Clubhouse — which inadvertently despatched each different tech platform from Spotify to Facebook scrambling to construct out copycat performance — appears to be taking its first steps away from pure stay audio experiences. How do we all know this? The firm seems to have by accident leaked a messaging characteristic, referred to as Backchannel, to some customers late final week.

Based on a number of tweets circulating on Friday (together with the under display screen recording), Backchannel is an obvious means for customers to speak by way of textual content as an alternative of audio. Apparently the characteristic was not referenced in any way within the app’s launch notes of the model, and what was rolled out seems blatantly unfinished. It’s not clear how lengthy this model of Backchannel existed out within the wild, however Clubhouse seemingly removed it in a rush.

Reached for remark, an organization spokesperson would solely inform The Verge that, “as part of our product building process, Clubhouse regularly explores and tests potential features. These functions sometimes become part of the app, sometimes they don’t. We do not comment on potential features.” They mentioned Clubhouse founders typically focus on the product roadmap throughout weekly Sunday Town Halls.

It’s unclear the dimensions of the rollout as a result of, once more, the characteristic appeared to solely be public for a quick window of time, making it exhausting to gauge if it was merely noticed by just a few customers who occurred to have the app open on the time, or if it was solely meant to exit as a restricted beta. In both case, naming a characteristic Backchannel after which very unsubtly dumping it within the lap of all the world? That’s comedy, of us.