Clubhouse reinvents itself as an audio messaging app


Clubhouse is back, kinda. The app that popularized social audio rooms is reinventing itself “to be more like a messaging app” with new voice-only group chats called “chats,” as detailed in a blog post from the company.
Think of a chat as something like a group Instagram story that you contribute to with your voice. You kick off a chat by recording a voice message, and then you can send that chat around to your friends. They can then hop in and add their own voice recordings to create a kind of voice collage / conversation.
The app has been totally redesigned around these new chats. When I opened up the newly updated app, it prompted me to start a new chat and share it. Chats are also what I’m seeing first in the new home tab in the app, and if I had friends that used Clubhouse, it seems like their chats would show up in the home tab, too.
Clubhouse has seen a massive drop in popularity since the early days of the covid pandemic, especially since the social network formerly known as Twitter launched its own Spaces social audio rooms. Spaces continue to be a key feature of Elon Musk’s X, but Clubhouse apparently now sees more opportunity in encouraging people to have voice chats with their friends rather than broadcasting live to large audiences.
You can still make the type of live social audio rooms that made Clubhouse a hit, but the feature was a bit buried for me. From the home screen, I had to tap the microphone button, then swipe it over to a “tap to go live” option to start a room. Clubhouse says that live rooms “will continue to be a central part of Clubhouse.”
The revised app is now available on iOS and Android. You can read more details about all of the changes to the app — including some features that were cut — in this post on the Clubhouse website.
Clubhouse is back, kinda. The app that popularized social audio rooms is reinventing itself “to be more like a messaging app” with new voice-only group chats called “chats,” as detailed in a blog post from the company. Think of a chat as something like a group Instagram story that you…
Recent Posts
- Krafton slams ex-Subnautica 2 execs — who now say they’re suing
- The 7 Best Prime Day Action Camera Deals for Thrill Seekers (2025)
- Qantas confirms 5.7 million customers impacted by data breach
- Conspiracy theorists are blaming flash floods on cloud seeding — it has to stop
- A Republican state attorney general is formally investigating why AI chatbots don’t like Donald Trump
Archives
- July 2025
- June 2025
- May 2025
- April 2025
- March 2025
- February 2025
- January 2025
- December 2024
- November 2024
- October 2024
- September 2024
- August 2024
- July 2024
- June 2024
- May 2024
- April 2024
- March 2024
- February 2024
- January 2024
- December 2023
- November 2023
- October 2023
- September 2023
- August 2023
- July 2023
- June 2023
- May 2023
- April 2023
- March 2023
- February 2023
- January 2023
- December 2022
- November 2022
- October 2022
- September 2022
- August 2022
- July 2022