Substack has unveiled a significant overhaul of its mobile app, aimed at enhancing the user experience and increasing engagement. The redesigned app introduces a fresh Home interface, featuring a prominent reading queue at the top of the screen for seamless post navigation through right-swiping gestures. This queue allows users to swiftly share posts as “notes,” which is Substack’s equivalent of a tweet, and also share content on other social media platforms.
The revamped queue has been strategically designed to improve writer retention by giving priority to new posts from paid subscribers, saved content, and frequently read publications, thus tailoring the user experience.
Additionally, Substack is introducing a discovery feed that will showcase notes and post recommendations. The platform encourages its writers to share notes as a means of expanding their readership and converting more users into subscribers.
In a blog post, the company expressed its vision for the new Substack app: “We’re introducing a Home experience for the Substack app that places newly published posts in an elegant reading queue at the top of the screen, complemented by a feed that highlights the vibrancy of the Substack network. The Substack app has already demonstrated significant growth for writers, with over 25% of subscriptions originating from the app. We believe that these enhancements will further accelerate this trend.”
Furthermore, Substack is relocating its inbox to the central tab of the app, which includes filters for saved and audio posts to simplify content discovery. Users can easily save posts with a right swipe or archive them with a left swipe. The app settings offer a choice between the classic inbox design and a more compact version.
While the Chat section remains in the right-most tab, Substack has streamlined notifications by placing them in the top bar. Users can also access their subscription library, view their profile, or adjust app settings by tapping their profile picture in the top-right corner.
This app redesign reflects Substack’s efforts to transform its platform into a more social network-like experience. In recent developments, the company introduced the ability for users to follow writers, providing a way to stay updated on writers’ activities without subscribing to their newsletters. Substack has been on a mission to compete with platforms like Twitter (formerly known as X) since Elon Musk assumed leadership of the company last year. A significant step in this direction was the introduction of its Twitter-like Notes feature in April.
