Wikimedia Apps/Team/Explore Feed Refresh

Background

The Explore feed in the Wikipedia mobile apps was originally designed as an entry point to help readers discover new and relevant content based on the trends of explore feeds more than 5 years ago. However, over time, its utility and appeal have declined due to a combination of shifting user expectations, a static feed, limited visual appeal and other conceptual issues:

Low engagement: The feed sees minimal repeat use beyond a small, loyal segment of readers with preferences for cards at the top of the feed.
Outdated interaction patterns: The modular “card” layout feels static compared to modern feeds that emphasize immersive, swipeable, and visually engaging full-screen experiences.
Lack of clarity and control: Some users are unaware that the feed can be customized or that content is tailored by project and language.
Limited continuity: Tapping on feed items drops users at the top of articles rather than relevant sections for the user
“Junk drawer” syndrome: The feed has become a catch-all entry point for unrelated modules (Suggested Edits, Places, etc.) without a coherent information hierarchy or user goal other than promoting the feature
Untapped potential: The multilingual, multi-project structure could support learning journeys, highlight community impact, and create a deeper sense of belonging within the Wikimedia movement.

Beyond aesthetics, the perceived freshness of the Explore feed directly impacts users’ sense of trust and curiosity. When cards appear outdated, users assume the app itself is neglected or irrelevant. This perception disproportionately affects new and younger readers, who expect constantly updating content streams similar to other modern feeds. This project aims to evolve the Explore feed, the first feature users see when launching the app, into a compelling, modern and movement-aligned experience that encourages curiosity, learning, and daily returns.

The Apps team has seen requests from our app users and volunteers to update the explore feed, most recently on the community wishlist, requests for filtering the Explore feed by topic of interest (T181157), and adding new content such as "Did you knows" (T221993).

Our overall hypothesis is: if we redesign the mobile apps Explore Feed we’ll see a 10% increase in Explore Feed engagement over multiple sessions per unique logged-out reader within 14 days of release. We plan to break this down into several smaller hypotheses before testing and releasing the feature.

Images of current explore feed

These screenshots are of the Android app, but the iOS app's explore feed has the same elements.

Trivia game
On this day
Because you read
Places
Picture of the day
Featured article
Suggested edits
Top read

User & Use Cases

This effort has two primary target users in mind. The first are New Readers–someone who has just installed the app or has historically opened the app infrequently. Some of their core use cases include:

“I have a few minutes to fill—what’s interesting right now?”
"I want a productive use of my down time, can Wikipedia fill that use case"

For new readers, we must be able to demonstrate the value early to limit uninstalls.

The second target users are readers that use the app to browse or search occasionally, but does not see Wikipedia as their go-to app. Some of their core use cases include:

“I want to learn something new without committing to a full article in this moment.”
“I want to learn more about a topic of interest, but I don’t know where to start.”

How does this work fit into the Wikimedia Foundation's Annual Plan?

Strategic alignment

The Readers teams have a goal to reach new generations of readers and create memorable, joyful learning experiences that bring them back. The Explore Feed Refresh directly supports this by:

Delivering knowledge to more people in engaging ways. → Makes Wikipedia a place to browse and discover, not just search and leave.
Supporting exploration and visual learning. → Lets readers enjoy short, useful visits that evolve into deeper exploration.
Anchoring the “Apps for Deep Engagement” role in the cross-platform journey. → Provides a daily touchpoint for curiosity and community connection within the app.
Using existing Wikimedia content—text, images, data—in modern formats. → Builds on our strengths, not net-new media types.

The explore feed refresh will be broken down into several phases:

Phase	Description	Timing
Phase 0: Research & Problem definition	The team will complete research into the current perception of the explore feed on our apps, conduct a comparative analysis of other similar apps, and identify the key usability, relevance and freshness gaps preventing it from becoming a high engagement and retaining feature.	November - January 2025
Phase 1: Explore Feed Visual Redesign	The team will complete usability testing with design prototypes of the redesigned Explore Feed and identify our recommended visual design. Then the new visual design will be implemented, with improvements to discoverability of customization.	February - April 2026
Phase 2: New Explore Feed Content	The team will introduce new content sources and more personalization options into the feed.	April - June 2026

How will we measure success

We'll update our metrics for success as the feature takes shape. Our core metric is to see a 10% increase in Explore Feed engagement over multiple sessions among logged-out readers.

Objectives

Increase engagement frequency: Encourage at least one daily visit to the Explore feed and click through among active app users.
Modernize the experience: Update interaction patterns to reflect contemporary mobile design standards (e.g., swipeable stories, richer media, seamless previews).
Clarify personalization: Make customization options intuitive and discoverable.
Surface impact and participation: Integrate moments that connect readers to the broader Wikimedia movement (e.g., editing impact, community stories, milestones).
Maintain multi-project, multilingual flexibility: Preserve and strengthen cross-wiki discovery while ensuring coherence.
Reduce “catch-all” clutter: Create clear governance for what belongs in the Explore feed vs. what should live elsewhere.

Key Results

Increase in Logged Out readers retained to feature over multiple days
We see a statistically significant increase in experiment group retained compared to control
Increase of unique users engage with Explore feed
90 days after release check changes in daily active users

Guardrails

Majority of survey respondents report feeling neutral or satisfied with feature

Curiosities

Do we see a difference in scroll depth?
Do we see an increase in article CTR originating from Explore feed?
Are more users customizing their feed?
Are we seeing a difference in satisfaction with feature depending on how personalized a user’s feed is?
What content resonated the most with users?
- Quant: Where did we see engagement?
- Qual: What did users say they’d like to stick around

How to follow along

We’ll add regular updates to the Updates tab. See the full product requirements and follow-along with our work on the Phabricator Epic: T407990. Leave us feedback or suggestions on the Discussion page.