Clubhouse, the popular voice only app that was launched in 2020 on iOS only is finally going to have an Android sibling.
Its founders, Paul and Rohan announced a few changes to the platform which included the fortunate bit of news.
“From the earliest days, we’ve wanted to build Clubhouse for everyone. With this in mind, we are thrilled to begin work on our Android app soon, and to add more accessibility and localization features so that people all over the world can experience Clubhouse in a way that feels native to them,” they said on a blogpost.
Clubhouse has been iOS only since it was launched on March of 2020. People have flocked to it thanks to its unique nature of being a voice only platform. You join discussions where you can either decide to listen or participate in the chat.
As it has grown over the course of 2020, it has experienced a number of growing pains. First is the fact that it is not on Android and that they have promised to rectify soon. However, there are many more things that Clubhouse has promised to fix as they plan to expand.
First, they have said they will try to keep the servers up since they have grown faster than expected. They will also scale up their trust and safety and support teams to invest in advanced tools to detect and prevent abuse. The company also says they ‘ll improve ranking and discovery of conversations on the app.
Finally, they are also thinking of allowing creators to monetize on the platform. They will launch their first tests in the next few months to allow creators to be paid directly through tipping, tickets or subscriptions.
Clubhouse’s journey from being a budding startup on iOS to further expanding on Android reminds us of a trend we saw in early 2010. Instagram is a good example of this where it appeared first on iOS and later on expanded to Android. The app is also facing competition from Twitter with Spaces and Telegram with their Voice Chats.
