Clubhouse, the popular audio chat-room app, has unintentionally leaked an upcoming feature in their app called Backchannel, which appears to be for private messaging. The feature was quickly removed from the app, however some users were able to capture it and see how it works.
Wow looks like accidental update of @clubhouse enabled in app backchannel & switch of side bar & full experience.
Seems it’s rolled back now but from what I saw it was beautiful!!
On stage > move to hallway > hit arrow > back channel popped up! @jowyang @GaryLHenderson pic.twitter.com/5bJfVlg7t5
— Brian Fanzo 🧢 Keynote Speaker $ADHD (@iSocialFanz) June 18, 2021
At the moment, Clubhouse is an audio-focused chat room application only. Most of the other social media platforms, such as their competition Twitter Spaces, already have support for chat services in their apps.
The feature in Clubhouse, called Backchannel, seems to have accidentally been rolled out, because it was pulled back quickly. In a response, a spokesperson from Clubhouse said
As part of our product building process, Clubhouse regularly explores and tests potential features. These functions sometimes become part of the app, sometimes they don’t. We do not comment on potential features.
The company may be testing it with a limited set of users, and it is unclear whether Clubhouse will ever introduce such a feature at all.