Twitter brings Clubhouse-competing Spaces beta to Android

Twitter has announced its new social audio feature Spaces has now entered beta for Android users, bringing its Clubhouse competitor to a new audience.

The company shared the announcement on 2 March, noting that the beta program has expanded to Android.

But in a disappointment for Android users, they will only be able to listen in on others’ Spaces for now. They won’t yet be able to set up their own.

Android folks, our beta is growing! starting today you will be able to join and talk in any Space. SOON you’ll be able to create your own but we’re still working out some things. keep your 👀 out for live Spaces above your home tl

— Spaces (@TwitterSpaces) March 2, 2021

What is Twitter Spaces?

The new feature allows Twitter users to host live audio channels with each other.

Spaces is a direct competitor to social audio app Clubhouse, which has seen an explosion in popularity since it launched in May 2020. This, despite the app being only available to iOS users and on an invite-only basis.

A private beta program for Spaces was launched in December 2020. Upon launch, the program was restricted to a small group of iOS users.

At the time, Twitter said it was also testing sub-features such as audience reactions, an early version of live transcriptions, and the sharing of tweets in Spaces.

Twitter has been experimenting with social audio in several ways. Back in June, the company introduced audio tweets for a small number of iOS users.

Users were able to record and send audio messages up to 140 seconds long.

Last month, the company also introduced support for audio direct messages for iOS and Android users in India.

But Twitter has faced criticism for not including captions on its platform for deaf people or those who are hard of hearing.

In response to this, the company says that automated captions will be added to video and audio tweets later this year.

Feature image: Twitter

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