By the way, maybe others don't know but I think old.reddit.com is a way better clean browsing experience than the new crap.
Ask HN: Why is Reddit on mobile so obsessed with making me use their app?
521–530 of 657 posts
Re: Ask HN: Why is Reddit on mobile so obsessed with making me use their app?
#522It 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…
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/
RedReader is ok but a bit basic
"Slide for Reddit" is also open source and has a lot more features
Re: Ask HN: Why is Reddit on mobile so obsessed with making me use their app?
#523Re: Ask HN: Why is Reddit on mobile so obsessed with making me use their app?
#524Data mining. Get permissions to various parts of your phone and now they know your location, contacts, photos, etc. You think they're making big money off of Reddit Gold?
I usually assume this of every brand that pushes their native app(s) while intentionally degrading their web offering.
Twitter's (great) PWA is a notable exception.
Re: Ask HN: Why is Reddit on mobile so obsessed with making me use their app?
#525Earlier quoted context omitted.
14. "The Haunted House" is not an ad as far as I can see. It does have an upvote button. 15. is a job posting by a YC company. Perhaps you could classify it as an ad, but I see it as a perk that YC grants its own companies.
Right, I included the Haunted House entry (a regular story) for contrast. The job posting is certainly "sponsored content", a privileged post put there at the behest of a third party, which blends in fairly well with neighboring posts yet isn't subject to the normal rules. I don't know if money actually changes hands to put it there (maybe each YC company is granted a posting there, or maybe they have to pay for it),…
>Right, I included the Haunted House entry (a regular story) for contrast.
Ah, sorry, I misread what you said.
Re: Ask HN: Why is Reddit on mobile so obsessed with making me use their app?
#526Web browsing these days really feels like wandering through a market filled with panhandlers and pickpockets—you're just trying to look around, and everyone's up in your face demanding stuff in the most obnoxious way possible.
As a web designer/developer, this approach offends me. At the risk of sounding like I'm taking this more seriously than I should, I believe that good design is founded on respecting ones' users. Reddit throwing what's essentially an ad in my face every time I try to use their site is bad design because it is disrespectful to me, the user.
Maybe their app is a better experience; there are more respectful ways of highlighting it. As immature as this sounds, not using the app is almost a matter of principle for me at this point, because I don't believe in rewarding disrespectful design.
Re: Ask HN: Why is Reddit on mobile so obsessed with making me use their app?
#527If you must use Reddit, use Alien Blue.
Re: Ask HN: Why is Reddit on mobile so obsessed with making me use their app?
#528Earlier 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.
I hope they don't do it. If this happens I probably won't Reddit anymore. Apollo is not only the best Reddit client I've ever used, but is actually the most well-crafted iOS app I ever had the pleasure to use.
I keep thinking Reddit just needs to buy Apollo already. But there's no way they could do that and not ruin the the app within 6 months.
Re: Ask HN: Why is Reddit on mobile so obsessed with making me use their app?
#529Reddit is still better than some other websites (Yelp being the biggest perpetrator), that open up the Play store link for their app when you click on links. Annoying and rude.
Re: Ask HN: Why is Reddit on mobile so obsessed with making me use their app?
#530Web browsing these days really feels like wandering through a market filled with panhandlers and pickpockets—you're just trying to look around, and everyone's up in your face demanding stuff in the most obnoxious way possible. As a web designer/developer, this approach offends me. At the risk of sounding like I'm taking this more seriously than I should, I believe that good design is founded on respecting ones' users…
This is extremely interesting. Could the webbrowser of the future be the one which sways the nagging boxes away, and lets you access actual content? How would we reach that? (or, as more probable: this is the end of the webbrowser, it will die of a million cuts, and all smart TVs are on specific apps, all mobiles run on apps, and the one simple-to-use website that will remain forever will be... HackerNews).
Edit: And the only way to sway those nagging boxes away is to have a code of conduct, which is how appstores can impose a no-nagging experience.