Months after its first quarantine boom, Clubhouse is now finally open to everyone who wants to check out the audio-based platform. The app, which is now out of beta, has abandoned its previous invite-only policy, and now allows anyone to follow Clubhouse links, enter a creator’s community, join any public event or host their own audio panel. 

Earlier this year, the app experienced a dramatic increase in popularity, with celebrities like Elon Musk, Oprah Winfrey, Ashton Kutcher, Chrissy Teigen, and Kevin Hart making voice appearances and hosting live audio forums. In May, the platform, which was previously only available to iOS users, went live on Android, drawing another surge in downloads. 

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— Clubhouse (@Clubhouse) July 25, 2021

In June, Clubhouse had been downloaded nearly 26 million times since its debut. Since the Android debut, the company says the app has been downloaded over 10 million times. Earlier this month, the platform launched a text-based chat featured called Backchannel that aimed to broaden the options in the audio-focused app. 

Clubhouse was launched in March 2020 by Silicon Valley entrepreneurs Paul Davidson and Rohan Seth, with a pre-launch value of $100 million. By April 2021, it was already valued at $ 4 billion. 

In a blog post, Davidson and Seth explained that the invite system allowed the company to understand the community as it grew and “keep things from breaking as we’ve scaled,” but that they always wanted Clubhouse to be open to everyone – and now, 16 months later, they seem to be ready to take that step. 

“Conversation is what makes us human and so much good happens when people come together to talk, but when life is busy, real connection can be hard to find,” they wrote. “We wanted there to be more of that in the world.”