jason and Lucia can connect headphones or earbuds and keep listening on foot, to the radio or to on-demand podcasts. The radio stations page has the six stations named so far.

What is not known

• How much of the relationship is driven by texts, and whether calls and texts unlock anything, such as a lift, backup or a meet-up
• What the feed contains beyond ambient posts, and whether missions or people you meet turn up in it
• Whether the phone has a camera mode, a browser, banking or a contacts list on the scale of earlier games
• Whether either lead can ever post, even late in the story
• Whether the app's name is final. It comes from one report of the interview, not from Rockstar's own material

All of the mechanical detail above comes from a single guided demo. Nobody outside Rockstar has played it.