Clubhouse is finally coming to Android users around the world (with invites)
What was still months away less than a couple of months back is now right around the corner, as global sensation Clubhouse is gearing up for a long overdue Android expansion in a mere matter of days.
Released exclusively on iOS more than a year ago, the invite-only social media app somehow managed to garner over 8 million downloads by the end of February 2021 after proving incredibly successful from the early months of the COVID-19 pandemic.
But as people started to have less and less time on their hands for voice chats with complete strangers and the social networking market got flooded with big-name alternatives and, well, copycats, Clubhouse had to think of new ways to maintain its growth rate.
Enter an official Android app, launched in beta just last week and reportedly almost ready for primetime across a number of key markets. Japan, Brazil, and Russia will apparently be the first to welcome a stable version in their respective regional Play Stores on Tuesday, May 18, followed by Nigeria and India three days later, and the rest of the world by "Friday afternoon."
That may sound like a pretty aggressive rollout schedule for what's ultimately still a startup founded less than two years ago, but before getting too excited for the chance to join this surprising phenomenon and see what all the fuss is about on your very own Android device, you should keep in mind that invitations aren't going anywhere, at least for the foreseeable future.
So, yeah, you'll still need someone on the inside to actually become one of the cool kids and listen in to live conversations hosted by all kinds of interesting people (presumably, or else what's the point?).
If you need a quick explainer of why you should care to begin with, this article right here will provide answers to quite a few frequently asked questions about Clubhouse. Then again, the features list might feel a little light on Android compared to iOS for at least a tad longer.
FCC OKs Cingular\'s purchase of AT&T Wireless
Things that are NOT allowed: