Xiaomi Revives MiTalk as a Clubhouse Clone in China

Mar. 2, 2021

Earlier in January this year, Xiaomi announced plans to shut down its messaging app MiTalk, starting from the 19th of February. The Chinese tech giant seems to have nowresurrected the app as an audio chat platformin China to attract the Clubhouse audience. This news comes only a couple-odd weeks after Clubhouse gotblocked in China.

MiTalk: A Clubhouse Clone?

Audio chat is all the rage these days, thanks to Clubhouse, an audio-based social platform that’s trending among iPhone users. TheAndroid app is in the worksright now. Given the popularity of Clubhouse, tech giants including Twitter and Facebook are working to replicate this functionality in their products. WhileFacebook is working on a separate audio chat app, Twitter istesting Spaces in beta. And as per reports, Xiaomi is now following suit with MiTalk, at least in China.Image: ITHome

On itsofficial website,Xiaomi describes MiTalk as a ‘voice chat app for professionals.’They can use the app to hear and share insights from industry professionals. In case that sounds familiar, that’s one of the primary use-cases of Clubhouse at this moment. Many famous personalities, including Elon Musk, Ashton Kutcher, Jared Leto, and Oprah, are already on the platform.

The newMiTalk app won’t bring the userbase of the deprecated app. Instead, users will have to sign up and create a new account. As of this writing, MiTalk is in limited testing with invite-only access. Xiaomihopes to launch MiTalk’s public beta shortly. The app will be available on both Android and iOS. There’s no info on Xiaomi’s plans to expand the app outside China.

Given that Clubhouse got blocked in China, we need to wait and see what the future holds for MiTalk. If you are looking for an app like Clubhouse that works right now, we’ve got you covered. You can check out our linked article on thebest apps like Clubhouseand pick the one you like.

Subin writes about consumer tech, software, and security. He secretly misses the headphone jack while pretending he’s better off with the wireless freedom.