Now anybody with a Substack account can publish content

Anybody with a Substack account can now publish posts on Substack’s web and mobile app, the company announced on Thursday, turning the newsletter platform into even more of a social network. (Currently, users publishing posts on their profile from mobile can only do so via the Substack iOS app, though support for Android is coming soon.)

Substack members can publish content, get paid and free subscribers, and accumulate pledges from their Substack profile without needing to create a publication. Creating a publication, however, allows them to take advantage of more advanced features like a website, multiple admins, and sections. If they do choose to start a new one, Substack says, they can import any subscribers they may have accumulated.

Users can’t make their Substack profiles private, however, so anybody can follow and read posts. If they want to publish posts for a limited audience, they’d have to create and link to a private publication on their profile.

Along with these updates, Substack also announced that it’s continuing to work on making the platform more mobile-friendly. Last month, the platform started letting users publish full posts from the mobile app. Today, the company revealed it’s also testing live video and in-app payments.

Last year, the company arguably turned into an X rival when it launched its Notes feature for publishing short posts.