How to Make an App like Clubhouse: Features, Tech Stack, Cost

Just join the conversation. This is the idea behind a new social startup called Clubhouse, which is ready to take advantage of flexible quarantine schedules for people.

In this article, we’ll cover the Clubhouse’s features, tech stack, development stages, ways of monetization, its cost, etc.

What is Clubhouse and how does it work?

Clubhouse is a voice-based social network where users can join rooms and interact with each other via voice chat. Created in the middle of May 2020, the service is the most discussed startup now. Here is a list of just a few celebrities that use Clubhouse: Oprah Winfrey, Michael Ovitz, Virgil Abloh, Kanye West, etc.

The first thing you should know about Clubhouse is the way it is possible to join. So, now Clubhouse is available only for iOS users. Moreover, you can’t just download the app and sign up. You need the invitation from somebody who already has an account. For sure, there is a waiting list option. But nobody can guarantee that you’ll ever get an account that way.

If you succeed to sign in, you will be presented with a list of rooms, as well as a list of users in each room. You can join the room by tapping on it or start your room. All customers are automatically muted after joining the room. But you can unmute yourself when you want it.

Is it worth investing in Clubhouse-like app development?

It was enough for Elon Musk to enter the chat, and the news about the invitation-only audio chat application went viral. The Clubhouse is now worth a shocking $1 billion, according to Pitchbook.

As written above, the app is only available for iOS, but an Android version is currently under development that will serve a large mobile user base. At the time of writing, Clubhouse had 2.4 million downloads, half of which occurred in January 2021 alone.

Aside from Elon Musk’s influence, the rise in popularity of Clubhouse is a testament to the seemingly crowded social media app space still having opportunities. As long as the app is unique and user-friendly, it has a chance to stand out from the competition and attract a significant user base.

What are the crucial features of a voice chat application?

If you are looking to create an application like Clubhouse, you might find the list of its basic features useful.

• Onboarding

As soon as you enter the Clubhouse, you will be prompted to enter your real name and provide a photo. From the very beginning, you can join any room you like. By default, all new users are muted, but you can unmute yourself at any time.

• Feed

When you open your feed, you will see several threads called rooms. You can see the name of each room and all the people who are in it.

• Rooms

The room is where discussions take place. You can browse rooms, join existing rooms, and create your own. To do this, you need to click the "Start Room" button at the bottom of the screen. In a room, you can raise your hand to politely interrupt the speaker or ask to speak. If you want to leave the room, you can announce your exit or press the "Leave quietly" button. Besides, presenters can invite others to speak in the room.

• User profiles

User profiles consist of a picture, a name, and a short description. When you are in a room, you can see who is talking at the moment and check this person’s account. You can also see the clubs the user is a member of and see who invited the user to discussions and when.

• Clubs

The club’s function is similar to Facebook groups. You can join clubs that interest you and easily find people with the same interests. In these clubs, you can view and add members, suggest topics for discussion.

• Search

Search is a useful feature for any social media app with live content. In Clubhouse, you can search for chat topics and people you want to subscribe to.

• Upcoming for you

In this section, you can view upcoming discussions. The upcoming ones look like a schedule of events for you with conversation titles, start times, speakers, and short descriptions of topics. Clicking the bell icon displays a reminder to start a chat.

• Activity

On the activity tab, you can see the history of interactions with your account, including those who followed you. You can find out who has just joined the app, which clubs, and scheduled events.

• Notifications

Like any other social media app, Clubhouse uses push notifications to improve the user experience and keep customers informed about events, such as when the person they follow opens a new room.

How to build an app like Clubhouse?Here are four stages that answer the question of how to develop an app like clubhouse and help you bring your drop-in audio chat app idea to life and streamline the development process.

1. Research your app’s target market

The very first thing you need to do is to define your target audience. Understanding your customers’ needs makes the process of development easier and leads to a better final product. Figure out about your users as much as you can. You may start from demographics, determining the average age, behavioral patterns. And then move to more complicated factors. To create a brilliant application, we recommend building a portrait of an ideal user.

2. Choose a monetization model

The next step is to choose the right monetization model for your mobile app. Now, when you know the needs of your users, you can predict what they will pay for.

3. Hire an app development team

The third step is to find the development team you want to work with. The first stage of development will include business analysis, development of technical specifications, development cost estimation, and project planning. Before diving into the actual development of a drop-in voice chat application, you and your team should set up the application development workflow, select the core functionality for the application, and design the application concept. Then, your development team should define the milestones for the project and begin work on the minimum viable product.

4. Create an MVP

Building a voice chat application is a big and complex project. We recommend you first launch MVP and test its technical and commercial specifications. Using an MVP approach, you can find out what users like and dislike about your application. Then you can consider their feedback and improve your app.

The bottom line

Clubhouse has proven the fact that space for new social media apps still exists, especially with lifestyle changes during the pandemic. The key to success is creating a unique, focused, and targeted solution.

The article was originally published: https://code-care.com/blog/how-to-develop-a-drop-in-audio-chat-like-clubhouse/