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

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

#461

Post by a_e_k »

kibwen wrote: post #437
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…

There's an option in your reddit settings to force them to serve you the old design rather than the redesign, which is remembered for future sessions. The old design isn't "mobile friendly", i.e. it requires a bunch of zooming in and out, but other than that it's completely functional, unlike the redesign which simply doesn't even work on mobile.

The old mobile design is still there. You can add .compact to the end of any Reddit URL to get it.

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

#463

Post by esperent »

digitalengineer wrote: post #459
toxican wrote: post #372

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't know why anyone would bother with the first party app when there are a bunch of really nice 3rd party ones with all sorts of additional features. All the one's I've used have been free with premium versions that only cost a few bucks. Which of course leaves me wondering how long it is before reddit pulls the plug on their API and forces people to use the busted mobile site or their app.

Link for the lazy: https://apolloapp.io/

Slide is a good Android alternative

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=me.ccrama.redd...

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

#464

Post by maxk42 »

boring_twenties wrote: post #414
macNchz wrote: post #233

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Those kind of “nagifications” are among my biggest pet peeves on the modern internet. Almost every social platform these days abuses the notifications icon to show you a bunch of not-actually-a-notification garbage to boost your engagement. LinkedIn is especially egregious in this regard.

Someone actually installed a LinkedIn mobile app? May I ask why?

LinkedIn actually disables some features, including certain types of messaging on their mobile site when not accessing it via the mobile app.

Infuriating.

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

#466

Post by buo »

searchableguy wrote: post #40

Use an RSS reader. You will like the lack of feeling of being forced to comment on things you don't care much about in retrospection. No tracking or ads, only content. You can filter shady sites or posts from appearing. Here are some readers. 0] https://github.com/GetStream/Winds 1] https://github.com/FreshRSS/FreshRSS 2] https://github.com/feedbin/feedbin 3] https://github.com/yang991178/fluent-reader If you like so…

For people who like text-based programs, I'd recommend newsboat: https://newsboat.org/

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

#467

Post by gitpusher »

It's because they follow the doctrine of "mobile app as a walled garden". Presumably you will engage more over time if you're using the app (because you can't leave it as easily.)

I'm not sure how effective it is. But it's dogmatic for this generation of product designers.

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

#468

Post by uniqueid »

whywhywhywhy wrote: post #100
veqz wrote: post #62

Yeah, it's annoying. I've also seen them block entire subreddits for mobile. E.g. this is what I see on my Android phone when trying to read r/Europe: https://veqz.net/reddit_block_europe.jpg («This community is available in the app»). My two go-to solutions are: 1. Use old.reddit.com/ 2. Stop using reddit

Employees of Reddit must have a very low opinion of their users if they think they're going to fall for "This community is available in the app".

Around every twentieth post on the front page of Reddit is a video of someone being punched, kicked, stabbed, or shot. If there are Reddit employees who hold a high opinion of Reddit's users, they should raise their standards.

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

#469

Post by eirini1 »

KKKKkkkk1 wrote: post #405
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…

MIT economists Acemoglu and Robinson wrote a book "Why Nations Fail" that analyzes why countries at similar starting points can have extremely divergent paths in terms of economic development. One example is South and North Korea. Their conclusion is that some countries have established extractive institutions, while others inclusive . The extractive ones exclude the population from the decision making process and se…

Is this a real book someone wrote? Incredible to me how you can call yourself an economist and just write basic observations and conclude they are the root cause of everything without even taking a cursory look at the history of things.
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