A beta-version of Clubhouse is now available in the Google Play Store although invites are still required
“With Android, we believe that Clubhouse will feel more complete. We are so grateful to all of the Android users out there for their patience,” co-founders Davison and Rohan Seth wrote in a company blog post. “Whether you are a creator, a club organizer, or someone who just wants to explore, we are so excited to welcome you to the community.”
The early success of Clubhouse has spawned a number of copycats including Twitter’s Spaces. It seems that all of the big social media names want to have a presence in this space so the competition is going to continue to pick up. Clubhouse still has the advantage of being first although its invitation system might feel like a big turn-off to those who would love to be using the app right away.
Being placed on the waiting list can help you snag an invite, or if you know an existing user, you can ask him or her for one. The app is launching today in the U.S. followed by other English-speaking countries, and then the rest of the world. Clubhouse says that over the next few weeks, it plans to ask for feedback from the community, fix issues, and add new features such as “payments and club creation.”
As for the invitations, Clubhouse says that it will keep “growth measured” by continuing the current system although it will open up some more during the summer. It expects millions more iOS users to join the more than 10 million iOS users who have already installed the app.
It will be interesting to see what the future holds for Clubhouse and for the format of audio-only group chat.