Background
Phase 1 of redesigning the Explore feed into a modern, 2-tab experience was completed on Android in May/June 2026 with T407990: Explore Feed Revamp 2025-2026. In Phase 2, the team will introduce new content sources into the feed: seeking more curation sources from the community, additional personalization, and engagement opportunities.
The Phase 1 release of the Explore Feed redesign yielded positive results: feature return rate improved, as well as overall app return rate. User adoption of the feed increased, and more users opted to personalize their feed than before. [Link to full results TBA]
The first step before building new modules will be to complete usability testing with several early concepts, to see which ones resonate most with users, and might inspire them to return to the app daily.
Hypothesis & Annual plan
Within the 26-27 Annual plan, Objective DE3.2 is focused on improving active reader retention: Increase 2nd-week logged-in reader retention on web by 0.5pp and 2nd-day user retention on apps by 1.5pp by the end of Q2.
- 1st Hypothesis: If we put at least 3 new content type concepts (such as trending by location, new articles, and creator videos) for the home feed in front of at least 5 active readers, we will be able to rank them by preference and identify which one is most likely to increase daily returns to the app.
- 2nd Hypothesis: If we introduce a new content type in home, we’ll see a 5% increase in Home Feed second day return.
Requirements
Overarching requirements
Modules in the feed should meet the following requirements:
- Update every day: Provide something new to look at each day drives daily retention
- Have transparent personalization: Give a clear signal for why it appears
- Signal freshness where relevant: timestamps, "trending", "new this week" language where appropriate
- Deliver value without leaving the feed.
- Support the full range of Wikipedia's languages as configured by the reader
- Be understandable on first exposure without onboarding
Modules/Home feed content should not:
- Summarize content using LLMs: all content comes from Wikipedia articles
- Function as a social feed with likes, comments, or follower counts
- Require account creation
- Feel unstructured or like a catch-all for unrelated features
User stories
See [User story] subtasks for individual requirements
- As a Wikipedia reader, I want to see new articles related to my interests surfaced in my For You feed, so that I have a reason to return to the app each day to discover what's new in the topics I care about.
- As a Wikipedia reader, I want to see surprising, topic-relevant Did You Know? facts surfaced in my For You feed, so that I have a reason to open the app each day and discover something unexpected about topics I care about.
- As a Wikipedia reader, I want to watch short creator videos related to Wikipedia topics in my Community feed, so that I can quickly learn about subjects I'm interested in without having to read a full article.
- As a Wikipedia reader, I want to see a map of what articles are trending by country, so that I can explore what people around the world are reading and drill into articles from a specific country.
How will we measure success
New articles A/B Test:
- KR 1: 5% increase in Home Feed second day return for treatment group vs control
- GR 1: No more than 2% of users hide a new article card
- CR 1: Did we see movement in overall app 2nd-day retention? (KR definition)
- CR 2: Did we see an increase in "For you" usage? Among users in the treatment group who returned to the app on a second day, is the rate of "For You" tab visits higher than among users in the control group who returned on day 2?
Creator videos A/B Test (En only)
- KR 1: X% increase in Home Feed second day return for treatment group vs control
- GR 1: No more than 2% of users hide a creator video card
- CR 1: Did we see movement in overall app 2nd-day retention?
- CR 2: Engagement: what share of uniques in the treatment group who had an impression of the module clicked into them? How many videos on average did users watch? How many users clicked through to the articles associated with the video?
Top read map A/B test:
- KR 1: X% increase in Home Feed second day return for treatment group vs control
- CR 1: Did we see movement in overall app 2nd-day retention?
- CR 2: Engagement: Among users in the treatment group, what share tapped a country on the map? What share navigated to an article?