A New Medium on Mobile

Helping you build stronger connections with the writers and publications you love

For millions of people, Medium’s mobile app is their window to discover and read stories from writers they trust and subject-matter experts across a wide variety of topics. Our app was originally designed around an infinite feed of stories, which makes it simple to scan headlines and tap one that captures your attention or piques your interest. Every story you read is input into an algorithm to help recommend stories you might want to read next. And while this loop is effective for quickly helping you find something to read, the algorithmic-based feed makes it hard for readers to build a strong connection with the writers and publications they love.

The new Medium mobile app is designed to change that. It’s completely reoriented around following — so that readers can be sure they’re not missing anything from writers they love, and those writers and publications can more actively engage and grow their audience.

Here’s what it looks like. The first thing you’ll notice is a reimagined home screen experience:

The new Medium home screen.

The top story is always from creators you follow. Below that, you’ll see “Latest from Following,” which lists your writers and publications that have published recently. We’ll keep track of when a creator publishes, and using a badge over their avatar, let you know how many new stories there are to read since your last visit to their space.

“Latest from Following” helps you keep up with publications and authors you follow.

We’ve organized the remainder of home into a set of “shelves,” each one having a specific context or organizing principle. Among them, you’ll recognize “Your Daily Read,” which recommends five stories each day, personalized to your tastes, and “From Your Reading List,” which surfaces stories you’ve saved to read later. Other shelves are focused on discovery, like “Trending on Medium,” which highlights content being read across Medium’s network that very moment. We’ll release new shelves on a regular basis and as you use your home screen, both the order and content within will adapt to your needs.

We’ve upgraded the experience of reading stories in the app, too. Every story you dive into will show in the context of the writer or publication, allowing their brand and identity to shine through. Once you’ve finished reading a story, simply keep scrolling to move through other stories written by the same author. Story previews in this new space are larger, allowing you to read the first few paragraphs before choosing to expand inline, which is quick and seamless.

OneZero’s creative space within the Medium app.

If you’re coming to a creator’s space from one of the shelves on your home screen, we have a new feature called the “dock.” The dock is a quick way to tap or swipe between different spaces without having to go back home.

Easily move between creators’ spaces using the dock at the bottom of the screen.

The “You” tab is your space. Quickly start writing a new story, edit or view stats on any of the stories you’ve published, and easily access your drafts and unlisted stories. Over time, we’ll add more publishing tools here, allowing you to express your creative freedom and really make this space your own.

The “You” tab gives you quick access to your own profile, stories, stats and more.

Join the beta

This week, we’re starting to roll out the new version of the Medium app in beta. During this period, we’ll be inviting users to try the new experience and welcome any feedback they may have. When you open the Medium app, you may see a prompt like this:

The in-feed prompt you’ll see when invited to join the Medium app beta.

Tapping this prompt will link you to our beta settings screen where you can opt-in to the new app experience. You can open your Medium settings any time to opt-in or opt-out of the beta. From this same menu, you can also give us feedback through a short survey.

You can opt in or out of the Medium app beta from your app settings.

That’s a quick rundown of the new app and our thinking behind it. We really want to make it great for you and are excited for you to try it. Please give it a whirl and let us know what you think!