this post was submitted on 13 Jun 2023
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Asklemmy

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I used to use RiF back in the day when it was still a buggy mess. I don't even remember when I moved to the native app. I don't agree with Reddit's policy update (why I'm here) but I thought the default app was fine for normal browsing. I never had issues with the video player or anything else.

I use Samsung Galaxy devices if that's relevant.

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[–] [email protected] 8 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Reddit has the true numbers. I'm sure 90% of people use the native Reddit app which is why they decided shutting down 3rd party apps wasn't a big deal.

I think why people are making it a big deal is because the 10% that used 3rd party apps were the most active users. A casual lurker probably didn't care about the features of the app they used. The very active users, and mods, likely used the 3rd party apps because of the superior design and features.

Time will tell whether this just upset a vocal minority or if it upset a core group of content creators and moderators.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 year ago (1 children)

The 10% you speak of also made up most of the moderators, that's why around 6,000 subs are going dark

[–] [email protected] 0 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Actually, currently 8446 are currently dark. Number is still rising.

[–] [email protected] 0 points 1 year ago (1 children)

We'll see after today. The subs were saying 48h which clearly is not going to be effective enough... And if it's too effective then Reddit will just replace the mods. Horrible sight to behold πŸ˜”

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago

That's the thing though. The current mods are volunteers. Is Reddit going to replace them with paid mods or are they going to hope other volunteers step up? It could turn into a shit show if subs go unmodded or are poorly moderated.

Or Reddit is going to have to spend money paying for moderators, which is great but another consequence of their decision.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 1 year ago

I mostly used RiF, but installed the official app during a trip last year to do logistics with someone who was using the built in chat.

I don't tend to always have data on my phone, because WiFi is everywhere, and just add some when I'm going on a trip like this. I'd loaded up a fiver's worth the morning we left, which usually sees me through an entire month in these situations.

Woke up after the first night away to an alert that my data was all used up. And on further investigation, guess which app was the culprit? Just literally sitting there overnight while I was asleep, gobbling up a month's worth of data to do god knows what.

I uninstalled the app.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 year ago

I did not use the official app mainly because I didn't want to see ads, also it was very laggy on my old phone. Infinity was just too good, and I never looked back

[–] Ozma_of_Oz 5 points 1 year ago

I found it completely asinine how it bitches at you when you take a screenshot and puts its watercolor on a downloaded image.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 year ago

Fish don't know they're swimming in water. When all you ever use is a shit app, you think that's what a normal experience is

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 year ago (1 children)

The ads. Jesus. The ads that are dark design pattern close to normal posts. Ugh.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 year ago

As a lifelong adblock user, I recognize your pain.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I love your honesty. I expect for many people it's more about losing what they're comfortable with. For others there are legitimate functionalities that perhaps don't exist yet in the native app - a former mod will need to chime in, as I'm not sure about specifics.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago

Yeah, chat was probably the only thing the official app had over Apollo. As you said, I just particularly like the UI of Apollo and think it’s bullshit that I’m being forced to change. The way they’ve handled this has also just been awful, like that AMA for example and their talks with the devs

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I used the official app too. For whatever reason it always had issues with video playback and comments for me, but I still never switched to another app

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago

There is an entire subreddit dedicated to their legendarily shitty video player.

[–] notun 4 points 1 year ago (1 children)

You kids and your apps. I used old.reddit on my desktop.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 year ago (1 children)

You kids and your websites. I used Emacs to browse reddit.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago

I just close my eyes and imagine Reddit

[–] Glunkbor 3 points 1 year ago

I tried using it, saw all the ads, the video player was abysmal for me and I left pretty fast looking for alternatives.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago

It's probably ok if you're used to it, but 3rd party apps have so much QoL stuff that it's awful to switch

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago

Honestly I barely used it. If you use dark patterns to try to make me use a thing, the last thing I'm going to do is use that thing.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago

The native app is decent, if you haven't tried any of the other third-party apps.

I joined Reddit back during the Alien Blue days and transitioned over to Apollo when it launched. Using the native app felt like I stumbled onto a porn-addled spyware site with the ads and quirky UI/UX.

It was possible to use after some time, but after a week, I noped out and went back to Apollo.

[–] Tekomepossenomo 2 points 1 year ago

I too used the native app on Android (mostly bc I was a quite recend user, and initially I did not know about all the 3rd apps stuff). It was quite buggy (video player worked only half of the times, it was impossible to open external links on my browser, it forced me to open them in-app), but the main reason I'm here is for ideological reasons (like OP)

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago

Yes, you are the one person in the world who used it.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago

I just tried it out for the first time in a few years, solely for this comment im writing now. And I have to admit it has improved and adopted a lot of features that the third party apps have had forever (e.g. tap to hold to close threads, amoled theme). And i think thats kind of part of the problem. These apps basically defined how reddit should work on mobile, before reddit even had a mobile app. Reddit then copycats these features and now is trying to kill off these apps that paved the way. Theres a reason the third party apps are popular, people like them more than the official app.

[–] twistedtxb 1 points 1 year ago

Bought Reddit News (Relay) and never looked back. I tried the official app a few days ago and frankly it feels so crippled and cluttered, I could not stand it.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago

Nope. I used it as well. I just never had any particular problems.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago

Possibly - I neer interacted much on my old iphone SE, mostly I just use Firefox on the desktop.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago

I tried it and went right back to baconreader

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago

Well, the official app works and does most of the tasks. I tried Apollo once and is is/was so much better. So sad to see Apollo go, I used it daily.

[–] [email protected] -1 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

I think most people who used the 3rd party apps also were the ones who were still sitting on old.reddit, myself incuded