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Tell HN: Reddit started asking logged-in users to use the app

85 points by agluszak ↗ HN
The "new" Reddit mobile web interface got worse (again). I'm logged in and now every time I open the webpage I'm asked if I want to "continue in browser" or "open in app (recommended)". I don't have the app installed and I don't want such dark patterns force me to install it. Previously that happened only to unregistered users.

86 comments

[ 3.0 ms ] story [ 122 ms ] thread
thanatos519
I don't have that problem on https://i.reddit.com/
pier25
It's amazing that this old and ugly app feels better than the React SPA monstrosity they have as the official mobile site.
nicbou
In 1984 (bear with me), the protagonist has a feeling that things were better before, but can't tell for sure because the past was erased. He stumbles upon artefacts that were not destroyed, and that confirms he's not mad.

I have this vague feeling that the web got worse, but it's hard to tell just how much worse. I rediscovered i.reddit.com this month, and it's one of those artefacts.

Compare this to old.reddit.com, then to reddit.com, then to reddit.com without an ad blocker. Multiply that by the entire internet, and the loss is staggering.

robswc
I think its true. I know its cliche to miss the “good old days” but I think you’re spot on. I would only suggest a bit of de-clutter and padding to i Reddit but other than that, its perfect for functionality.
quickthrower2
Always has! Well for a few years anyway
agluszak
For logged in users? I started having this problem now. For not logged in - yup, it's been there since the redesign
M2Ys4U
Yeah, I've had this (very annoying) prompt when logged in for a long time now
agluszak
But there was an option to disable them
more_corn
Until yesterday there was a setting to disable the mobile app nag.
quickthrower2
Alas I didn’t know that. Why they didn’t go for the more obvious “don’t ask again” on the nag I don’t know.
alpentmil
for android use RedReader - opensource - lightweight (in PlayStore)
napolux
for iOS Apollo is the answer.
criticas
I love Apollo, but it's not a complete answer. If you attempt to visit an 18+ reddit on mobile, it will redirect you to either HOME or Reddit's official client. Not the "iOS App you've selected for Reddit", the official Reddit App.
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ThePowerOfFuet
You have it misconfigured; check the NSFW option in reddit web's preferences.
mynameisvlad
That’s on Reddit. They just don’t acknowledge other apps exist.
greazy
Very frustrating they removed the setting to turn off that annoying notification.

But I'm not surprised. Reddit is trash

rchaud
No different from any other social media site that needs to track logged-in users to show them ads.

Reddit is great, the business model around it is trash.

iwillbenice
> Reddit is great

By what standard? Every non-technology subreddit (and a few tech ones) have turned into absolute echo-chamber dumpster fires. There is absolutely no conversation occurring in those echo-chambers. The level of control and removal of dissenting opinions is ridiculous. Just look at any thread and note all the [REMOVED] posts.

rchaud
By the standard of entertainment value.

Reddit is a big site with a diverse age distribution and an Eternal September cycle of user churn.

I have no interest in YouTuber drama, or discussing the finer points of communism v fascism because I've already gone through that phase of my life (freshman year). Maybe that's why I don't see all the [removed] comments; I'm just not on those boards.

iwillbenice
I'm not sure what you mean by "those boards", but the mass redaction and removal of comments is a site-wide thing at this point. It isn't unique to a certain type of community, demographic, or interest.
rchaud
It absolutely is not. Maybe on a thread about The Little Mermaid and whatever other culture war nonsense topic grown adults bicker about, but I don't see anything like that on r/webdev, r/android, r/buttcoin or other popular subs.
iwillbenice
I'm not purposely trying to be adversarial with you, but you listed 3 technology subreddits as examples, when my original comment was referencing non-technology subreddits.

To the point of bickering - that's human nature. I expect humans to argue over the shade of blue, sneakers of the month, or whatever. What I don't expect humans to do is regress mentally to some child-like viewpoint of erasing and censoring any opposing viewpoints.

Reddit is radically different than it was 10 years, and not in a healthy, engaging way. Browse some non-technology subreddits and you will quickly spot the echo-chamber effect and group think in action.

corgihamlet
I would have said (amateur) porn, but fetish-specific subreddits are now rampant with girls promoting their OnlyFans with the same post repeating over and over again. Nothing like the wild days of /r/gonewild.
muzani
this sort of reminds me of back when random web tools and games used to be free because it was fun, but now everyone thinks it should be a side hustle
rjh29
'Every' is a bit of an overstatement. I subscribe to about 100 subs and they are all non-political and not echo chambers at all. I mostly stick to subs with <300k users and many of them only allow text-based posts and promote balanced discussions. It all depends on who is moderating.

If I feel like a sub is starting to turn bad I just leave. There are hundreds of new interesting subs being created every week. THERE is where the value is.

99% of everything is crap - that truth holds everywhere - you just have to find the 1% that's worth it. For that 1%, there really isn't any other site with that level of discussion and community. For sure some Discords offer it, but I much prefer the forum format.

Here are some examples that I like personally. You should of course find your own.

https://www.reddit.com/r/howdidtheycodeit/ - people ask how stuff in games was coded

https://www.reddit.com/r/ArchitecturalRevival/ - photos of horrible modern buildings being replaced with beautiful older-style ones

https://www.reddit.com/r/etymologymaps/ - maps showing how languages evolve

https://www.reddit.com/r/whatisthisthing/ - people asking what random items are

https://www.reddit.com/r/ATBGE/ - things that are ugly but show incredible technical or artistic skill

https://www.reddit.com/r/OutOfTheLoop/ - people asking about memes/happenings that you might have missed, and providing excellent summaries

+ your niche subs for your local area / favourite TV show / musical instrument / sport etc, although some can be a bit too 'echo chambery' if too large.

Shikadi
Thank you for these, I just subscribed to most of them
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jasec57322
For many searches I use site:reddit.com, because Google's results have declined massively since the easy-days of 2015; Reddit has a large userbase and I can find what I'm looking for most of the time much quicker by appending site:reddit.com than wasting my time with the sponsored-blogs on Google.

If anybody knows of any better forum/site for this, I'd like to know. (Currently I use Google/DuckDuckGO, Wikipedia, Reddit & hackernews, libgen/z-lib, some torrent sites, and some niche wikis & forums to find what I'm looking for).

kikokikokiko
For torrents and streams in general, Yandex works really well. Google censors everything about this subjects, it's one of the easiest way to open the eyes of your friends that still believe in impartial search engines.
RockRobotRock
As if HN isn't a gigantic echo chamber filled with a very similar demographic of people to Reddit? Just like any social media site, there is a lot of good and a lot of bad.
StanislavPetrov
The big difference is that HN has a competent, paid moderator that moderates almost entirely according to a set straightforward, transparent rules. Reddit is "moderated" by a collection of volunteers who moderate according to vague, arbitrary "standards" that largely hinge on the cultural and political beliefs of the moderator and on astroturfers trying to control narratives.
robswc
The quality of discussions on hacker news is much better. I feel people here at least try to make an effort and BS typically gets called out. It’s not perfect but there’s a reason I much prefer HN.
bhargav
What you’re saying is not unique to Reddit. It’s very prevalent here in this site as well.

I also disagree. There are a lot of subs I go to which I enjoy a lot.

[dead] BrotherBisquick
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throwayyy479087
Did a little digging on self identified moderators in a r/modsupport thread. The vast majority were mtf trans. Pretty odd pattern, and very specific to Reddit.
lupire
Trans people are especially attracted to online life since they face stigmatization in meatspace.
kikokikokiko
Being attracted to online life applies to almost every millenial and up human. What attracts specifically men that like to wear dresses to role playing as online dictators is the question here.
sam0x17
It's done this for like 5 years AFAIK, at least for me
ridgered4
Me as well. It has steadily gotten more aggressive though, recently becoming so bad I finally switched to using teddit.
smileysteve
It had a setting to turn this off until this week.
more_corn
Great reason for everyone to delete their accounts and bam Reddit from your home network.
marcusverus
How would you go about banning a site on your home network? Pi-hole?
sam0x17
It's never really bothered me. I can't imagine being in a situation where it would make sense to consume reddit or HN or anything like that on my phone. The few times I have I noticed this prompt and it's annoying but easily dismissible.
hallway_monitor
I gave up and installed the app. Still holding out on Facebook even though the web version on mobile is pretty bad.
luuuzeta
>I gave up and installed the app.

If you've to use an app, then go for a third-party app such as RedReader, Dawn for Reddit, Relay, etc.

1_1xdev
Even if you have the app installed, the link to open in app just opens the app store. What a dumpster fire of a mobile web experience.
danielfoster
I had this issue for the longest time and was very frustrated. I learned you can hold the link and then click "Open in Reddit" in Safari to get around this.
perryizgr8
This works fine in android. You can associate your favorite app with the reddit links. There is surprising depth in the settings regarding this feature.
1_1xdev
Thanks, reddit team, for fixing this. Both the new OPEN button anchored to the top, and the new bottom sheet work as desired now.

My comment above was about a previous version of the "open in app" bottom sheet from a previous version of the mobile website.

Both mobile safari on iOS.

luuuzeta
Aside from niche subs or subs that aren't easily politicized due to their nature, Reddit is trash.

https://teddit.net/ is a must if you want to browse Reddit on mobile. Also https://old.reddit.com/ although it doesn't work as well on mobile.

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gorgabal
I never figured out how to login on teddit. Do you need to host your own instance or something?
MisterSandman
Pretty sure you just don't login, it's not near to be a full replacement, just a way to access Reddit posts and discussions.
nluken
I always laugh when I see the huge "USE NEW REDDIT" header when I'm not logged into old reddit. I will stop using reddit if they ever force me onto the new interface.
Brendinooo
Apollo is an excellent iOS app.
ilrwbwrkhv
And Reddit is fun is an excellent Android app. The next button being in the same place as you navigate comments is essential.
dartharva
Use third party FOSS Reddit apps that don't have original Reddit's garbage gimmicks - Boost, Infinity, Dawn, RedReader, Slide, Diode, Stealth, etc.
shostack
What's the favored Android client? Any good comparisons?
jbaber
I really like "Now for reddit"
dartharva
Boost is my personal favorite, but you'll have to pay to remove ads if you're averse to bootleg cracked apks. Infinity is FOSS and has a modern Material You design, it's great as well.
hacym
I’ve had this pop up for like a year.
sidcool
Reddit has been trying to make me login and install app since years. Everytime it asks more than once, I close the webpage. It's helping my Reddit addiction and I have been avoiding it for years now.
_tom_
How much more money is an app user worth, compared to a web user?

It must be substantial, as sites like yelp are actually unusable on mobile web, as they constantly try to install the app.

It seems like it's better to lose a customer than to have them on web.

jasec57322
Installed apps have lots more stable monetisation options (e.g: getting paid to load an sdk which runs a proxy), and not to mention they can more easily scoop-up alot more data.

Most of the claims companies like Reddit make about security/anti-spam benefits is simply not true. Once you require user to create an account/login it makes no real difference. Everything you need for the frontend can be done with JS, HTML & CSS, and the apps themselves on ios/android are nearly-always just that.

As for losing customers, I need to use Reddit to make Google effective - and Reddit knows this. They have a massive amount of power to force mobile users to use an app if they wish to. Given it comes with massive revenue-potential, why wouldn't they?

squeaky-clean
It's also much more difficult to get an adblocker working to block apps. I'd bet the majority of Reddit's users have an adblocker extension installed on their browser, but a very small percentage have system-wide or network-wide adblockers.
spinlock
Being on the homescreen increases DAU/MAU by about 50%.

Push notifications increase DAU/MAU by multiples.

Those are the killer features for social media.

I'd also assume that the walled garden of the app store cuts down on a lot of bots/other shenanigans going on.

more_corn
Just delete your account and add them to your pihole blacklist. Your life will improve dramatically.
dewey
I have had that for a year at least. The only way to use Reddit for me is Apollo on iOS.
themadturk
Most of my Redditing is on Narwhal on iOS. Never could learn to enjoy Apollo.
nikau
Just install a reddit app. Redditisfun is great for android, and only a few bucks to get lifetime ad free.
wyldfire
I use old reddit but I could not bear the loud ads on mobile. Someone on HN mentioned i.reddit.com and I've been using it since. Reddit is bearable again.
deanmoriarty
Genuinely curious: what’s the problem with installing the app? I generally get good value out of Reddit, so didn’t mind installing the app and it works ok, have been using it for years and I find the push notifications (with the phone permanently in do not disturb) useful as well.
dougmwne
Because it works perfectly fine in the browser? Because I don’t want all the notifications and OS integration an app brings for a simple website? Because I know they are using the app to further track me and steal more of my time? Because I choose not to.
nullfield
Because their app is and isn’t Apollo. They bought out a prior app which was okay, crippled it, and made it ugly and invasive.
nicbou
I don't use the app. The mobile website is bad enough to limit my sessions to a few minutes. I no longer reply unless I'm on desktop.

Less engagement means fewer notifications, and thus fewer reasons to return.

hulitu
> Tell HN: Reddit started asking logged-in users to use the app

So does Qatar. The future is now.

dekatron
Reddit's infuriating mobile website made me switch from Android Chrome to Kiwi Browser, because it lets me use the Old Reddit Redirect extension [1] to redirect all Reddit links to old.reddit.com links.

While old Reddit is not a great interface for browsing on mobile, it lets me get the information I'm looking for quickly (usually when following a Reddit link from a Google search).

[1] https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/old-reddit-redirec...