Substack revamps its mobile app for discovery and engagement

On Wednesday, Substack announced a Home experience redesign for its mobile app to improve discovery and engagement. A new top-of-screen reading queue makes it easier to swipe right between posts in the app. The queue lets you quickly share posts in a note or on other social media platforms.

The redesigned queue prioritizes paid subscription posts, saved content, and frequently read publications to increase writer retention, according to the company.

Substack will launch a discovery feed with notes and post recommendations. The platform encourages writers to share notes to reach more readers and convert them into subscribers.

In a blog post, the company announced a Home experience for the Substack app that puts new posts in an elegant reading queue at the top of the screen and pairs it with a feed that shows the network’s vitality. The Substack app already drives strong growth for writers—more than 25% of network subscriptions originate from it—and we hope these improvements will turbocharge that effect.”

Substack is also moving its inbox to the center, app tab. Inbox filters for saved and audio posts help you find what you need. Swipe right to save, left to archive. Your settings let you choose between a classic and compact inbox.

Substack moved notifications to the top bar, but Chat remains in the right-most tab. Touch your profile picture in the top right corner to open your subscription library, view your profile, or change app settings.

Substack has been redesigning its app to feel more like a social network. Users can now follow writers without subscribing to their newsletters, the company announced last month.

Substack has been trying to compete with X (formerly Twitter) since Elon Musk took over last year, and its Twitter-like Notes feature in April was its most notable attempt.