O Medium, Overhaul Our Android App. Please

The more it changes, the more it (seems to) takes us back.

Let me set the records straight. Medium, is a great online writing app.

Of course you already know that. Despite all the griping and whinings, many of us are here for the long ride.

Personally, I'm glad that I cut my online writing teeth here.

In Nigeria, we have a proverb that loosely translates as follows.

It is only the child who has never tasted any of his friends mothers' soups that adamantly insists his mother's soup is the best.

This proverb sums up the complacency of Medium as seen in every one of their recent iterations to the Medium’s Android app. Compared to Medium app, Substack writing app fighter-jet-like performance is far ahead of the duo.

Yes, I know. This is just my opinion. Don't take my word for it.

If you are an Android user, I challenge you to try out Substack. It has a superior writing experience. No surprise, more and more of your favorite Medium writers are building their second or third homes there.

I've never used an iPhone. Therefore, my annoying observations here may not apply to you.

I've read about some iPhone users who draft and publish their articles on their phones. On my Android devices, no matter how much I've tried, I've not been able to write any polished and finished published article on the app. I must resort to the desktop web-based app to finish up. Always.

As it is the case with Twitter, even those who are not abandoning Twitterdom are discerning a lot of advantages from having a second home or permanent relocation to Mastodon. Many of the writers that pulled me into Medium already have permanent flourishing residences (newsletters) on Substack.

The posts writing and editing page present familiar user interface experiences on all Android devices. All your writings syncs and look similar irrespective of the device you're are writing on.

As shown below, look at the screenshots of one of my Substack posts as viewed on my Android phone, Samsung Galaxy Tab 6 Lite tablet and my HP 13 inch Ultra-book laptop — in that order.

Using the Medium app on my phone and my tab is a nightmare. In contrast, Substack is forever a joy to use.

On Medium app, I only use my devices to gather my points and then tidy up my writings on the web-based app on the laptop at the end. Once you get used to the Substack interface, the writing, editing and publishing experience is the same across all your devices.

Using Substack app on your tab or phone, you can even write and edit your posts offline. As soon as you get back online, your writings syncs. This is an impossibility on the Medium app.

On Substack, at the top left of the editing page, are editing icons. You can undo and redo. On Medium, if you mistakenly delete an image, word, sentence or paragraph, you are forever out of luck.

Basic editing functions like backspacing to the previous paragraph are non-existent in the Medium Android app. I can write in portrait mode on both my phone and the tablet. But, on the tab, I can’t comment on a comment (sic) while in landscape mode. I must remove my Android tab from the external keyboard to read or write comments. This is distressing.

True, compared to Substack, Medium has its pluses over the former. I certainly do not expect their approaches to be the same. But the implementation of writing and editing functions on the Medium Android app still leaves much to be desired.

I joined Medium online writing train two years ago.

Recently and with some initial reluctance, I got serious about using Substack. I wrote about my Substack first time user’s experience here.

Users’ writing experience is better on Substack. My opinion.

However, if I’m compelled to give up one platform for the other. Medium will be off my list and Substack will remain forever close to my chest.

I hope that Tony Stubblebine and other top gunners at Medium will consider my observations and remake the Medium Android app a more livable and motivating writing app across all the platforms.

Thank you for reading.

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