The Android beta for Clubhouse is now live in the U.S.

Live audio social app Clubhouse launched exclusively on iOS over a year ago and quickly noted a massive surge in popularity despite its invite-only system. This was partially fueled by prominent figures and celebrities who made appearances on the platform. Given its popularity, other social media platforms such as Facebook also announced plans to enter the live audio space.

Back in March 2021, it was revealed that Clubhouse is launching on Android soon, and a beta for the Android app is now available for select audiences.

In a blog post, the Clubhouse team said that even though it takes a measured approach to growth, the company noted a significant increase in its iOS user base this year as people invited more of their friends to the platform than usual. This caused server outages and affected algorithms which were not designed to handle load of this kind. As a result, the firm had to shift focus to expanding its team to fix issues rather than build new features.

But this has also made Clubhouse realize the need for universal audio experiences, hence the decision to go cross-platform now. The Android beta app can now be downloaded from Google Play but is currently only available in the U.S. The company once again plans to scale up gradually by first making the app available in the U.S., followed by other English-speaking countries, and eventually the rest of the world. This is also why it will be retaining its invite systems and waitlists.

In the next few weeks, the firm will not only be working with its community to fix issues but will also be finalizing features such as payments and club creation before the app becomes publicly available for everyone. It went on to say that:

As a part of the effort to keep the growth measured, we will be continuing the waitlist and invite system, ensuring that each new community member can bring along a few close friends. As we head into the summer and continue to scale out the backend, we plan to begin opening up even further, welcoming millions more people in from the iOS waitlist, expanding language support, and adding more accessibility features, so that people worldwide can experience Clubhouse in a way that feels native to them.

While all our readers may not be able to download Clubhouse yet, feel free to have a look at the Google Play listing here.