Every time it comes up, I am reminded that I delted the Reddit app and why. It was a tremendous time suck, with basically zero return on my time invested. (As opposed to HN of course which is an everlasting fount of wisdom...)
Ask HN: Why is Reddit on mobile so obsessed with making me use their app?
341–350 of 657 posts
Re: Ask HN: Why is Reddit on mobile so obsessed with making me use their app?
#342It has gotten really obnoxious, especially if you aren’t signed in. Apart from the multiple pop ups that require dismissal on each page load, there are also dialogs that can’t be dismissed or bypassed on content marked sensitive/NSFW that only let you see the post if you use the app. With the hostile design choices and ever more draconian censorship, I’m hoping one of these Reddit alternatives like Ruqqus gain enough traction to recreate the old days of Digg/Reddit: https://www.reddit.com/r/RedditAlternatives/comments/hi97fz/...
Re: Ask HN: Why is Reddit on mobile so obsessed with making me use their app?
#343Earlier quoted context omitted.
> retention more than monetization FWIW, retention is monetization.
I don’t see how. Can you explain how a company makes revenue purely by retaining users? I think they still need a monetization scheme separately. [edited for clarity]
In the context of Reddit, it's only a no-ad website if you're running adblock.
Re: Ask HN: Why is Reddit on mobile so obsessed with making me use their app?
#344Earlier quoted context omitted.
Instead of direct monetization, they probably measure by engagement. If a service has a permanent presence on your device, you get a LOT more engagement and recurring visits than a web version. Websites on mobile are one-time, visit-and-forget/move on things. I'd love to be proven wrong though; what websites see daily, recurring, long time active usage? Also not to be underestimated is that a mobile app will always h…
Exactly this. To give you a datapoint from our properties: Our web site attracts 90% of the users, but only 60% of the actual traffic. In all metrics like retention, frequency and time on site, mobile leads by factors of 2-5. Part of that is definitely self-selection, but as some people already said, other notable effects are push notifications, mindshare, loss aversion (you're on somebody's device already, so they c…
Sadly the grave accent is breaking your link ;)
Re: Ask HN: Why is Reddit on mobile so obsessed with making me use their app?
#345I’ve given up on reddit on mobile. From time to time I drop in on it using Safari on the desktop, but it’s not worth it to me to deal with their engagement-ification in their mobile app, or obvious crippleware of their mobile web experience. I’m not pissed off about this: It’s like dropping in on a bar I used to enjoy a decade ago, to find out it has been redesigned a few times and everyone’s a new face. Sometimes, t…
Try i.reddit.com
Re: Ask HN: Why is Reddit on mobile so obsessed with making me use their app?
#346To everything others have said, I'll add this:
It's probably not that they "care so much", it's that they simply don't care. The random people who occasionally navigate to a Reddit thread from a web search, but otherwise don't engage with Reddit in any consistent way, are basically just white noise to them. It's a demographic that represents such as small and unreliable source of revenue that it's just not worth thinking much about from a business perspective.
One certainly wouldn't want to risk reducing the conversion rate among people whose attention is easier to capture, just to mildly appease the never-downloaders.
Re: Ask HN: Why is Reddit on mobile so obsessed with making me use their app?
#347Earlier quoted context omitted.
Not on iOS! PWAs can't send push notifications on that platform, ever.
Fortunately Apple can't prevent PWAs from telling users that Apple is the reason they can't have good things. I'm disappointed however in Apple also blocking PWA's from the App Store.
Despite what many might think, everything doesn’t need to be an “app,” PWA or otherwise. Reddit is literally a message board, one of the earliest types of website. It doesn’t need my location — ever. Email works just fine as a notification, if I want it as a “push” notification, I could VIP-enable the notification email address in Mail. Does Reddit need my accelerometer? Or direct access to my camera or microphone? Or address book? Or graphics APIs like Metal?
Nope. It’s just a message board. Sell contextual ads for the different subreddits, don’t bother tracking people, and be done with it. Of course that would likely require a significantly smaller workforce.
Re: Ask HN: Why is Reddit on mobile so obsessed with making me use their app?
#348alert('test')
Re: Ask HN: Why is Reddit on mobile so obsessed with making me use their app?
#349test
Re: Ask HN: Why is Reddit on mobile so obsessed with making me use their app?
#350hello world