The Beginner's Guide on How to Use Clubhouse (& Host Your Own Room)

Last Updated: June 1, 2021 Tested

This wikiHow teaches you how to get started on Clubhouse, the drop-in audio conversation app. Clubhouse is still invite-only as of February 2021, so you'll need an invitation from a current member to join. Once you've secured an invitation, you can start participating in conversations and even start hosting your own!

Method 1

Method 1 of 3:

Getting Started

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Download the Clubhouse app from the App Store

. As of February 2021, Clubhouse is not yet available for Android, and you'll still need to be invited to Clubhouse by a current member to sign up. ^{[1]
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Research source} When a friend invites you, you'll receive a text message that tells you to sign up using your phone number. This means you'll be able to set up your account right away!
- If you haven't been invited yet, you can still download the app and try to sign up. If any of your friends are current active members, Clubhouse may notify them that you're trying to sign up and ask them to approve your membership. If this happens, you'll get a confirmation message via text. Regardless of whether you're instantly waved through, you'll get to reserve a username so it'll be waiting for you once your account is active.
The first time you open Clubhouse, you'll be asked to verify your phone number, create a username that will represent you on the app, add a photo, choose some of your favorite topics, and follow some people. Once you've made it through the setup process, you'll arrive to the main screen—also known as the feed, hallway, or all rooms screen.

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Set up your profile. Other people on Clubhouse can view your profile to learn more about you. Here's how to set up your profile:
- Tap your initials or profile photo (if you added one) at the top-right corner of the hallway or feed.
- Tap Add a bio .
- Enter some information about yourself and tap Done .
- If you have an Instagram and/or Twitter account, you can link those accounts to your Clubhouse profile so people can find you on those apps. Tap Add Twitter and Add Instagram to do so.
- To change your profile photo, tap your initials or current photo, and take or select a new one.
- Tap the back button to return to the hallway.
It's at the top of the hallway screen. This is where you'll find information about new followers, messages from Clubhouse, invites to clubs, and people from your iPhone contacts who've just joined. ^{[2]
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Tap the search icon to find your friends. It's at the top-left corner of the hallway. This opens the Explore page, where you can search for people to follow:
- At the top of the screen you'll find suggested people to follow. Tap Show more people to see even more suggested users. You can tap someone's name to check out their profile and then tap Follow to follow them.
- To search for someone, tap the search bar at the top of the screen and enter their name or username. Tap a profile to check it out—if it's someone you want to follow, tap Follow to start doing so.
- If you want to follow a friend who isn't on Clubhouse yet, you can invite them. Return to the hallway and tap the envelope icon with a yellow star on it to view your invites (if you have any). Then, scroll through the list or search for a contact and tap Invite next to their name. Make sure you only invite people who have iPhones for now because Clubhouse is not yet available for Android.
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Method 2

Method 2 of 3:

Joining a Room

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Find a room to join. Rooms can be created by anyone on the fly, or scheduled in advance. There are three ways to find a room:
- Check the feed/hallway, which is the main screen in Clubhouse. All of the rooms you see here are rooms you can join. If someone you follow is in a room you can join, it'll be at the top of the list.
  - If a room has a green house next to it, it's hosted by a club—a club is a recurring series of rooms for a defined community. ^{[3]
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- Tap the calendar at the top of the hallway to view a list of upcoming scheduled rooms you can join. To set a reminder for when the room begins, tap the bell icon next to the name of the room.
2
Tap the title of a room to join. When you find a room you want to join or are notified that one has begun, tap the title to join. When you join a room on Clubhouse, you're added as a listener, which means you can hear the people on the virtual "stage" but not automatically participate.
- You can minimize the room to return to the hallway at any time by tapping the down-arrow at the top-left corner.
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See who's in the room. The room is separated into two areas—the stage and the audience. The stage is where you'll see the profile photos of the current speakers (the people who are talking or who are allowed to talk). Scroll down to find the audience, who are the listeners.
- Tap someone's profile photo to check out their bio.
- Tap the three horizontal dots at the top-right corner of the speaker list and select Search Room to search for someone in particular.
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Learn the roles. To fully understand what's going on in a room, you'll need to know the difference between the three participant roles:
- Moderators set the rules and choose who and when others can speak. Moderators have green-and-white asterisks at the bottom-right corners of their profile photos and appear at the top of the list. The host of the room is always listed as the first moderator, but all moderators can do the same things.
- Speakers are people who are on the "stage," which means they are a part of the audio conversation. To become a speaker, a moderator must add you to the stage. If a speaker's microphone is muted, you'll see a microphone icon with a line through it on their photo. Speakers usually mute their mics when they aren't speaking.
- Listeners are everyone who isn't a speaker or moderator (like you!). Joining a room makes you a listener by default—your mic is muted and nobody can hear you unless you are added to the stage by a moderator.
Pinging someone into the room is inviting them to join. After tapping the button, simply select who you'd like to join and they'll be notified. You can only invite people who follow you on Clubhouse.
It's at the bottom-right corner of the screen. As long as the moderators are accepting questions or other comments, this will add you to the speaker queue. When a moderator is ready to bring you to the stage, they'll manually approve your request to speak and your profile icon will move to the top area of the screen (the stage).
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Tap the microphone to toggle muting on or off. It'll only appear at the bottom of the screen when you are a speaker in a room. When you are invited to the stage, your microphone will automatically be turned on. If it's not your turn to speak, turn it off right way by tapping it. When it is your turn to speak, tap the mic again to chime in.
- The moderator may move you back to the audience after you're finished asking a question or making a comment. This is normal.
It's at the bottom-left corner of the screen, and may occasionally be represented by just a peace sign emoji (two fingers) instead of the words "Leave quietly." This simply removes you from the room.
Think of a club like a book club or a class—you're all members of the same club, and you get together when the host makes it happen. To find a club, tap the magnifying glass at the top-left corner to open the search screen, and then tap a topic under the "FIND CONVERSATIONS ABOUT" header to browse a list of clubs by topic. When you find a club that interests you, tap Follow .

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Method 3

Method 3 of 3:

Hosting a Room

It's the large green button at the bottom of the main screen (the hallway) in Clubhouse. Anyone on Clubhouse can create a room at any time.
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Choose a room type. There are three different types of rooms you can create:
- Open rooms are rooms that anyone on Clubhouse can join. These are best for larger conversations, such as chats with special guests or panels.
- Social rooms are only visible to people you follow, which means only people you follow can join them. If you add another moderator to the room, their followers will also be able to join. Think of it as a room for your social circle.
- Closed rooms are rooms that people can only join if invited by moderator. Create a closed room for sensitive or private topics.
It's at the top-right corner of the menu. This is technically optional, but important for making people aware of the room's topic or purpose. It'll appear at the top of the room and cannot be changed, so type up to 60 characters about the room's primary goal. Tap Set Topic when finished.
If you're starting a closed room, tapping this button brings up a list of people you can invite. Tap the members you want to invite to the room.
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Tap the green Let's Go button. It's at the bottom of the screen. This creates your room immediately.
- Since you created the room, you are the moderator, which means you decide who gets to speak and when. You are also responsible for keeping the conversation flowing and the direction on topic.
- If you leave the room, the room will end unless you add another moderator. To add another moderator, tap their profile image in the room and select Make a moderator .
6
Allow someone to speak. If someone raises their hand to speak, they'll be added to the queue. Tap the raised hand icon at the bottom of the screen to open the queue, and then tap the microphone icon next to their name to bring them to the stage.
- The speaker's microphone will be live as soon as you add them to the stage. If they don't start talking right away and don't automatically mute their own microphone, you can tap their profile photo and then tap the microphone on it to mute them.
- When you're ready to move the speaker to the audience so they can no longer speak, tap their profile photo and select Move to audience .
Try to get into the habit of turning off your microphone whenever you aren't speaking to minimize background noise.
This ends the room immediately for all participants.

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