The desktop site version also became unimaginably slow. I didn't even know it's possible to make it so for something simple like the message board.
Ask HN: Why is Reddit on mobile so obsessed with making me use their app?
91–100 of 657 posts
Re: Ask HN: Why is Reddit on mobile so obsessed with making me use their app?
#92This is most likely to do with the ability to access your storage, and constantly feed you with notifications. Those little annoying reminders to visit the website and instill a fake fear of missing out on something.
If at all you wish to have a smoother experience and no notifications though, I suggest Relay for Reddit on Android.
Re: Ask HN: Why is Reddit on mobile so obsessed with making me use their app?
#93Reddit's obsession to constantly show me an "ad" to install the app has basically cured me from drifting and spending more time than strictly necessary on the website. I hate it so much that it triggers a negative experience everytime I visit the website and I just tend to watch links shared to me. Honestly, I thank them for that and I hope they don't remove it.
Their redesign combined with the incessant harassing app crap turned me from an hours-a-day-and-modding-some-decently-big-subs redditor to visiting for 15 minutes a couple times a week when on the dunny. Their entire site is so user hostile now it’s actually bordering on funny. They’ve become a parody of everything they set out to defeat.
Re: Ask HN: Why is Reddit on mobile so obsessed with making me use their app?
#94Earlier quoted context omitted.
I still use old.reddit.com. Such an improved experience, even on mobile where the format doesn’t fit. So maybe that’s why they want you in the app? They know their website is terrible?
Their website is fine, but no website works as nice on mobile as a native app does.
I'd argue even their old design is better than a native app.
Loads lightning fast, can load thousands of comments on a page without loading bars or context switch. Don't even care if I have to pan and zoom it still works better than the mobile app.
Starting to feel like the idea of a mobile app being a universally better experience is a software industry mass hallucination. A handful of things apps work way better, modern banking comes to mind but sites styled like reddit and HN are just better in a browser with desktop view and high information density.
Re: Ask HN: Why is Reddit on mobile so obsessed with making me use their app?
#95I worked on user tracking all my life. You can track user activities, interest etc, much better on an app. This data is valuable for in-house use and to sell it to the highest bidder.
Do you think tracking outside the app is done?
Meaning collecting data even if the app is not opened? I would suspect so.
Re: Ask HN: Why is Reddit on mobile so obsessed with making me use their app?
#96Another thing about reddit is that it is one of the only site that reloads everything when I hit the back button instead of using the cache (I'm using Firefox). Do they do this to be able to claim that they get more users then they are actually getting? It's been like this for years, not sure when it started.
Re: Ask HN: Why is Reddit on mobile so obsessed with making me use their app?
#97Ads (you can't block them in app) and notifications (you can block them, but not that easy, especially on Android).
Why isn't it easy on Android? If you long press on any notification it gives you the option to turn off all notifications from that app...
But most users do not know that.
Re: Ask HN: Why is Reddit on mobile so obsessed with making me use their app?
#98Reddit's obsession to constantly show me an "ad" to install the app has basically cured me from drifting and spending more time than strictly necessary on the website. I hate it so much that it triggers a negative experience everytime I visit the website and I just tend to watch links shared to me. Honestly, I thank them for that and I hope they don't remove it.
I felt the same. I've tried to quit reddit several times without success but since these changes the constant annoyances were just too much that I completely stopped using the site.
Re: Ask HN: Why is Reddit on mobile so obsessed with making me use their app?
#99This doesn't answer the question, but with Firefox on Android + uBlock, just block the element from being displayed with the element zapper.
Re: Ask HN: Why is Reddit on mobile so obsessed with making me use their app?
#100Yeah, 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".