Medium has launched a new app called TK, marking the company’s first major product release since 2017. Available as of November 2026, TK combines note-taking and journaling with a private social networking layer the company describes as “private blogging.” The app is free and available on the web, Android, and iOS, with a native desktop version in development.
TK is built around daily journal-style notes and longer-form writing, with a minimalist interface. Users can share individual pieces via links or email, similar to sharing a Google Doc, and collaborators can write, comment, and leave emoji reactions. The app’s central social feature is called Libraries — topic-focused private groups where members contribute writing visible only to other members. Use cases in early testing have included book projects, recipe sharing, and poetry drafts.
An AI component is built into the app. Typing the letters “TK” — a placeholder notation common among writers — summons a language model that can fill in information, search through a user’s notes, or provide feedback on writing. Medium CEO Tony Stubblebine described the approach as using large language models to handle the “grunt work” of creating and managing notes.
Stubblebine cited declining search traffic as a key reason behind TK’s development. Medium, like many websites, relies heavily on Google for traffic — a dependency he called an existential risk as AI tools and search engines send less referral traffic to the open web. TK is designed to operate independently of that traffic. “The generic web is getting dumber and dumber,” Stubblebine said, arguing that human-generated content may hold more value outside the reach of search algorithms.
Medium has not charged for ad-supported content since 2017, when then-CEO Ev Williams shifted the platform to a subscription model. Stubblebine said features similar to TK’s Libraries concept are planned for the broader Medium platform. He also suggested potential monetization paths, including charging users or AI agents for access to curated content collections.
Source: The Verge