One year later, Clubhouse is finally out of beta. The company announced Wednesday that it would end its waitlist and invite system, opening up to everybody. Now, anybody can follow Clubhouse links, hop into a creator\u2019s community or join any public event.<\/p>\n
Clubhouse is also introducing a real logo that will look familiar \u2014 it\u2019s basically a slightly altered version of the waving emoji the company already used. Clubhouse will still hold onto its app portraits, introducing a new featured icon from the Atlanta music scene to ring in the changes.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe invite system has been an important part of our early history,\u201d Clubhouse founders Paul Davison and Rohan Seth wrote in a blog announcement. They note that adding users in waves and integrating new users into the app\u2019s community through Town Halls and orientation sessions helped Clubhouse grow at a healthy rate without breaking, \u201cbut we\u2019ve always wanted Clubhouse to be open.\u201d<\/p>\n
Clubhouse\u2019s trajectory has been wild, even for a hot new social app. The then invite-only platform took off during the pandemic and inspired a wave of voice-based social networking that probably still isn\u2019t anywhere near cresting. Facebook<\/a>, Twitter<\/a>, Spotify<\/a>, Discord<\/a> and everybody else eventually followed suit, splicing voice chat rooms and voice events into their existing platforms.<\/p>\n Clubhouse voice chat leads a wave of spontaneous social apps<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n Interest in Clubhouse reached a fever-pitch early this year, and the app\u2019s rise is inextricable from the pandemic-imposed social isolation that saw people around the globe desperate for ways to feel connected as the months dragged on.<\/p>\n The world is slowly, unevenly opening up and Clubhouse is gradually changing along with it. After a long iOS-only stretch, the company introduced an Android app in May<\/a>. Now, Clubhouse says they\u2019ve reached 10 million Clubhouse downloads in the Android app\u2019s first two months. And earlier this month, Clubhouse introduced a text-based chat feature called Backchannel<\/a> that broadened the singularly voice-centric app\u2019s focus for the first time.<\/p>\n According to new data SensorTower<\/a> provided to TechCrunch, Clubhouse hit its high point in February at 9.6 million global downloads, up from 2.4 million the month prior. After that, things settled down a bit before perking back up in May when TikTok went live on Android through the Google Play Store. Since May, new Android users have accounted for the lion\u2019s share of the app\u2019s downloads. In June, Clubhouse was installed 7.7 million times across both iOS and Android \u2014 an impressive number that\u2019s definitely in conflict with the perception that the app might not have staying power.<\/p>\n Clubhouse\u2019s success is a double-edged sword. The app\u2019s meteoric rise came as a surprise to the team, as meteoric rises often do. The social app is still a wild success by normal metrics in a landscape completely dominated by a handful of large, entrenched platforms, but it can be tricky to maintain healthy momentum after such high highs. Opening up the app to everybody should certainly help.<\/p>\n Clubhouse ventures beyond audio with Backchannel, a new messaging feature<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n
\n
\n