Introduction to channels

Channels organize conversations based on who needs to see them. For example, it’s common to have a channel for each team in an organization. Because Zulip further organizes messages into conversations labeled with topics, there is generally no need to create dedicated channels for specific projects.

Browse and subscribe to channels

Everyone other than guests can subscribe to any public or web-public channel. Channel administrators can configure who can subscribe to private channels.

Desktop/Web

1. Click on the gear () icon in the upper right corner of the web or desktop app.
2. Select Channel settings.
3. Click Available in the upper left.
4. Scroll through the list of channels. You can use the search box near the top of the menu to filter the list by channel name or description.
5. Click the subscribe to channel () icon to the left of a channel to subscribe to it.

Tip: You can click on the icons in the upper right to sort the list of channels by name (), by number of subscribers (), or by estimated weekly traffic ().

Mobile

1. Tap the Channels () tab at the bottom of the app.
2. Scroll to the bottom of the list of subscribed channels.
3. Tap All Channels.
4. Scroll through the list of channels.
5. Use the toggle to the right of the channel name to subscribe to it.

Related articles

• Introduction to topics
• Create channels
• Channel permissions
• View channel information