Live audio app Clubhouse will start introducing a check model of its app to Google’s Android customers within the United States on Sunday, the corporate mentioned, in a doubtlessly massive enlargement of its market.

The app, which spiked in reputation early this yr after superstar billionaire Elon Musk and others appeared in audio chats, has sparked copy cats from startups and bigger rivals together with Facebook and Twitter.

It has been out there solely to customers of Apple units and by invitation. In some markets reminiscent of China, invites have been so wanted some have been auctioned on on-line marketplaces.

But downloads of the app, one measure of recognition, have considerably fallen.

After peaking in February with 9.6 million downloads, that quantity fell to 2.7 million in March after which 900,000 downloads in April, in keeping with Sensor Tower.

The drop has sparked questions on its long run viability and whether or not its success was owed partly to individuals spending extra time at house throughout the pandemic.

The lengthy anticipated Android launch is anticipated to succeed in extra new customers globally. The Android model will attain different English-speaking markets after which the remainder of the globe days and weeks after the US market beta launch.

Clubhouse, which created the class, now faces the likes of Facebook, whose CEO Mark Zuckerberg introduced in April a slew of audio products, together with Clubhouse-style stay audio rooms and a means for customers to seek out and play podcasts.

In January, Twitter mentioned that it’ll introduce a brand new characteristic to let customers cost admission to their stay audio chat rooms in its Spaces characteristic, as the corporate seeks to court docket extra content material creators. It has been out there to Android customers since March.

© Thomson Reuters 2021