Did You Notice Clapping is (Once Again) Not Working on Medium?

This time it’s the web version rather than mobile

If you’ve been writing on Medium for a few years like I have, you’ve probably noticed something. The platform has had frequent, consistent problems capturing reader claps. This has often been a significant problem, because claps are one of the primary metrics we writers use to measure our engagement and impact, and because claps are reportedly critical for algorithmic distribution. The more claps your story gets (or so it’s said), the more eyes find your story.

For years, clapping from the Medium mobile app was hit or miss. Your claps might stick and they might not. Medium Support often assured us that all claps were captured, but we writers knew from direct personal observation that their assurances were not true.

Sometimes clap-capturing from mobile got better for a while, sometimes it got worse. For the past many months, it’s seemed better than usual.

But starting from as early as yesterday, I noticed that claps were, once again, not being captured. Only this time, mobile seems to be getting it right while Medium on full-browser Chrome (at least) is not capturing claps.