Medium’s Mobile App is Discontinued

No harm, foul, or hate to you, Medium. All you’re doing is making me shift my writing habits by getting rid of the mobile app.

I’ve returned from two back-to-back trips. One was a business trip to New Orleans, and the other was a personal trip to purchase our next RV.

During my trip to the Big Easy, I pulled out a stool at the bar, propped open my iPad, and turned on the keyboard. Then, I discovered the bad news: Medium’s mobile writing app has been discontinued.

Initially, I was ticked off. I stewed about it for a little while and let the endless string of questions pop into my head.

Are you getting cheap on the readers? Is this the start of some other f*ckery you have in store?

Taking a deep breath, I decided to adapt and overcome. After all, I’m not the CEO, a mega-writer, nor a Medium influencer to advocate for the ongoing support of the native app.

However, this unfortunate change has put a damper on my evening writing mood.

Here I am. I’m in a bar in New Orleans. As a good girl, I am practicing a more alcohol-free lifestyle while associating it positively with writing. I even managed to find the best seat at the Carousel Bar, my favorite one in the French Quarter.

The jazz is playing. Dancers in the street are running amok.

I’m saluting my Heinikin 0.0 “beer” to the dancing precession celebrating a person’s life on the way to an ancient cemetery.

Then my heart plummets seeing that the mobile writing app is kaput.

Suddenly, the various negative Medium articles flash across my brain.

More publications are shutting down. The picture quality has gone down the tube. Medium is dying!

My first instinct was to shoot off a heated article flame-spraying Medium.

Then it occurred to me: What’s the point?

Medium is already filled with that kind of crap, and I’m not going to add to it. Not to mention, it’s not my company, so the stakeholders should run it as they see fit.

Finally, it hasn’t personally hurt me, and all it did was change my writing habit. All of my drafts: I moved to Grammarly. Also, if I ever decide to stop my subscription to Grammarly, I’d roll my drafts to my Notes app or a document app.

The new habit could help me.

It allows more time for edits. I have more time to consider adding more ideas to the post. It’s a healthy reminder to pace myself. This is part of the writing process: Adapt.

Fortunately, there has been no indication that the mobile app is being discontinued for readers. However, as a writer, this has had an impact but it’s okay! There is no doubt that Medium is making some changes.

Guess what, that’s normal!

When Medium becomes stagnant and nothing changes, that’s when I’ll start to worry.

In the meantime, take a deep breath, accept change, and either dig your heels in to adapt or don’t. In the end, it’s up to you, but Medium is chugging along regardless if you like it or not.

Originally published at https://crystalswritingroom.com on May 5, 2022.