Release Notes 2026

Sprout Social's release notes are a great way to keep up-to-date and make the most out of new feature functionality released in the Sprout platform.

Get a breakdown of new features and updates below. Each section gives you a quick sneak peek of the update and what it can bring to your social team. You can review 2025 Release Notes here. 

Releases this year

• May 18 - Improved Onboarding
• April 6 - Allows Readers to Self Enroll in Teams
• January 29 - Guardian Blocked Words in Employee Advocacy
• January 20 - SSO Exception Allowlist
• January 12 - Increased Control Over Topic Following Status

May 18, 2026

Enhanced Onboarding for Advocacy Users!

We've introduced a brand new, guided, multi-step onboarding experience to help every new Advocacy user get started right away!

What's new?

Upon first login (via invite, SSO, or domain sign-up), users will now be guided through a personalized experience that ensures their "Stories" feed is immediately relevant and they are set up to share.

The streamlined flow includes:

• Welcome & Overview: A branded introduction explaining the content users are about to see.
• Team Selection: Users can review and join teams to tailor their content feed.
• Topic Selection: Users can follow high-interest topics, guaranteeing their feed is populated with relevant stories.
• Profile Connection: A strong encouragement to connect social profiles, especially LinkedIn, to enable immediate content sharing.

This new experience is designed to increase user engagement and retention by focusing on the primary value, sharing content, right from the start. Learn more here!

April 6, 2026

Allows Readers to Self Enroll in Teams

Administrators can now give you the power to manage your own team enrollment! You can join or leave teams directly from your personal settings page, ensuring you always get the most relevant assignments and content. Learn more here. 

January 29, 2026

Guardian Blocked Words in Employee Advocacy

Amplify your brand reach with more security. . Admins can now proactively protect outgoing employee communication, to help ensure brand alignment and safety. This means  stronger trust and credibility for your customers at every touchpoint. Learn more here. Click here to learn more.

January 20, 2026

SSO Exception Allowlist: Provide Password Login for Select Users

Customers using Single Sign-On (SSO) now have greater flexibility with the new SSO Exception Allowlist. This feature allows you to designate specific users, like contractors or agency partners, to log in with a username and password while requiring all other users to log in via SSO. This addresses the challenge of an "all-or-nothing" SSO requirement, giving you more control over your login security and user access. Click Here to learn more. 

January 12, 2026

Increased Control Over Topic Following Status

Admins now have more control over how readers follow topics! When creating or editing a topic, you can choose one of three "Reader Access" settings to manage the default following status for your users:

• Required: All readers must follow the topic and cannot unfollow. (Note: You must always have at least one required topic.)
• Automatically Followed: All new readers follow the topic by default, but they can choose to unfollow. (This is the existing default behavior.)
• Optional: Readers do not follow the topic by default, but they can choose to follow it.

This update helps ensure readers are seeing the most relevant content and reduces noise from less relevant topics.