Clubhouse Finally Launches its Android Version, but it May Be a Little too Late

Live audio-chat app, Clubhouse has finally launched its Android app.

Clubhouse for Android has now been released more than a year after the voice-based social network first went live on iOS in March 2020.

Clubhouse is currently in beta on Android and still only available to users in the United States. But the company has stated that the app will roll out to other users worldwide over the next few weeks.

Today, we are thrilled to share that Clubhouse for Android will start rolling out in beta immediately. We will begin gradually, with the U.S. today, followed by other English-speaking countries and then the rest of the world.

Clubhouse

Led by Nigerian Software Engineer, Mopewa Ogundipe, Clubhouse’s Android app development began early this year.

For now, Android users can download Clubhouse and pre-register to be alerted once it’s available in their location. According to Clubhouse, its launch on Android has been the most requested product feature.

Of Exclusivity and Timing

Even for Android users, Clubhouse will retain its waitlist and invite system, which still makes it seem exclusive. But does this really attract users?

According to Sensor Tower data, Clubhouse only recorded 922,000 downloads globally in April, a 66% drop from 2.7 million installs in March and a 90% dip from an all-time high of 9.6 million in February.

The euphoria which surrounded the app’s initial launch has all but faded away despite its exclusivity to iOS users at the time. That fear of missing out on the conversation is no longer there.

Moreover, Twitter’s Spaces was released at a time Android users felt left out of Clubhouse’s plan. It has gained much traction and already been expanded to Twitter users with up to 600 followers.

Since then, platforms including Facebook and Microsoft’s LinkedIn have started working on similar audio features to compete in the live voice chatspace.

Read: Facebook is Providing an Alternative to Clubhouse With Live Audio Rooms. Here is How it Works!

Several potential Android users of Clubhouse have already jumped in on Twitter Spaces, including high-profile startup founders and thought leaders.

Clubhouse is late to the party it started

The social live audio-chat app recently closed an undisclosed Series C at about $4 billion valuation. This was weeks after it emerged that Twitter reportedly wanted to buy the platform for that same amount.

Presently, Clubhouse for Android does not include payment features and users can’t follow a topic or edit their profiles. However, Clubhouse CEO, Paul Rohan says these features will be fully integrated in the coming weeks.

“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,” he said.