What Is Clubhouse? The Invite-Only Chat App Explained

Wondering why you’re hearing a lot about Clubhouse lately? We can partially blame Elon Musk: By popping up in a Clubhouse room in February, the world’s richest man (for now) brought the service a lot of attention. Here’s what you need to know about the exclusive chat app.

- ERIC GRIFFITH

Okay, so what is it?

Here’s the gist: Imagine you have an app on your phone that lets you listen in on other people’s live conversations. But not in a creepy way; these people want to be heard. They may even be interesting or knowledgeable (no guarantee, though). And you may be given the opportunity to join the chat. Think of it as an audio-chat social network.

So there are no pictures or video?

No, only profile pics for each user.

What platforms are supporting the app?

Clubhouse is currently available only on iOS. Any iPhone user can download the app, which is where you listen to conversations and how you participate.

Cool, so I can just sign up, right?

Nope. At the time of this writing, you need an invitation from an existing Clubhouse user to get access. Every new user gets two invites, and they earn more as they use the app.

Can I use Clubhouse on the iPad?

Sure, but it’s not optimized for iPadOS. So you’ll be using the app in a small window, or looking at it in a weird, zoomed-in 2x size.

It’s not on Android? WTH!

An Android app is in the works. But the developers want to scale up slowly, and there are more Android users than iPhone users worldwide. Starting on Android might have killed the Clubhouse servers after a publicity stunt (like, say, having Musk in a room).

So all I need is the app? There’s no website?

The only website the company has is join clubhouse. com, and that’s simply a pointer to the Apple App Store. (Don’t confuse this service with clubhouse.io, either. That’s a project manager.)

How much of my data does Clubhouse want when I register?