73 Comments

Thank you for these great new features and I especially wanted to say that the new Substack app for iOS is truly top-notch! Very well designed, the app functions beautifully. I also write on Medium and I wish the Medium app was as good as the Substack app!

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We all wish the Medium app would either improve or burn in hell 😂

I can't wait until Substack is available on Android.

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Oh my god, right?! A company with as much money as Medium and their app sucks so bad! It’s downright embarrassing. Hopefully you won’t have to wait long for an Android version of the Substack app because it really is all that and a bag of chips.

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I just found that they have an Android app waitlist you can signup for!

https://substack.com/app/android-waitlist

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Yup, I'm on it!! Thanks Chris!

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I hate Medium. They clearly have issues with senior management making decisions without listening to the people. And the fees they take are not transparent.

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Literally nothing on Medium is transparent. I've been writing there for three years now and it has definitely taken a nose dive.

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I hope they can pull out of the tailspin they seem to be in because Substack is currently blowing them out of the water in terms of... literally everything.

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They definitely have some very real problems internally and that has translated into a bad experience for the writers who make that platform what it is. There’s a very bad taste in a lot of mouths right now, for sure.

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You are a better man than me, Chris. I gave up on Medium months ago.

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Medium will always be my first love, even if the relationship is a bit rocky at times. But, I must admit that I am falling more and more in love with Substack.

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I am on both as well. Medium's app is MUCH easier to write on but Substack is where everyone I follow went when they lost their platform Substack is good for writers who use WORD and are familiar with all the options. With Medium your choice is font style then write. MUCH EASIER jI am just going to read on here.

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Always appreciate how Substack is iterating and growing new tools for writer and readers alike.

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Came here to say the same thing!

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Wow!

I especially admire the SPLENDID idea of presenting readers who have asked to cancel---the option to pause.

BRILLIANT!!!

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I would love to see new features for adding sign up bonuses like ebooks, reports, email sequences, etc. to auto responder “Thank You” email

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I would totally use such a feature David. Anything that could segment better our audience anywhere down the funnel would ultimately lead to more immersion.

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That would be fabulous. Would be good to be able to send a test version of the welcome email too

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I would LOVE that too! Peace and best wishes.

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These are good developments. I have one question and one suggestion:

- When using the early-access feature for a podcast, I understand that when it is posted for subscribers-only it would go to their private feeds (such as in the Apple Podcasts app, for instance). When it is then opened for all subscribers, would it then be sent out to the public feeds at that time, in addition to free subscribers' emails?

- For the stock images, it would be great to have the option of adding one of those images for the social preview/title image, without having to have it somewhere in the body of the text.

Thanks!

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Love that second idea! Shared it with our team.

For the first question, let me get back to you. Confirming now.

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Regarding early-access features for podcasts - yes, you are correct!

If you use the early-access feature for a podcast episode, the episode will be initially posted for subscribers only and distributed via private RSS feeds. When the post is opened for all subscribers, it is then sent out to public RSS feeds in addition to free subscribers' email inboxes.

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Perfect, thanks for the quick response!

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No worries! Thank you for the great ideas. We hadn't thought of unsplash in the social share image and our product teams love the idea.

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Incredible product innovation occurring on Substack's interface, app and related tools. I notice these in real-time and as a user I have to say it's kind of a thrill! I'm always checking to see how many more reviews we got on the iOS app, it's incredible to be at the start of the Creator Economy with a platform that cares this much about its writers and creators.

A lot of these new features and upgrades and enhancement are impactful on both the reader and writer side.

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The 'subscription pause' addition is fantastic. Great psychology. THANK YOU!

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These are awesome. The stock photos will really come in handy because you’ve basically gone ahead and cut out a couple steps from what I already do.

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love it guys. Thank you so much for taking care of us!

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Good stuff!

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I'm a new writer on this platform and It's good to see the Substack steam continue to continue freshly innovating in the best interests of both writers and readers.

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Another critical tool needed on the dashboard is Calendar. this would be helpful in listing book events on a blog or newsletter. Please consider this asap. Thanks for your consideration.

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Has anyone tried the Early Access feature? If so, how is it going? Also: how long are you waiting to unlock a post?

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I tried it but then tried to edit the post and there was some difficulty doing that.

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Did you run into a bug? If so we would love to know more! What happened?

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Yes there was some apparent conflict, I think to be able to confirm the edit I would have had to alter the confirmation of the date the post unlocked. It was counter-intuitive and broke my immersion in what I was trying to do. Sorry I don't exactly recall, but I think that's the gist of it.

What I noticed at the time is there was only a 3-month window I could unlock the post, which I found slightly peculiar. Then it seemed like it would Email that post on said date, whereas I just wanted the post to be unlocked, not be scheduled as a new Email. I don't know, I'll have to experiment more with it.

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I love the search image and the activity feature.These features not only help writers to create a polished product but also increases the connection with the readers through the activities.

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I really appreciate the Activity and Reader features on the website since I don’t always want to switch to another device to use the app when I am already on my iMac. It makes the website similar to the app. And it is much easier to type (respond to comments) on my iMac than an iPad or iPhone.

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I've been using the Unsplash add image for years on Medium. It's really nice to see that Substack is making it easier to use the same.

Thanks for the updates!

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