Clubhouse Launches Android App, Braces For Competition As Other Firms Work On Similar Features

Android users can finally join the conversation as Clubhouse is finally available on Google Play Store. The audio-only platform also aims to come up against the competition as tech giants like Facebook, Reddit, Discord and LinkedIn reportedly plan to launch similar offerings.

Clubhouse: Drop-In Audio officially launched its beta Android app on Google Play Store on May 9. Android users in the U.S. can now find and download the voice-based social networking app on their smartphones, reported TechCrunch.

The company said it will gradually make its app available for use in other English-speaking countries. Clubhouse targets to make the application available to the rest of the world as well. Users outside the U.S. will receive a notification once the Android version of Clubhouse Android version becomes available in their areas.

Clubhouse was released exclusively for iPhones in 2020. Since then, people have longed for its Android version.

The company began the development of its Android app in early 2021. It started the external testing of the application's beta version in early May.

"Our plan over the next few weeks is to collect feedback from the community, fix any issues we see, and work to add a few final features like payments and club creation before rolling it out more broadly," Clubhouse said in a blog post.

The company hopes that the Android launch could help strengthen its reach across the globe. It also sees the launch as an opportunity to boost the app's download and installation stats which have been down in the past few months.

Although making it available to everyone is expected to give the app the boost it needs, Clubhouse has decided to keep it invite-only for the moment. This is to make it easier for the company to keep track of its growth.

Clubhouse, which has only been in the market for almost a year, has already created a buzz after reaching a $4 billion valuation. Its fame has also sparked the interest of big names in the industry to come up with similar audio features on their respective platforms.

Just recently, Discord released its own audio feature called the Stage Channels. Twitter, on the other hand, launched its Spaces feature. Facebook, Reddit, Slack, LinkedIn and Spotify are also working on their own audio-only features, The Verge said in a report.