App Showcase: Medium

What it does

Medium is a mobile platform for reading and writing articles on countless subjects. It connects amateur and professional writers with an audience eager for thoughtful content, offering a clean, distraction-free reading experience. Users can discover stories based on their interests, follow favorite authors, and publish their own work.

Where it shines

Medium excels at creating a focused and customizable reading environment. The onboarding flow, while strict, does an excellent job of building a personalized feed from the get-go by asking for topic interests (00:41) and writer preferences (00:50). Once inside, the reading experience is top-notch. The in-article display settings (01:54) are a great example of contextual UX, allowing users to adjust fonts and themes without ever leaving the story. Finally, Medium's signature 'clap' feature (02:15) provides a simple yet gratifying way for readers to show appreciation for writers' work.

UX highlights

• Layered Curation: Users can refine their feed through broad topic selection during onboarding and granular, article-level controls like "Show less stories like this" (02:28) on the home feed.
• Frictionless List Management: Creating a new reading list is straightforward. The app presents a bottom sheet where a user can name a list and set its privacy (02:45), making content organization easy.
• Clear Navigation: The app uses a simple bottom tab navigator for core sections like Home, Search, Library, and Profile, which is a familiar and efficient pattern.
• Contextual Actions: Long-pressing or tapping a menu on articles and comments reveals relevant actions like saving, following, or reporting, keeping the UI clean.
• In-App Rating Prompt: The app uses a non-intrusive modal (03:00) to ask for feedback, first capturing a star rating internally before potentially directing happy users to the App Store.
• Dark Mode Excellence: The dark theme is consistent and well-executed, providing a comfortable reading experience in low-light environments.

Monetization & growth

Medium's monetization strategy is front and center. The entire app experience is gated behind a mandatory subscription paywall presented at the end of onboarding (00:54). The paywall offers a monthly and a discounted annual plan, both with a 7-day free trial. This hard-gating approach filters for users with high purchase intent from the very beginning. The app also presents member-only story prompts and upgrade calls-to-action for users who might be on a limited plan, ensuring monetization is woven into the core experience.

Who it’s for

Medium is for curious readers who value quality, in-depth content and are willing to pay for an ad-free experience. It's also for writers of all levels, from hobbyists to professionals, who want a platform to share their ideas with an engaged audience without needing to manage their own blog. The user base likely skews towards those interested in topics like tech, self-improvement, business, and creative writing.

Notes & opportunities

While the mandatory paywall is a strong monetization play, it creates significant friction and may deter users who want to sample the content before committing. The app could test a metered paywall, offering a few free articles per month to demonstrate value first. Additionally, the process of writing a new story (03:30) seems full-featured, but the mobile editor could be intimidating for casual writers. A simpler, 'quick post' format could lower the barrier to creation and increase user-generated content.