Reddit launches live audio Clubhouse clone — what you need to know

Reddit Talk
(Image credit: reddit)

Reddit is the latest platform to launch its own version of Clubhouse, and its live audio service is already in early testing. Reddit Talk offers a Clubhouse-like experience for subreddits, with community moderators being given the reins.

Reddit Talk has been officially unveiled, although it's not live just yet. Users who are interested in trying it out can sign up to a waitlist to dive in as soon as it's ready. Despite it being in its fledgling stage, Reddit Talk looks fairly fleshed out, and as with most Clubhouse clones, it has fairly similar functionality — the UI also echoes the audio-only app. 

In its current iteration, only community mods can start a talk, but anyone can join a room to listen in. Users can react with a selection of emojis, as well as raising their hand if they want to take a turn speaking, although this is contingent upon the host allowing it. 

Reddit Talk

(Image credit: Reddit)

Hosts wield moderator power, having the ability to invite, mute, and remove speakers during a session. They can also remove users from talks, as well as stopping any re-joining of the room. While room creation is limited to mods for now, "trusted speakers" can be invited to co-host.

While Reddit Talk can be used for "whatever communities want to use it for," the format is perfect for "Q&As, AMAs, lectures, sports-radio-style discussions, community feedback sessions," or to give community members a space to congregate for discussions and hangouts. 

It joins a slew of other live audio apps that have followed in the footsteps of Clubhouse; Facebook has a couple of different apps in the works utilising audio-only. There's also Twitter Spaces, Spotify's Clubhouse clone, and a whole host of other Clubhouse alternatives vying for your attention. 

During the early testing phase, redditors will only be able to listen in on talks started by mods, but it will be open to both iOS and Android users.   

  • More: Clubhouse app: How to get invites, Android version and more
Shabana Arif

Shabana is T3's News Editor covering tech and gaming, and has been writing about video games for almost a decade (and playing them since forever). As well as contributing to Tom's Guide, she's had bylines at major gaming sites during her freelance career before settling down at T3, and has podcasts, streaming, and video content under her belt to boot. Outside of work, she also plays video games and should really think about expanding her hobbies.