29 ms·

Reddit is one of a few websites that I feel dedicated app works much better than browser, but I use 3rd party one(s).

cheeze 7y ago
Agree on both fronts. Reddit is way improved with an app, but the official app is trash. I prefer relay, but I know that there are many other quality apps out there that folks recommend. Feel free to comment with your favorite.
- J_cst 7y ago
  Boost (see my comment above)
isatty 7y ago
The old design works well on a browser (now old.reddit). I make it a point to never use the new social network themed reddit, or it’s chat (god, why?) or the default app due to the popup when you access reddit on a mobile browser. Apollo is much better anyhow (iOS only though iirc).
- adtac 7y ago
  On a desktop, auto redirecting to old.reddit.com, with all custom subreddit CSS disabled, chat turned off, RES enabled and uBlock Origin installed is the only usable way to browse Reddit. For a website that I spend ungodly amounts of time in, I hate that it's this way.
doubleunplussed 7y ago
Is there any app that can essentially open threads in a new tab like in a browser? This is the one thing keeping me in the mobile browser. Well, that and my girlfriends reddit app seems to fail to load GIFs a decent fraction of the time.
- nabakin 7y ago
  I'm not sure what you mean. So you can switch back and forth between threads with ease?
  - doubleunplussed 7y ago
    Yes, or more like, queue them up for reading later. That's how I use reddit: scroll through the front page or whatever subreddit, middle click everything of interest, then eventually get around to reading or closing said tabs.
- J_cst 7y ago
  I use boost for Android and I find it enjoyable and flawless. I have no business with boost, I'm just an happy user.
  - doubleunplussed 7y ago
    Doesn't have tabs :(
- deleted 7y ago
  [deleted]
bad_user 7y ago
I don't agree, for one b/c Reddit is a links aggregator and opening links works best in a full browser instead of a shitty in-app web view, plus it's the little things like ability to copy/paste or go back to a previous page, that are sometimes emulated in native apps, but never work well. But even if you think Reddit works better in a native app for you, that's by design. Reddit is making the web experience shitty on purpose, to drive users to their app.
- fireattack 7y ago
  You can simply configure web pages to open directly in browser. And a dedicated app is able to handle certain links better than native browsers, like RES on desktop. One example would be to directly open the image instead of Imgur page. Also if we're talking about Android, I don't feel webview is too much different from a native browser now; all the histories, auto-fills are shared with my main browser (Chrome). Of course, it is just my PERSONAL use case.
- deanclatworthy 7y ago
  There are many many hugely active communicates which are far more than link aggregators on reddit. Communities with 100s of 1000s or subscribers.
- RuleOfBirds 7y ago
  "Reddit is a links aggregator" feels pretty inaccurate. Some subreddits, especially the big and lowest common denominator ones may be mostly link sharing, but most of the ones I'm on are communities sharing questions, opinions, jokes, images, and stories.
  - tialaramex 7y ago
    Yup. Playing a difficult Minecraft pack the first stop is r/feedthebeast to look at other people's advice. Later I'd return with questions most of which will be FAQs. Example, last week I made Project Ozone 3's fluid container that has an infinite amount of any liquid you put inside it. First question I had was, how do I empty this to put something else in? Because if the answer is "You can't" I need to pick very carefully what to use it for. The trouble with the correct answer "Shift left click a Gauge Dropper in the UI" is that I thought I'd tried that. So did lots of people, but Reddit has a comment thread patiently walking us through each step and yup, it works.
thaumaturgy 7y ago
But that largely reflects management's decision to discourage mobile web use in favor of app usage. There's nothing intrinsic about Reddit that makes it worthy of a dedicated mobile app.
deanclatworthy 7y ago
I also use a third party app. AlienBlue is superb and more feature rich and user friendly than the official app. Let’s enjoy it while it lasts. I suspect one day the API will be monetised (forced to display ads inline in the feed) or paid for (pricing out third parties) or entirely removed.
- Lammy 7y ago
  AlienBlue is the official app, just frozen in time in 2014.
retube 7y ago
pretty sure a legacy interface that is gonna get killed at some point, but https://www.reddit.com/.compact https://www.reddit.com/.compact is absolutely the best view on mobile.
choward 7y ago
That's because they deliberately make it terrible to convince you to install the app. They ruin the experience even more with all the nagging they do even if you have the option to be based about the app disabled. There is no reason their mobile site needs to be as terrible as it is.

Agree on both fronts. Reddit is way improved with an app, but the official app is trash. I prefer relay, but I know that there are many other quality apps out there that folks recommend. Feel free to comment with your favorite.

J_cst 7y ago
Boost (see my comment above)

isatty 7y ago

The old design works well on a browser (now old.reddit). I make it a point to never use the new social network themed reddit, or it’s chat (god, why?) or the default app due to the popup when you access reddit on a mobile browser. Apollo is much better anyhow (iOS only though iirc).

adtac 7y ago
On a desktop, auto redirecting to old.reddit.com, with all custom subreddit CSS disabled, chat turned off, RES enabled and uBlock Origin installed is the only usable way to browse Reddit. For a website that I spend ungodly amounts of time in, I hate that it's this way.

doubleunplussed 7y ago

Is there any app that can essentially open threads in a new tab like in a browser? This is the one thing keeping me in the mobile browser. Well, that and my girlfriends reddit app seems to fail to load GIFs a decent fraction of the time.

nabakin 7y ago
I'm not sure what you mean. So you can switch back and forth between threads with ease?
- doubleunplussed 7y ago
  Yes, or more like, queue them up for reading later. That's how I use reddit: scroll through the front page or whatever subreddit, middle click everything of interest, then eventually get around to reading or closing said tabs.
J_cst 7y ago
I use boost for Android and I find it enjoyable and flawless. I have no business with boost, I'm just an happy user.
- doubleunplussed 7y ago
  Doesn't have tabs :(
deleted 7y ago
[deleted]

bad_user 7y ago

I don't agree, for one b/c Reddit is a links aggregator and opening links works best in a full browser instead of a shitty in-app web view, plus it's the little things like ability to copy/paste or go back to a previous page, that are sometimes emulated in native apps, but never work well. But even if you think Reddit works better in a native app for you, that's by design. Reddit is making the web experience shitty on purpose, to drive users to their app.

fireattack 7y ago
You can simply configure web pages to open directly in browser. And a dedicated app is able to handle certain links better than native browsers, like RES on desktop. One example would be to directly open the image instead of Imgur page. Also if we're talking about Android, I don't feel webview is too much different from a native browser now; all the histories, auto-fills are shared with my main browser (Chrome). Of course, it is just my PERSONAL use case.
deanclatworthy 7y ago
There are many many hugely active communicates which are far more than link aggregators on reddit. Communities with 100s of 1000s or subscribers.
RuleOfBirds 7y ago
"Reddit is a links aggregator" feels pretty inaccurate. Some subreddits, especially the big and lowest common denominator ones may be mostly link sharing, but most of the ones I'm on are communities sharing questions, opinions, jokes, images, and stories.
- tialaramex 7y ago
  Yup. Playing a difficult Minecraft pack the first stop is r/feedthebeast to look at other people's advice. Later I'd return with questions most of which will be FAQs. Example, last week I made Project Ozone 3's fluid container that has an infinite amount of any liquid you put inside it. First question I had was, how do I empty this to put something else in? Because if the answer is "You can't" I need to pick very carefully what to use it for. The trouble with the correct answer "Shift left click a Gauge Dropper in the UI" is that I thought I'd tried that. So did lots of people, but Reddit has a comment thread patiently walking us through each step and yup, it works.

thaumaturgy 7y ago

But that largely reflects management's decision to discourage mobile web use in favor of app usage. There's nothing intrinsic about Reddit that makes it worthy of a dedicated mobile app.

deanclatworthy 7y ago

I also use a third party app. AlienBlue is superb and more feature rich and user friendly than the official app. Let’s enjoy it while it lasts. I suspect one day the API will be monetised (forced to display ads inline in the feed) or paid for (pricing out third parties) or entirely removed.

Lammy 7y ago
AlienBlue is the official app, just frozen in time in 2014.

retube 7y ago

pretty sure a legacy interface that is gonna get killed at some point, but https://www.reddit.com/.compact https://www.reddit.com/.compact is absolutely the best view on mobile.

choward 7y ago

That's because they deliberately make it terrible to convince you to install the app. They ruin the experience even more with all the nagging they do even if you have the option to be based about the app disabled. There is no reason their mobile site needs to be as terrible as it is.