Reddit simply made its app quicker, but the cellular web site remains to be atrocious

So Reddit is lastly updating its app to be speedier. It is lengthy overdue. I have been a Redditor since 2012, and I’ve seen the platform undergo its many ups and downs. Meme wars, heartbreaking AMAs, and awkward CEO shenanigans are all a part of the drama of Reddit. Now it is updating the official app to focus extra on feedback. In the meantime, the cellular web site expertise is something however nice.

The advertisements on the Reddit app are continuously shoved down our throats, and the cellular web site continuously nags to “Open in App,” and the advertisements are extra in-my-face than on the cellular app. Previous Reddit remains to be the place I’m going, however for a way lengthy will it final? Ever since Reddit CEO Steve Huffman killed off API entry to third-party Reddit apps, the neighborhood has been holding its breath, ready for the ax to drop on outdated Reddit.

Previous Reddit is finest

My sanctuary on the web since 2012

Previous Reddit (outdated.reddit.com) jogs my memory of old-school message boards from the early days of the web, and that is a part of the attraction I’ve all the time admired in regards to the web site. The OG Reddit had no frills, no animations, no algorithms. Simply pure no-nonsense chaos in a fairly uninspiring format, and this even works within the cellular browser with a number of plugins to essentially costume issues up.

I nonetheless use outdated Reddit on the net as a result of I discover it a lot much less obtrusive than “new” Reddit. However I do not know the way lengthy that can final. Reddit went public a short while in the past and Huffman has been doing every part to make Reddit a standalone social media platform like Fb or TikTok. I’ve a sinking feeling that outdated Reddit will not be round for much longer.

Official Reddit hurts my eyes

The official Reddit web site on cellular is an abomination

Visiting the official Reddit web site on a cellular browser jogs my memory of visiting a used automotive lot. I am slammed with advertisements each few traces of textual content, a few of which masquerade as actual content material. Then I will get hit with pop-ups imploring me to make use of the official app. It is like being trapped in a late-night infomercial, however with no Shamwow to indicate for it afterward.

My solely refuge is outdated.reddit.com. There I can scroll in relative peace. Typically my cellphone even sighs in reduction.

You may all the time inform an advert from an actual publish as a result of entrepreneurs attempt to jam their complete gross sales pitch within the publish headline for some purpose. Likelihood is good you are an advert if the headline is a full paragraph.

The good third-party app purge

Reddit destroyed the thriving third-party app ecosystem with one API transfer

Final 12 months’s Reddit revolt was some of the thrilling moments within the platform’s historical past. That was when Reddit tightened the screws on third-party API entry, making it nearly unaffordable for these apps to entry the positioning and inflicting almost all of them to close down. Huffman received right into a public confrontation with Christian Selig, the developer behind the most well-liked third-party app, Apollo. This resulted in an AMA (Ask Me Something) with Huffman that went horribly unsuitable and solely helped to color the corporate in a nasty mild.

However apps like Apollo weren’t simply alternate options to the official Reddit app; they created an infinitely higher expertise. They every represented a imaginative and prescient of how Reddit might be, from refined interfaces to options for energy customers. Most significantly, they have been ad-free. Huffman killed off all the third-party ecosystem in a single stroke, and now we’re caught with the official Reddit app and its limitless advertisements.

The official Reddit app

One phrase: ugh

It is no secret that the official Reddit app is a sizzling mess, and site-wide person frustration with the app is a part of what led to an enormous Reddit boycott when Huffman killed third-party apps final 12 months. The official app is stuffed with advertisements. The unsuitable faucet can by chance collapse complete dialogue threads or ship me spiraling off to the undesirable “Common” part. What are all these tabs? Communities? And what is the distinction between Chat and Messages?

The official app is the rationale I exploit Reddit on the net. And, as I’ve already talked about, the official Reddit web site for the online isn’t any good. Previous Reddit is the place I stay. However for a way lengthy?

My love-hate relationship with Reddit

I simply cannot appear to give up the entrance web page of the web

There’s actual worth on Reddit. What number of occasions have you ever appended “reddit” to your Google search? It is the realest place on the web with opinions from individuals world wide. It is filled with area of interest communities and hilarious memes. I’ve used third-party apps to entry Reddit for years, and I attempted to not use Reddit after final 12 months’s purge. I could not maintain that up, so I have been utilizing the web site as an alternative of the horrible app.

I am actually hoping extra app updates fixe numerous the problems I’ve with the official Reddit app. If they do not, and Reddit kills off outdated.reddit.com, then I am afraid I should go away Reddit as soon as and for all. It is irritating to see such a beautiful platform continuously shoot itself within the foot.