Clubhouse had recently launched its app on the Android platform after only being available for iOS. Now, it is bringing its ‘Creator First’ funding to India, to better cater to the Indian creators and expands its presence in the country.

Since its launch on Android, the audio chatroom has brought in over 4 million users and has been increasing its focus on India as Android is the most popular OS in the region. The ‘Creator First’ programme was initially launched in the US back in March, earlier this year. Now, the company has brought this funding to India for selected programmes from Indian creators specifically.

This will help the Indian creators to help spread their ideas and creativity to a broader audience. Furthermore, the fund has also be been specifically tailored for the unique needs of the Indian audience, as per the company. At the moment, the application for participating in the programme is currently open and will be reviewed on a rolling basis, with the first window closing on 16th July 2021.

The Clubhouse Head of International Aarthi Ramamurthy added in an official blogpost, “By participating in Clubhouse Creator First in India, we will help you with production and creative development, help you promote your show, and provide financial support via matching you with brands or a monthly stipend.” For those unaware, this funding offers users in the US a stipend of at least 5,000 US Dollars per month.

The company has assured that it would also offer stipends in India, although, the exact details and amount has yet to be revealed. Aarthi further added that “n India, over the last few weeks, we’ve seen rooms on cricket, on music (including really fun Antakshari rooms!), rooms on gaming and contests, rooms on religion and prayer, and so much more. We are so excited to see what creators from across India will bring to the table.”

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Popular audio sharing, invitation-only social platform Clubhouse has now successfully rolled out the beta version of the popular app to Android users globally. This comes on the heels of a similar rollout to Android users in the US last week. After the release of the Clubhouse Android beta in the US, the company had hinted at a speedy rollout to other English-speaking countries and other parts of the world. Users in Brazil, Japan, and Russia were given the opportunity this week to access the app and provide feedback on its performance and overall expectations.

The Clubhouse app was at inception, only available on iOS devices, where it had gained prominence even in countries with strict regulatory controls. It has also suffered bans in some countries. However, the company continues to reinvent itself to remain relevant in the space amidst stiff competition from other apps which have cropped up after Clubhouse.

The app is now available for download from the Google Play Store. However, it is still in beta stage meaning you might still a few glitches here and there but on the whole, this is  a good development. Unfortunately, a new user will need an invitation from already registered users to sign up for the app.

Since the release of the beta version last week, there had been three updates of the app, indicating robust feedback from the testing community. There will also be some additional features on the app when the full version is released. The market for Android is growing rapidly, and a successful unveiling of the Clubhouse for Android could mark further expansion of the app, possibly eclipsing the number of iOS users over time.

Google Play remains the most popular app store for smartphones. Earlier this week, Google had revealed at the 2021 Google I/O event that there are over 3 billion active Android devices that access the Play Store. This is more than three times the figure for iOS at just over a billion active devices.

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The much-awaited Clubhouse app for Android can now be downloaded from Google’s Play Store. The beta version of the Android app has just been released. However, it seems that the app is only available for users in the United States for now. The rollout will, after that, target English-speaking countries, and then, the rest of the world would follow next.

Rumors had surrounded the extension of the app to Android. When the app was unveiled in 2020, it was only available on iOS, and there has been much debate on the need to have an Android version. The Clubhouse app is a popular app, with millions of users latching on to the audio-chat, invitation-only app.

The company began developing the Android app early in the year. Several tweets from inside sources and experts indicated that the Beta version would be available within May. And a confirmation has now been made that the Android app is now available on the Play Store.

Clubhouse app will use the critical feedback from the Beta version to fix all the problems it had observed before the release of the Android app.

The success of the Clubhouse iOS platform had seen a proliferation of similar apps by Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and others. Multiple reports have indicated that the popularity of the app has declined in recent months. The release of the Android app will galvanize more users to pick the app. In comparison with its successful iOS app, the Android version lacks a few features, and we would expect this to be addressed by Clubhouse moving forward.

The chat app has endured some censorship in parts of the world, as it quickly became a platform for people to ventilate their grievances in their own words.

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(via)

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Last month, we reported that Clubhouse Co-founder Paul Davidson hinted that the Android version of the popular app will be released in May. Also, Clubhouse Android app developer Mopewa Ogundipe had given a teaser of the upcoming Android version.

A recent blog shared by Clubhouse has indicated that the audio-chat, invitation-only iOS app will soon be operational on Android, as closed beta testing of the app has begun. Earlier in January, Clubhouse had announced that it has started work on the development of an Android app with a part of the funds available through its recent funding support from Andreessen Horowitz.

The display of the Clubhouse app on the beta channel is an indication of the massive progress made by the company since it began the development of the infrastructure and technology for its Android version of the popular iOS app. The blog post also provided details of some modifications introduced into the iOS app. However, the main information was the announcement that it has started a rollout of the beta version of the Android app to some testers, which will be scaled up in subsequent stages in the coming weeks. Although no timeline was provided on the date of the actual Android rollout, we are certain that it would be in the coming weeks and has begun beta testing already.

Since the unveiling of Clubhouse last year, several social media platforms have pursued the development of alternative apps to rival the popular app. It has also led to censure in parts of the world, as the app provides a platform for the voiceless to be heard in their voices. This versatility is now being extended to the Android ecosystem and the outlook looks promising for Clubhouse.

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There are strong indications that the audio chat app Clubhouse could soon unveil its Android version, thus opening access to millions of potential app users. Currently, the top-rated audio app is only available for iOS. Clubhouse co-founder Paul Davidson had hinted in February that the company was in an advanced state of development. This has been further confirmed today with an interview conducted by CNBC and New York Times. Davidson and his co-interviewee, Microsoft’s Bill Gates discussed a raft of issues that veered into an ongoing Android version development of the Clubhouse app.

Further indication that the Android version of the fast-rising app is really on the track came from a couple of tweets from an app developer at Clubhouse, Mopewa Ogundipe, who gave a teaser on the incoming Android version, and Morgan Evetts, who projects that the actual launch of the Android app could be as early as May 2021.

Mopewa has been working on the Clubhouse Android app for around six weeks now, and it’s coming on nicely

Rough release date: May https://t.co/jI63NPw2Od

— Morgan Evetts (@morqon) April 11, 2021

Clubhouse app has had a massive hit since its release on iOS. Davidson has hinted that the Android version’s development is a top priority, as the company pursues a scaling of its growth numbers and ultimately revenue through app expansion. Indeed, the growth of Clubhouse globally has been phenomenal. Several brands within and outside China launch their alternative versions of the audio chat platform, including Twitter and ByteDance, owner of popular video-sharing social networking site TikTok.

It is not known why Clubhouse had delayed this long before making plans to launch an Android version of the app since its iOS unveiling. Twitter is developing a similar app called spaces, compatible with both iOS devices and Android.

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