The Clubhouse is quite popular all over the world, but for more than a year, it was only available to iPhone users. On May 9, the social audio platform launched its Android app. It began working on its Android app several months ago and started to test the beta version externally in May. Its beta Android app currently lacks several features such as the ability to follow a topic, localization, payments, etc.
Currently, it is only available in the U.S. but the company plans to cover other countries as well. The company’s plan is to collect feedback from the community and to fix any issues. Only after taking into account all factors, it will offer its Android app to people in other countries. Users outside of the country can pre-register for access via the Clubhouse page in the Google Play Store, to be notified when an Android app is available in their area.
The company stated that the Android app was the top request from its community. The social media platform will remain invite-only for now, meaning it’s still not open to just everyone. Clubhouse explained its decision in a statement. The company wants to keep track of the number of users to control the situation. Over the summer Clubhouse plans to begin migrating millions of iOS users who have been waitlisted while the company built the app’s infrastructure.
It turned its attention to attracting creators to its platform. Clubhouse recently announced the results of an accelerator program which will see it fund 50 audio shows on its platform. Now, with its release on Android, the company is finally letting U.S. users with an invite to get involved. It was a smart decision as hundreds of millions of people own a smartphone that runs on Android.
Clubhouse and its competitors
The Clubhouse gained popularity, thanks in part to its early popularity with the venture-capital crowd based in California. It was recently valued at $4 billion after a new funding round.
Tech companies such as Facebook, Twitter and others also realized the importance of audio features. Twitter already launched its Spaces feature and it is also available on Android. Twitter’s Spaces feature emerged as one of the biggest competitors to the A16z and Tiger Global-backed-startup. Discord added Stage Channels. Facebook, Spotify, Reddit, and Slack are all working on similar audio-only features.
