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 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.

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.

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.

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.

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:

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.

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!

A New Medium on Mobile was originally published in 3 min read on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

A place to share your feedback on new releases and features

Today, we’re launching our official beta program for the Medium Android app. We’ve been hard at work building new features, and we’re excited to share them with you. We’d like to invite you to help shape the future of the app by providing valuable feedback on features before they are shipped to the world.

We’re looking for engaged users of Medium, especially those who use the app multiple times a week. There’s no upper limit on the number of beta users for now. Here’s how to get started:

1. Join our Medium community on Reddit: /r/MediumApp/.
2. Enroll in our Android open beta program here.
3. After enrolling, navigate to the Medium App in the Play Store to get the latest beta build. Note: The Play Store can take up to 2–3 hours to recognize you as a part of the beta community.
4. Once in beta, you will receive updates about major new releases and features available for beta users. We look forward to receiving your feedback on what you love, and what can be improved, at /r/MediumApp/.

If you’re interested but unable to join the beta for any reason, email us at android-feedback@medium.com and we’ll help you out. As always, we’ll update our Product News blog with new major releases and features as they become available beyond the beta group.

The Medium Mobile Team

Welcome to the Medium Android Beta Community was originally published in 3 min read on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

Our app team is on a mission to help readers like you discover the stories on Medium that you’ll love. Not only are we putting these stories at your fingertips, but we also want to put you in control of your app experience. We’ve made some recent updates to do this better. We love hearing from readers, so leave us a comment on this post if you’ve got feedback or an idea for us.

Read your top five recommended stories

Each day we’ll share the top five stories recommended for you at the top of the app home, and send you a push notification when they’re ready. To dive in, tap a story and give it a read. Once you’ve read your five daily reads, or are finished browsing these stories, tap Done for Today to collapse Your Daily Read and continue on for more personalized stories in the app feed.

Swipe on stories

As you peruse stories, swipe left to save it to read later, or swipe right to see fewer stories like that one.

Tune your recommendations

To give your recommendations a boost, tap Tune your recommendations at the bottom of Your Daily Read. Then, customize by following (or unfollowing) Topics, People, and Publications.

Give us feedback

We’re constantly adding new features to the Medium app so stay tuned for more ways to read what inspires you. We’d love to hear from you and many of the best ideas come from our users. Please leave suggestions or feedback in the responses. We won’t be able to respond directly to every comment, but we’re always listening.

Download on iOS and Android

Take Five: Introducing Your Daily Read was originally published in 3 min read on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.