🎥 September release: Video improvements, visual email builder, and more

Video is one of the most powerful ways to connect with your community. From sharing quick walkthroughs to recorded live workshops, video makes communities more engaging and fun.

This month, we’re taking a big step forward with video features on Circle by introducing an improved video player, customization, and analytics. With these improvements, Circle can become an even stronger home for your most impactful content.

Let’s take a look at what’s new.

New video features

We’ve built a new foundation for video on Circle, starting with a redesigned player and a set of features you’ve been asking for:

Redesigned video player
We’re introducing a redesigned player with a modern look, support for preview thumbnails, and more flexibility for customization down the road.

Video customization
A new Edit video modal gives you full control over each video. You can update thumbnails, manage transcripts, and set download permissions right from your Media Manager or directly on the player.

Learn more about video customization →

Chapters and timestamps
Longer sessions, workshops, and trainings just got easier to navigate. Add chapters to your videos so members can jump right to the part they need.

Learn more about chapters and timestamps →

Video analytics
Creating great video matters, but knowing how your members engage with it is just as important.

Learn more about video analytics →

With video analytics, you can now see:

• Total views: See how often your content has been watched.
• Unique views: Understand the reach of each video across your community.
• Average progression: Track how far members typically get through your content.
• Completion rate: Know what percentage of viewers finish all the way to the end.

These insights help you know what’s working, what’s engaging, and where to focus your energy next.

• Running a course? See which lessons drive the most completion.
• Hosting events? Spot which recordings members go back to again and again.
• Publishing announcements? Measure reach and impact, not just output.

And this is just the beginning. With an ambitious video roadmap ahead, we’re making Circle the best place to create, share, and grow with video inside your community.

Stronger download protection
We’ve tightened backend safeguards to keep your videos secure. Download URLs are protected, and every video is transcoded for smooth, secure playback.

An update on video storage

With these video upgrades, we’re doubling the included storage for existing Professional and Business plan customers to be more generous.

• Professional plan now includes 200GB (up from 100GB)
• Business plan now includes 500GB (up from 250GB)

We’re also simplifying how storage is measured. Instead of tracking both file storage and live recording hours separately, everything now rolls up into one clear number: your total storage.

Managing your storage is easier than ever with the Media Manager. It’s your central hub for all uploaded files, where you can track usage, browse media, and see alerts when you’re approaching plan limits.

To access the Media manager, navigate to the Content tab in the admin area.

Scale video as you grow

Many of you have told us you wanted more flexibility to add storage without the need to upgrade your entire plan.

Starting today, we’ve provided new storage add-ons that put you in control so that you can purchase exactly what you need. Whether that’s an extra 50GB or multiple terabytes, you can scale your video library at your own pace.

What happens if you’re over the included storage limit on your plan?

With more generous storage limits now included, most communities will be well within their new thresholds. If that’s you, nothing changes — you simply get more space included in your existing plan.

If you are currently over your included storage, you have two options before November 15:

• Reduce your usage via the Media Manager to bring yourself back within your plan’s limit.

• Keep your full library and purchase any extra storage you need:

• 50GB = $10/month

• 100GB = $18/month

• 200GB = $30/month

• 500GB = $60/month

• 1TB = $100/month

• 2TB = $150/month

To check how much storage you’re currently using, go to Content → Media.

This structure gives you full control, with simple pricing tiers that are predictable and never surprise you.

Learn more about your storage limits

Visual email builder

Email Hub is getting a major upgrade. We’re introducing a brand new visual email builder for when you need something more polished, structured, and marketing-ready.

Launching for all customers by mid-October, the new email builder will include the ability to:

• Drag and drop blocks and elements to design beautiful emails without code.
• Choose from templates designed for newsletters, events, launches, announcements, and more.
• Fine-tune layouts, colors, and styles for a professional look that fits your brand.
• Preview your email on desktop and mobile to make sure it looks great everywhere.

This builder is powered by the same foundation as our new Website Builder, so the experience will feel familiar and consistent. The drag-and-drop tools, blocks, and styling options you already know now extend to email — making it faster and easier to design across your community without having to learn something new.

It’s another step toward making Circle feel seamless across every touchpoint, whether you’re publishing a page, sending a broadcast, or launching a campaign.

And if you just need to send something simple, the text editor is still available. You get the flexibility to choose the right editor for the type of email you’re sending.

To access, navigate to Marketing → Broadcasts → New broadcast and select the visual email builder when prompted.

Availability: Rollout begins mid-October.

Other updates

Paywalls:

• Countdown timers at checkout: Add urgency to purchases with a timer that can be set for a duration or a specific date. Configure what happens when it expires, like redirecting to another page.
• Filtering and sorting improvements: New admin tools let you quickly find and organize paywalls by currency, trial period, subscription or access groups, and more. Sorting by status and creation date makes large communities easier to manage.
• Price callouts: Add helpful context or highlight a recommended plan directly in your checkout, so members clearly see the value of each option.
• Reduced price: Highlight promotions with a visible strikethrough price to create urgency, boost conversions, and run limited-time offers without the hassle of coupons. (Available for all communities week of 10/13)
• Coupon styling updates: When a coupon is applied, all prices in the list update to show the discounted amount, giving members clear price transparency and confidence their coupon is active.
• Support for Saudi riyal (SAR), Chinese Yuan (CNY), and Hong Kong Dollar (HKD): Communities can now price and sell in SAR, CNY and HKD

Website Builder:

• Rich text editing: Style your content inline with bold, italics, underline, and (soon) links. Editing text is now more flexible and modern.
• Custom layout blocks: Section, Container, Stack, and Grid blocks unlock new ways to design from scratch, giving you much more control over structure, spacing, and responsive layouts.

Workflows

• 6 new templates: We’ve added new options like renaming post titles, recapping course lessons, and sending a DM after a failed quiz. These are designed to quickly get you started using AI Actions in workflows.
• Smarter defaults: Templates now come pre-configured with helpful settings, like pre-selected AI Agents and auto-filled fields, so setup is faster and easier.

Conversations & content:

• Card view enhancement: Posts without a cover image will now automatically use the first image in the body, reducing blank cards and making browsing more visually engaging.
• Community search privacy update: When a community is public, member lists and profiles are now hidden from search results unless the viewer is logged in. This makes it easier to go public while protecting member privacy.
• Notification performance improvements: Clicking notifications now loads content much faster, making navigation smoother for members.
• Address autocomplete: Members adding or updating their billing address now get smart suggestions, speeding up checkout and reducing errors.

iOS improvements

We also shipped a few improvements toCircle’s iOS app:

• Added My Courses in course directory filter
• Added Near me and Online member filters
• Support for course lesson video completion tracking
• Native profile editing to match our web experience
• Support for embedded video in course quizzes and quiz reviews
• Support for Search V2
• Native profile editing
• Support for custom lock pages
• Performance, reliability, and UI/UX improvements

Android improvements

Plus, here are some improvements onCircle’s Android andCircle Plus branded apps:

• Support for @ mentions
• Added My Courses in course directory filter
• Support for embedded video in course quizzes and quiz reviews
• Performance, reliability, and UI/UX improvements

🗺️ September challenge: Create your onboarding map

We’ve just launched a new Member Onboarding course in Circle Academy—and to celebrate, this month’s challenge is all about creating (or revisiting) your onboarding map. Whether you’re building from scratch or refining what you already have, this is your chance to visualize the full journey, share your approach, and inspire others.

By joining in, you’ll help build a library of real onboarding examples for the community, while also walking away with a clear, shareable asset to guide your own strategy.

Prizes for the winning submission:
💳 $100 gift card
🌟 50 leaderboard points
📰 A shoutout in the October Monthly Roundup
🧭 A featured spot in the Member Onboarding course

Enter the challenge