Social media app Clubhouse is now open to anyone to use: No invite needed to join.
On Wednesday, Clubhouse announced that it's moving out of the beta phase. “This means we have removed our waitlist system so that anyone can join and you can invite as many people as you want,” the Clubhouse team said.
Clubhouse offers audio-based chat rooms that can host live discussions. The app began to grow last year during the COVID-19 pandemic. It then grabbed headlines in February after Elon Musk and Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg made appearances on the app.
Clubhouse was originally only available for iOS. But in May, the Android version of Clubhouse officially launched, which resulted in the addition of 10 million new users.
Still, new people could only join the app through invites from existing users. As a result, the app’s growth and reach has been artificially capped. In the meantime, Facebook, Spotify, and Twitter have launched their own rival audio chat-room services.
In the announcement, Clubhouse said it was important to add new users in “waves” rather than open the floodgates. “We’ve been able to grow Clubhouse in a measured way, and (mostly ? ) keep things from breaking as we’ve scaled,” the app said. “But we’ve always wanted Clubhouse to be open.”
The end to the waitlist also means creators on the platform can begin reaching more new users. “If you have a club, you can post your link far and wide. If you are a creator with an audience, you can bring them all on,” the announcement added.