Steve Dent/Engadget
As promised, Clubhouse has launched worldwide on Android, opening up the app to many more potential users. The company behind the app, Alpha Technologies, had promised to launch it by this afternoon, and it now appears to be available in France and the UK.
The invite-only app bills itself as "drop-in voice chat," allowing users to start a "room" with moderators, speakers and listeners. When it first launched in March 2020, Clubhouse had the field to itself, but has since been joined by rival products like Twitter's Spaces .
Clubhouse received a big boost after Elon Musk famously spoke on the site, but some have questioned the app's staying power in the face of extra competition. Worldwide Android availability will help, but Twitter Spaces, by contrast, is open to anyone with over 600 followers and is directly integrated into the main app. On top of that, Facebook is set to open a rival feature called "rooms" sometime this summer. For more on Clubhouse and how it works, check our explainer.