Ask HN: Why is Reddit on mobile so obsessed with making me use their app?

Post by justwalt » Wed, Aug 19, 2020, 3:55 PM UTC

tiziano88 wrote: post #299

yodon wrote: post #295

As a conversion optimization question, I suspect Reddit would get better conversion on their "do you want the mobile app" banner if they only showed it randomly about 10-15% of the time. By showing it every time, they cause viewers to remember their "why would I want that - I don't" decision from the previous time they saw the question. Reducing the frequency would likely result in more people considering the questio…

Please don't suggest them more ideas to make this even more annoying than it currently is :) (and yes, I would consider reducing the frequency of displaying it as an increase in annoyance, for exactly the reasons in the parent comment)

Post by robbyking » Wed, Aug 19, 2020, 3:58 PM UTC

jakevoytko wrote: post #10

Other people are saying "ads," but the story is probably more expansive. Mobile apps have better hooks for pulling people back into the app, like popup notifications. Reddit has natural lifecycle points where they can do this: when people respond to your comments or comment on your posts. They could also notify users of events like their yearly Secret Santa. I wouldn't be surprised if their engagement numbers were mu…

Post by comprev » Wed, Aug 19, 2020, 4:02 PM UTC

PlotCitizen wrote: post #380

ShorsHammer wrote: post #369

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I use Redreader on android. The experience is magnitudes better than the "real" app It's free and opensource, available on f-droid or if you are so inclined google playstore. https://f-droid.org/en/packages/org.quantumbadger.redreader/

In a similar vein, I use Apollo for iOS[1] and it's also magnitudes better. The official reddit app is starting to catch up, but it's designed with advertisers in mind, whereas you can use a different app and pay for ads to go away, or use the old, web version with a blocker. [1] https://apolloapp.io/

Post by kristopolous » Wed, Aug 19, 2020, 4:04 PM UTC

mywittyname wrote: post #390

kristopolous wrote: post #374

They're kinda going in the opposite direction of the industry. Properties that were app only at one point, such as nextdoor, robinhood, instagram and tinder, now have mobile and desktop interfaces that are almost nearly all there. It's a very 2013 era move

That's because they need to drive growth, and in established markets, desktop still represents like half of all web traffic. Venmo moved back to a mobile-preferred;crippled-desktop experience. So it is possible that most of these properties will pull a similar move. Especially IG and Tinder. Like with Venmo & Paypal, IG is the mobile-first version of Facebook, and Tinder doesn't make much sense as a desktop product,…

Post by minusSeven » Wed, Aug 19, 2020, 4:04 PM UTC

sixo wrote: post #331

It is pretty offensive that they say "reddit works better on the app" when the only reason for that is that they broke everything on mobile (on purpose?) in a series of badly-implemented redesigns. I'm never going to install it, and I have all but stopped reading it because these prompts are so obnoxious. That's probably +$ for Reddit though. I don't understand why companies constantly do stuff that serves only _them…