Clubhouse may be close to addressing a key limitation in its growth, with its Android app now progressing, which would open up the app to a whole range of potential new users.

As you can see in this example, posted by Mopewa Ogundipe, a member of Clubhouse’s Android development team, the Android version of the app is coming along, with this image showing a functional overview of how user profiles will look in its Android app.

This is a key element of focus for Clubhouse. The audio social app quickly raced up the download charts earlier in the year, but has since seen a slowdown in adoption, as displayed in the latest chart from app analytics platform Sensor Tower.

Part of that is due to Clubhouse’s invite-only approach, which limits who can actually access the app, while the lack of an Android option has also been a restriction.

At the same time, competitors are on the rise. Twitter’s Spaces, the app’s biggest competition thus far, launched an initial public beta test on Android early last month, while Facebook, LinkedIn and Reddit are all also, reportedly, developing their own audio social options.  

Just last week, Facebook launched an entirely new app, called ‘Hotline‘ which looks to build on the Clubhouse experience.

The rising competition adds more pressure to Clubhouse to hasten its development timeline, which is not what Clubhouse would prefer, and could lead to issues down the line.

But if it wants to keep up, it needs to expand quickly. That will mean opening access to all users, and launching an Android version as soon as possible.

Can Clubhouse remain competitive as the bigger players look to eat into its audience, and beat it to the punch with new features?

It’ll be a challenge, for sure, and it’ll be interesting to see how Clubhouse looks to counter its opponents.