Reddit for iOS and Android(reddit.com)
reddit.com
Reddit for iOS and Android
https://www.reddit.com/mobile/download?ref=HN
193 comments
Looks like the classical:
* Developer makes a great app so they acqui-hire him
* For the next app they want to do it "their way" so they have managers and marketing people telling him and other devs what to do
* The resulting app is the same that if they had done it from scratch without the acqui-hire (but with one less competitor)
* Developer makes a great app so they acqui-hire him
* For the next app they want to do it "their way" so they have managers and marketing people telling him and other devs what to do
* The resulting app is the same that if they had done it from scratch without the acqui-hire (but with one less competitor)
The Imgur bit is troubling. Even in AlienBlue I've noticed that when an image starts defaulting to the Standard Imgur view, and I click "Optimized", it switches right back to Standard. I'm not sure if that is Imgur intentionally trying to prevent people from not seeing their "Download our app" banners everywhere, or a bug in AB, but it is very annoying.
Ultimately, when I see an image or video thumbnail on Reddit, I don't want anything else with it. I want a direct image/video link. Ideally they'd be part of the native experience and not need to punt me elsewhere. There's really no reason Reddit shouldn't fully own those experiences beyond perhaps wanting to save on hosting/processing.
I'm also troubled by the increase of ads appearing in the feed vs. elsewhere. They are clearly watching Facebook and Twitter closely with their push towards a more curated algorithmic feed that allows for more/better ad insertion, vs. focusing on giving users more control of the feed.
Ultimately, when I see an image or video thumbnail on Reddit, I don't want anything else with it. I want a direct image/video link. Ideally they'd be part of the native experience and not need to punt me elsewhere. There's really no reason Reddit shouldn't fully own those experiences beyond perhaps wanting to save on hosting/processing.
I'm also troubled by the increase of ads appearing in the feed vs. elsewhere. They are clearly watching Facebook and Twitter closely with their push towards a more curated algorithmic feed that allows for more/better ad insertion, vs. focusing on giving users more control of the feed.
> I'm not sure if that is Imgur intentionally trying to prevent people from not seeing their "Download our app" banners everywhere, or a bug in AB, but it is very annoying.
It's a problem with Alien Blue, not imgur. It just needs to enable cookies across webviews.
It's a problem with Alien Blue, not imgur. It just needs to enable cookies across webviews.
Is this new then? It only started recently.
> It just needs to enable cookies across webviews.
'just' enable something that has an impact on user privacy?
'just' enable something that has an impact on user privacy?
I'm guessing Alien Blue, as great as it is (I paid for it years ago!), was built on a foundation in need of major refactoring.
They probably made the call that many of us think about doing - though we rarely do it - of throwing everything out and starting from scratch, building from the ground up with all the past lessons learned.
If so, I think the ultimate measure of their success will be speed of iteration.
Even if it doesn't include everything alien blue has today in, say, 6 months, it will likely introduce plenty of other nice features, and for many users will be either a wash or nicer and more stable.
I'm curious to see what happens!
They probably made the call that many of us think about doing - though we rarely do it - of throwing everything out and starting from scratch, building from the ground up with all the past lessons learned.
If so, I think the ultimate measure of their success will be speed of iteration.
Even if it doesn't include everything alien blue has today in, say, 6 months, it will likely introduce plenty of other nice features, and for many users will be either a wash or nicer and more stable.
I'm curious to see what happens!
Jase has done VERY little work on the new app as far as I know. Pretty much all new devs.
it seems reddit has always been disconnected from a proper mobile experience.
both of their mobile versions of the site have been abyssmal, i'm not surprised the app sucks too
Version 1.0
This new app got released minutes ago. It's not going to be perfect out of the gate. Give it some time.
Why not make AlienBlue the official reddit app? They bought it! This is a very strange course of action.
This is one of "Things You Should Never Do" http://www.joelonsoftware.com/articles/fog0000000069.html
This is one of "Things You Should Never Do" http://www.joelonsoftware.com/articles/fog0000000069.html
Well it was the official app before this one. Considering how good AB is I think there's some technical reason to redo the app. Who knows.
My guess: AlienBlue was developed with power users in mind and this new app was developed with showing people ads in mind.
A major re-design gives them the excuse to remove and never re-add many features and tune the app for a different type of user and a different type of interaction.
A major re-design gives them the excuse to remove and never re-add many features and tune the app for a different type of user and a different type of interaction.
Inserting ads into the Alien Blue feed would have been easy. You may be right about the different target user, though.
AB was developed by one person (who is still on the app team) - it's possible AB isn't suited to having a team work on it, or they want to follow new best practices (eg. Swift)
It used to be that we developed, tested and polished software before releasing it. Does anyone else miss those days?
"Those days" never really existed. Software has always been buggy.
Yes, there have always been (and always will be) software bugs, but it was at least intended to be used as shipped. We didn't release software with the stated intention of "ship it now, we'll patch bugs and finish features later."
If you replace an existing app with a new one the new one better be at least as good and feature-complete as the old one. Remember that you can never take away features once they have been rolled out.
Of course you can take them away. If you don't you become Microsoft.
This app is not a one-week MVP of a side project released by a developer with zero resources.
It is, however, an app with legitimate substitutes, so an incumbent must be equal or significantly greater.
It is, however, an app with legitimate substitutes, so an incumbent must be equal or significantly greater.
I hope there continue to be legitimate substitutes. I still remember when Twitter decided to add the key limit to their API shortly after releasing their official mobile clients, for the sake of "maintaining a consistent user experience" or something like that.
>shortly after releasing their official mobile clients
???
???
On android, 'reddit is fun' is great. Because of it I was never wanting for an official app and I knew that whatever they released officially wasn't going to be that good. Not out of the gate anyways. So far the release of the official app has just been mildly inconvenient for me, 'reddit is fun' had to be slightly renamed and the icon changed. But whatever.
The definition of MVP doesn't really depend on how big the development team is.
I wasn't expecting it to immediately have every single feature that AlienBlue had. With the amount of time they had been working on it (and the number of developers working on it), I was expecting it to have at least half of them.
I agree with a lot of your points, especially comment flair and swiping gestures (I used the quick swipe left to collapse comment threads 100s of times a day). I'm not a mod so I never used those features of Alien Blue.
However, I like the organization of the app more. Pictures are automatically displayed in the feed and require no clicks (gif/gyf support is badly needed, though), it has infinite scrolling, and there are essentially two browse sections: one for the front page and the other for browsing individual subreddits. It's nice to be able to switch to a specific subreddit and then go back to the front page exactly where you were.
It also seems faster than Alien Blue. With AB I would encounter "dead" links that wouldn't load many times a day, and I haven't seen one with the new app. Pages and images load much quicker than AB.
I'm switching to the new app and hope they add new features soon.
However, I like the organization of the app more. Pictures are automatically displayed in the feed and require no clicks (gif/gyf support is badly needed, though), it has infinite scrolling, and there are essentially two browse sections: one for the front page and the other for browsing individual subreddits. It's nice to be able to switch to a specific subreddit and then go back to the front page exactly where you were.
It also seems faster than Alien Blue. With AB I would encounter "dead" links that wouldn't load many times a day, and I haven't seen one with the new app. Pages and images load much quicker than AB.
I'm switching to the new app and hope they add new features soon.
Haven't installed it yet--but are you saying that photos show full size in the feed vs. just a thumbnail requiring a click? Sounds like new ad formats are on the way...
Its an option. They default to a full size "card" , but you can make it more like the reddit websites traditional "compact" view. For the front page, press the button in the top-right to access the setting. For every other page, it is an option in the settings.
I'm sure they are but I like not having to click every time I want to see a picture.
> I used the quick swipe left to collapse comment threads 100s of times a day
Same, though I found the "skip to next parent" button on the lower right was a good substitute.
Same, though I found the "skip to next parent" button on the lower right was a good substitute.
> This item isn't available in your country.
It's an app for Reddit. Go figure. I'll be sticking with Sync (Android), which doesn't have this bewildering region restriction, has tons of features and faithfully follows Material.
It's an app for Reddit. Go figure. I'll be sticking with Sync (Android), which doesn't have this bewildering region restriction, has tons of features and faithfully follows Material.
We're now available in the US, Canada, UK, and Australia. Launching apps in other countries requires a little bit more diligence than just making a website available globally.
I'm sorry it's not available in your country -- we're planning on getting it out everywhere.
I'm sorry it's not available in your country -- we're planning on getting it out everywhere.
I'm sorry, but as an occasional iOS developer, and seeing the amount of Portuguese users you guys have on Reddit, I find it hard to take that at face value. Is it the localised blurb you need? Crowdsource it.
Heck, I'll do it. Ping me.
Heck, I'll do it. Ping me.
New Zealand is a state of Australia, so if you could enable it here too that would be great.
If you rolled it out to Oz surely you can enable New Zealand to ???
Australia, but not New Zealand? C'mon.
what are the chances of getting a stripped down interface that just says "title, subreddit, comment count, upvotes" in one line (maybe 2)?
No colors or upvote buttons, or toolbars. maybe a single button (not a hamburger, probably an arrow) that presents all the menu options.
swipe to collapse comments is also a pretty crucial feature.
No colors or upvote buttons, or toolbars. maybe a single button (not a hamburger, probably an arrow) that presents all the menu options.
swipe to collapse comments is also a pretty crucial feature.
Your failure here is not that you are not making it available, but that you failed to communicate this limit in ability.
The flow for me was "hey neat", click link to reddit page, "ok, this looks good", click link to google play store, click green Install button, 'none of your devices are compatible', "what in the ever-loving ...?", go to hn comments, "oh goddamn, not again".
That could've been MUCH shorter and MUCH less confusing if the title up here ( https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=11447273 ) said: "Announcing Reddit for iOS and Android in NA/UK/AUS" and at the very least having a text below the appstore/playstore buttons stating this.
Have some empathy please.
Edit: Going "Hello World!" in the "What's New" section also doesn't help matters.
The flow for me was "hey neat", click link to reddit page, "ok, this looks good", click link to google play store, click green Install button, 'none of your devices are compatible', "what in the ever-loving ...?", go to hn comments, "oh goddamn, not again".
That could've been MUCH shorter and MUCH less confusing if the title up here ( https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=11447273 ) said: "Announcing Reddit for iOS and Android in NA/UK/AUS" and at the very least having a text below the appstore/playstore buttons stating this.
Have some empathy please.
Edit: Going "Hello World!" in the "What's New" section also doesn't help matters.
https://twitter.com/reddit/status/718067681438539778
"Reddit anywhere with our app for iPhone & Android"
Replies are filled with people from countries where they can't get it.
"Reddit anywhere with our app for iPhone & Android"
Replies are filled with people from countries where they can't get it.
Wow, "anywhere" makes it actively worse.
I remember Google doing the same thing when they launched their "Chromebooks are for everyone" ad campaign - you could only purchase one in the UK or the US.
It's like companies are actively trying to annoy the region's they geo-block.
It's like companies are actively trying to annoy the region's they geo-block.
Google still loves doing this with Chromebooks. They have human-translated marketing websites for the Pixel in Norway and their buy button is just greyed out.
No, it's like what's actually true - that they don't think about those places and therefore do things like write slogans with the mindset that such people don't exist.
Even more likely: whoever wrote that copy isn't the same person as whoever decided on the geo-locking policy.
Additionally, it's highly unlikely that potential users will bother continuously checking to determine if the restriction on their region has yet been lifted - given that they can continue to use the competition. Tomorrow I will have forgotten about this app.
This should have been sorted out before the launch.
This should have been sorted out before the launch.
Yep. Was going to try this app, but can't. Don't think I'll ever bother again, I'm happy with Relay for Reddit after all.
That is until they pull a Twitter and kill those clients.
They claim they are committed to supporting that free API[1]. And if they kill it, it would also kill all those reddit bots. There would be a massive outrage since many large subreddits rely on them for advanced automated moderation. There's AutoMod which they've integrated, but it's often not enough.
[1] https://www.reddit.com/r/announcements/comments/4dqxgt/reddi...
[1] https://www.reddit.com/r/announcements/comments/4dqxgt/reddi...
Or they could just limit it to 10 IPs per API key. Kills all 3rd party clients, but leaves bots.
If anyone can sign up for a bot API key, then anyone can sign up for a 3rd party client API key. It'd add a step or two, but still.
Anyway, you don't need an API key at all currently. And they said they intend to support the current API.
Anyway, you don't need an API key at all currently. And they said they intend to support the current API.
That’s what they said about Twitter, too.
And suddenly Falcon Pro was limited to 100'000 users.
And suddenly Falcon Pro was limited to 100'000 users.
Query. Is the borking of RSS feeds last couple months related? It was done so poorly(still borked despite assurances contrary)? Would be quite a convenient way to herd a bunch of RSS users to sign up PDQ to keep their TIL & ELI5 fetishes uninterupted.
I'm afraid I did the opposite, however. I don't need a new app, and again contrarily, I don't need a new feed reader. My worthless trivia supeepowers are indeed in decline. Meh.
I'm afraid I did the opposite, however. I don't need a new app, and again contrarily, I don't need a new feed reader. My worthless trivia supeepowers are indeed in decline. Meh.
Could you expand on what diligence is required?
Yeah it's weird. They used this word again in the official announcement thread so clearly they've got a position they want their employees (and Alexis) to take, a fantastically vague corporate one at that.
It probably has to do with advertising. The purpose of this app is to monetize the mobile users and they can't make money off users in countries where the ads can't be shown (for whatever reason).
Can you share what is involved with this effort? It would be educational to the HackerNews community that is (understandably) quite angry at this decision. You can turn this into an educational effort on the state of app distribution.
Frankly, I have a hard time believing that your team couldn't have done this due diligence upfront, considering how rare it is that I encounter apps in my daily use that do not work seamlessly. I moved from North America to Europe 1 year ago, so this is something I have a lot of experience with. You could help me and others understand this better.
Frankly, I have a hard time believing that your team couldn't have done this due diligence upfront, considering how rare it is that I encounter apps in my daily use that do not work seamlessly. I moved from North America to Europe 1 year ago, so this is something I have a lot of experience with. You could help me and others understand this better.
Why is that? Is it related to the crypto export restrictions in the Apple App Store?
"Launching apps in other countries requires a little bit more diligence than just making a website available globally"
could you expand on this?
could you expand on this?
I too feel the same way. Sync is the best Android client for Reddit I've used. Have you tried the new v11 builds?
Countries can lean on Google and Apple and say "Get this app out of my country." We are rolling out one by one so that we can stay on top of the content reports. Reddit has a lot of potentially controversial content and countries have various levels of sensitivity to that. It would be counter productive to go global now, get banned in a bunch of places, and then have to fight protracted battles in a bunch of different places to get back into those stores. See: Secret in Brazil.
This doesn't make any sense. If they would ban the app, wouldn't they also ban the website?
Secret is a different case, the purpose of the app is to anonymous communication, I can see why Brazil has a problem with it (mass protests recently, protestors probably using secret, amongst other things)
Secret is a different case, the purpose of the app is to anonymous communication, I can see why Brazil has a problem with it (mass protests recently, protestors probably using secret, amongst other things)
Didn't Russia ban Reddit for some mushroom thing?
Not to mention other apps are available worldwide.
Exactly, so far as I know Reddit already responsibly complies with subpoenas. Secret is designed to defeat that process and is completely unlike Reddit.
You opened it in exactly the set of Anglo-Saxon countries (minus New Zealand). You're saying this was a coincidence?
Thanks for the details on why you're doing it slowly. Can you please also explain why you did not do either of the things i mentioned here: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=11447494 Or maybe say whether you even plan to do any of them. It's easy to go "yeah they're just self-focused", but it would be nice to know what the actual process was.
Let's keep in mind that you also didn't release it in much more open countries than the UK or the US.
If you worry that countries like Germany or Switzerland might censor you out of the market because of reddit controversities you'd probably overestimated reddits emotional potential.
If you worry that countries like Germany or Switzerland might censor you out of the market because of reddit controversities you'd probably overestimated reddits emotional potential.
Their concerns seem grounded in reality, as Germany does censor Reddit[1].
1. https://www.reddit.com/r/ChillingEffects/comments/3gw9g1/201...
1. https://www.reddit.com/r/ChillingEffects/comments/3gw9g1/201...
To make this clear: Nobody in Germany requested a takedown of that subreddit. A German agency (BPJM) sent Reddit a letter with a few questions about that subreddit. Reddit then blocked the site for German IPs but it was not requested to do so.
The BPJM does not have authority to block foreign websites. They do maintain a (non-public) list of websites deemed harmful to the youth which e.g Google uses to not show certain sites to German users. They planned to add that subreddit to this list.
That's quite far from censoring but rather Reddit censoring itself.
The BPJM does not have authority to block foreign websites. They do maintain a (non-public) list of websites deemed harmful to the youth which e.g Google uses to not show certain sites to German users. They planned to add that subreddit to this list.
That's quite far from censoring but rather Reddit censoring itself.
> That's quite far from censoring but rather Reddit censoring itself.
While you're completely correct, and this case is exactly that, the end result is the same isn't it?
While you're completely correct, and this case is exactly that, the end result is the same isn't it?
Not really, because reddit had a choice not to censor itself. The result would have been that /r/watchpeopledie would be not findable in German Google with safe search on, and that it would be blocked in all schools, and if you install a family blocker software at home.
Reddit really has a really hard to follow rule as to what content is or isn't allowed.
The point here is that the subreddit works fine almost everywhere in the world. Just if you try accessing it with a German IP Reddit voluntarily decided not to return content.
I was thinking more along the lines of what subreddits they still allow and what subreddits have been banned (or at least 'encouraged' to go private).
They can hardly argue legal compliance as a reason, when they go beyond what's legally required of them.
Hmm, works for me. But fair enough, I see the point.
Reddit (as a page) is still up and running for everyone. I can't see how an app would be more controversial.
Reddit (as a page) is still up and running for everyone. I can't see how an app would be more controversial.
In addition to the other problems raised, it's frustrating that while Reddit itself continues to be open source [1] with significant contributions from the open source community [2], neither of these new apps are (and with no signs of that changing).
[1] https://github.com/reddit/reddit
[2] https://github.com/reddit/reddit/graphs/contributors
[1] https://github.com/reddit/reddit
[2] https://github.com/reddit/reddit/graphs/contributors
Their new website is open-source and updated frequently:
https://github.com/reddit/reddit-mobile
https://github.com/reddit/reddit-mobile
Promotion websites and server-side engines are nice (even though we know Reddit Inc runs a slightly modified version), but malicious client-side apps can be significantly more harmful by abusing permissions.
That's why I'm very careful what I install on my phone: unlike Reddit posts, I have virtually no control over what the software does.
That's why I'm very careful what I install on my phone: unlike Reddit posts, I have virtually no control over what the software does.
I'd honestly be happy enough with an open-sourced AB that the community took back on.
Indeed. An ugly move IMO.
My favorite part of this app is how they only released it in three countries, because nothing says "front page of the internet more" than a good ol' geo-lock.
This was explained in the original announcement thread. It'd be easy for a bunch of countries to turn round to Apple/Google and say "we don't want this app in our country", especially given the... breadth of Reddit's content. They're rolling out slowly to reduce the amount of firefighting they have to do.
https://www.reddit.com/r/announcements/comments/4dqxgt/reddi...
https://www.reddit.com/r/announcements/comments/4dqxgt/reddi...
How often do EU countries do that? African countries? South American countries (except maybe Brazil)? As somebody from an excluded country (in the EU) that has zero history of app censorship, this rings quite hollow to me. In fact it is almost insulting, given that you bundle some freedom-loving countries in one bag with Russia and China.
I think I now know why Reddit was so generous with all of the Gold. The app, although very fast and responsive on iOS, lacks many of the features that Alien Blue had. I could find zero integrations with any third party services. The cool thing about Alien Blue is, if I was a stoplight and didn't have time to read a linked article, I'd just add it to Pinboard and get back to it later.
Another major failing - there isn't an option to always open links in your browser of choice. At least use a Safari View Controller, for pete's sake.
EDIT: It looks like I can choose to share a link with the ... menu option. I can then share to my Pinner "Quick Save" option to save to Pinboard. Not sure how I missed it.
Another major failing - there isn't an option to always open links in your browser of choice. At least use a Safari View Controller, for pete's sake.
EDIT: It looks like I can choose to share a link with the ... menu option. I can then share to my Pinner "Quick Save" option to save to Pinboard. Not sure how I missed it.
I know Alien Blue is feature-packed, but I have always found it difficult to use.
The only thing I ever struggled with in AB was trying to visit a specific subreddit. Having to go back to the menu and scroll through all of my subscribed subs (which didn't seem to be sorted in any particular order, and included many subs I used to subscribe to years ago but don't anymore) to find the "enter subreddit manually" button was not terribly intuitive.
FWIW, you can sort the list of subreddits alphabetically at the top of the subreddit list.
I think the GUI wasn't that great, but the features were quite usable and helpful.
would you prefer homebrew integration or standard ones through the ios share apis?
Ideally, the iOS share apis. I use the Pinner app and they have two ways to save to pinboard via the share apis- a "quick pin" method where you click once and forget it (what I usually do) and the regular way, where you can add tags, etc.
k good. i never really liked that alien blue was sort of half and half. and the save picture button was broken, but the ios share save picture worked.
They were generous with the gold because they're probably going to shut AlienBlue down. AB doesn't have any ads, they can't make money off those users.
Uh...what are you talking about? AlienBlue has sponsored posts that show up in the feed. It is incredibly annoying too. Unless it is because they screwed up the whole "pay for AlienBlue" thing they did a while back and I wasn't supposed to be seeing ads this whole time despite having paid...
My guess though is that this new version will have more of a focus on ads and monetization for sure.
My guess though is that this new version will have more of a focus on ads and monetization for sure.
They're not shutting AlienBlue down, but they removed it from the App Store, and they are not updating it anymore.
Ugh. So disappointed.
They can shut it down by changing the reddit API so it no longer works, thus forcing users to switch to the new app.
The official Reddit app for Android is pretty feature poor so far. It only offers a default theme and a dark theme. It only offers a default layout and a compact layout. No customization beyond that. No option to always view links in external browser and Imgur links aren't opened in the Imgur app (etc for other sites).
It's nice that they've finally released an official app, but to use this instead of Bacon Reader / Relay / Slide / Reddit is Fun / etc would be a large step back in functionality.
It's nice that they've finally released an official app, but to use this instead of Bacon Reader / Relay / Slide / Reddit is Fun / etc would be a large step back in functionality.
Not sure. Today, I was installing all your mentioned Reddit clients and deinstalling them right afterwards. While the first impression is good and they seem to offer lots of features they lack one important thing (at least the free versions)—to save a sub in a favorite list which is easy to access. Something which is essential and they don't offer it or hide it away in the paid version. Something btw which the Now Reddit client on Android does for free. I think another Reddit client is definitely no breaking news but that the existing ones are so much superior? Not really.
Reddit Sync does this very well, it's accessible from the left sidebar.
http://i.imgur.com/GK5xBcA.png
http://i.imgur.com/GK5xBcA.png
You should try Relay -- it's quite good, and even lets you manage multiple accounts.
I've never paid for Reddit is Fun, and I have easy access to subscribed subs and multireddits through the sidebar. Do these not do what you want?
Sync for reddit is very good! I have very few issues with it and it has the feature you mentioned out of the box.
There's a good checklist of app features, per /r/AlienBlue: https://np.reddit.com/r/AlienBlue/comments/4dqajk/new_reddit...
The big feature omission is no iPad support, which I am legitimately curious why they would leave that out.
If you are looking for a iOS Reddit client, I strongly recommend Antenna, which is amazing on an iPad as well due to Split View.
The big feature omission is no iPad support, which I am legitimately curious why they would leave that out.
If you are looking for a iOS Reddit client, I strongly recommend Antenna, which is amazing on an iPad as well due to Split View.
How are 3rd party Reddit apps on the security front? If I login through Antenna, is there any way to guarantee that they don't have full access to my Reddit identity and credentials? Or is that the risk of going with them?
They all were forced to switch to oauth with reddits latest api changes. Which means you see a very ugly screen for a while during login.
Prolly due to having limited dev/qa resources? (complete guess)
Dev? I wouldn't think so. Autolayout and size classes handle most of that.
They do if you want an interface that's similar but scaled up. Alien Blue for iPad was different though in that you had multiple columns open at once, which probably did require more dev time to handle. I'm thinking they wanted a more tailored experience for iPad and didn't have time to design/implement it. Too bad though.
Second this. Antenna is my go-to client on iPad
I believe that if you look at this moment a year from now, it will be a major inflection point, bringing reddit to a much larger audience.
We're all tech savvy on this site and may not mind monkeying with the previous third-party apps, but there's a much wider audience that will be willing to use a well-supported first-party app.
We're all tech savvy on this site and may not mind monkeying with the previous third-party apps, but there's a much wider audience that will be willing to use a well-supported first-party app.
The problem is no one really uses apps anymore. Especially to view a website when you already have a mobile app that does that for you (your browser). This feature is 3 years too late in my mind to be a needle mover.
>The problem is no one really uses apps anymore.
This is an absurd comment. Even some of the various unofficial reddit apps have 5-10 million of downloads each.
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.andrewshu....
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.onelouder....
This is an absurd comment. Even some of the various unofficial reddit apps have 5-10 million of downloads each.
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.andrewshu....
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.onelouder....
Most people download zero apps [1]
[1] http://www.nbcnews.com/tech/mobile/most-people-download-zero...
[1] http://www.nbcnews.com/tech/mobile/most-people-download-zero...
Zero on average every 3 months is a lot different than zero ever. Reddit is a website most of its users use long term, not some random app you might use once a week or once a month. Their app will be downloaded a lot, and having tens of millions of downloads on unofficial apps is proof of that.
16% of people use an app more than twice [1]
26% of apps are only opened once [2]
[1] http://www.digitaltrends.com/mobile/16-percent-of-mobile-use...
[2] http://www.cnn.com/2011/TECH/mobile/03/21/app.engagement.gah...
26% of apps are only opened once [2]
[1] http://www.digitaltrends.com/mobile/16-percent-of-mobile-use...
[2] http://www.cnn.com/2011/TECH/mobile/03/21/app.engagement.gah...
Did you only read the headline of those articles?
>As TechCrunch recently reported, technology analysts at Compuware found that mobile apps are still the preferred means of connecting for most users over mobile websites, with 85 percent choosing the former over the latter.
>As TechCrunch recently reported, technology analysts at Compuware found that mobile apps are still the preferred means of connecting for most users over mobile websites, with 85 percent choosing the former over the latter.
I did and the last sentence in that article states:
> Responsive websites may help shift that opinion, though that won’t likely happen anytime soon.
Since most of these articles are 3+ years old, I personally believe that responsive webpages are the way to go, especially for Reddit which is 99% text &images, or hyperlinks to external sites.
> Responsive websites may help shift that opinion, though that won’t likely happen anytime soon.
Since most of these articles are 3+ years old, I personally believe that responsive webpages are the way to go, especially for Reddit which is 99% text &images, or hyperlinks to external sites.
Nice strawman you're building there. We're talking about reddit, a unicorn by most standards - at least in terms of user base. This isn't some random app with no promotion or user base.
Im not building a strawman, Im just saying it's very late in the mobile game for reddit to build an app and expect it to 1) be good and 2) get used. it was about 5-6 years ago that 'apps' were the popular big thing and companies needed to have them. Reddit is a mostly text and image based website, the features it uses do not need a native app framework around it for them to continue to be popular. They should have focused more on making the mobile web experience better instead of building an app. They already have a strong web presence, use that to your advantage instead of shifting their focus to an app store somehwhere. Again back to my original post, its 3-4 years too late for this to be a needle mover for them and with their latest round of fundraising they need needle movers.
*per month.
I still use mobile apps. I'm somebody?! Just a short list: Alien Blue, Craigslist+, Google News, NPR News, Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, etc. That said, there are quite a few websites/web apps I save to my home screen (like HN) on my iPhone as well for instant access. If there is a well designed mobile app (for a service I enjoy) that takes advantage of the OS's built in features, I typically use it.
> The problem is no one really uses apps anymore
This might be a bit of a generalization. People tend to use apps for websites they visit very frequently (eg more than 2-3x a day). Even more so when the mobile version of the website is rife with bugs and/or limitations.
Reddit's mobile site is passable but the third party apps blow it out of the water on both iOS and Android.
This might be a bit of a generalization. People tend to use apps for websites they visit very frequently (eg more than 2-3x a day). Even more so when the mobile version of the website is rife with bugs and/or limitations.
Reddit's mobile site is passable but the third party apps blow it out of the water on both iOS and Android.
Just basing it on research Ive seen [1][2][3] and my own personal use. If the reddit application is feature poor, there isnt a reason to not use the web version, maybe with an extension or two to make it awesome.
[1] http://qz.com/253618/most-smartphone-users-download-zero-app...
[2] http://www.nbcnews.com/tech/mobile/most-people-download-zero...
[3] http://techcrunch.com/2015/06/22/consumers-spend-85-of-time-...
[1] http://qz.com/253618/most-smartphone-users-download-zero-app...
[2] http://www.nbcnews.com/tech/mobile/most-people-download-zero...
[3] http://techcrunch.com/2015/06/22/consumers-spend-85-of-time-...
Supporting anecdote: my wife won't use Windows Phone or Windows tablets because the Pinterest app apparently sucks on those platforms.
Counter anecdote: I refuse to use the Facebook app on iOS because it takes like 500mb and the website works about 90% the same.
Counter anecdote: I refuse to use the Facebook app on iOS because it takes like 500mb and the website works about 90% the same.
I don't use Reddit actively anymore (just when a link leads me to the site) but the last time used it actively and even today when I have to access the site on mobile my favourite app is Reddit Is Fun.[1]
Its free version[2] is as good. I just bought paid one[2] to support the fantastic app. They also have the source code of an old version[4] available online, though the app's current source is not open sourced I think.
I like this app for its:
- Simplicity
- Speed
- No nonsense approach to serving content
[1] https://www.talklittle.com/reddit-is-fun/
[2] https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.andrewshu....
[2] https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.andrewshu....
[4] https://github.com/talklittle/reddit-is-fun
Its free version[2] is as good. I just bought paid one[2] to support the fantastic app. They also have the source code of an old version[4] available online, though the app's current source is not open sourced I think.
I like this app for its:
- Simplicity
- Speed
- No nonsense approach to serving content
[1] https://www.talklittle.com/reddit-is-fun/
[2] https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.andrewshu....
[2] https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.andrewshu....
[4] https://github.com/talklittle/reddit-is-fun
What I don't understand is why is reddit putting so much effort in their own apps now when there are very good 3rd party apps available?
Is the end goal to take control of mobile and close down the API so they can shove ads down peoples throats?
It didn't work out well for twitter...
Is the end goal to take control of mobile and close down the API so they can shove ads down peoples throats?
It didn't work out well for twitter...
Most likely yes. This seems to be the Twitter approach all over again. Although you'd think the failings of that would be pretty obvious from a strategic standpoint, particularly for someone with as much business-savvy as Sam. So odds are they either have an idea for how to do it differently, or they think their platform is so much better and entrenched than Twitter that the same bad strategy could still be successful for them.
Well everyone is using the official Twitter app so I think it did. No one cares about API availability except a very small subset of developers.
Narwhal is one of the most underrated Reddit apps, so much better than AB and obviously superior to this new app.
Yeah, after trying all the apps on iOS I prefer Narwhal the most. I'm not sure why. It's similar to Reddit is fun in terms of the subreddit list which why I guess I like it. The other apps seem to not make it easier to manage your multis or subreddits.
I am disappointed in the Android client so far. There are several very featureful alternatives such as Relay.
I don't think it is a bad thing for Reddit to offer a free, bare minimum client. But after the Twitter experience I hope we don't see a gradual exclusion of the competition.
I don't think it is a bad thing for Reddit to offer a free, bare minimum client. But after the Twitter experience I hope we don't see a gradual exclusion of the competition.
I use Relay For Reddit and it works really well. Better than The mobile website and newest mobile official app.
The last progressive web thread on HN mentioned this app for HN: https://cheeaun.github.io/hackerweb/ and I love it. Does anyone know of something similar for Reddit?
If you're looking for a mobile webapp for reddit, they have https://m.reddit.com/
There's also https://i.reddit.com. It sports an older look but I find it just works a lot better than the new mobile site.
No-one has mentioned it here but this app appears to me to be an important milestone for Reddit. They're now hosting content themselves. An announcement in /r/modnews tells mods to whitelist Reddit's new image hosting domain.
This is probably not good news for imgur.
https://www.reddit.com/r/modnews/comments/4drl3j/moderators_...
This is probably not good news for imgur.
https://www.reddit.com/r/modnews/comments/4drl3j/moderators_...
That's a neat website.
Is there any tutorial/documentation on how to design beautiful websites like that.Asides from looking at the source: https://www.reddit.com/mobile/site/style.css
Is there any tutorial/documentation on how to design beautiful websites like that.Asides from looking at the source: https://www.reddit.com/mobile/site/style.css
a beautiful broken website... the first animation completely obscures the text.
Wow, out for only a few hours and they're not pulling any punches with the criticism and suggestions in the comments.
Maybe in a few months we'll end up with one damn fine app.
On a sidenote, one obviously bad thing is the overuse of referral URLs and tracking redirects for every link.
Maybe in a few months we'll end up with one damn fine app.
On a sidenote, one obviously bad thing is the overuse of referral URLs and tracking redirects for every link.
Would it have hurt them to include a single phone running Android in their announcement?
I've no confidence that this won't be some sort of half-assed browser-based app which doesn't follow Android's conventions.
I've no confidence that this won't be some sort of half-assed browser-based app which doesn't follow Android's conventions.
It's not browser based, but they definitely used a loose interpretation of Google's Material Design. What stands out to me most is their Card design and use of icons in the drawer layout.
Looks great on iOS, but the feature set is lacking. I'll probably stick to using Antenna for now. Good to see they haven't just been ignoring Alien Blue for no reason, though.
Hmm. Still can't see it in the Portuguese iOS App Store.
This sort of thing happens time and again when someone fails to click the right options when publishing an app (typically in the US) :)
This sort of thing happens time and again when someone fails to click the right options when publishing an app (typically in the US) :)
Reddit is one of my most used website. I am preferring many subs over established forums, eg r/apple, r/ipad over Macrumors, sometimes r/programming over HN, very often r/javascript and so on.
I welcome Reddit's new native clients. Who knows, maybe we see soon some more and significant innovations than just being another Reddit client which employs the standard API.
I welcome Reddit's new native clients. Who knows, maybe we see soon some more and significant innovations than just being another Reddit client which employs the standard API.
Thank you, greenspot! The team has been working very hard on mobile and we're aiming for this to be the first of many updates.
Meet some of the folks behind it and hear how we're thinking about it: https://youtu.be/6IWMbdAuy1M
Meet some of the folks behind it and hear how we're thinking about it: https://youtu.be/6IWMbdAuy1M
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I just wish they would serve the mobile site on the same domain. It's way too much work to modify the URL to get to the mobile site. I don't want to need an app to read news.
Anyone have apk file, it's not available in my country.
[deleted]
HTC One M8 not eligible for install! What?
Why is this app not available in Germany? I can access reddit in the browser, but not install the app. WTF???
Reddit for iOS sends shared links to the desktop version of Reddit instead of the mobile version ==
Finally. Horray. Knew when AB was being bought. They were doing something
"This item cannot be installed in your country".
Wat?
Not available in my country (Finland) :'(
since reddit works fine in smart phone's webbrowsers, why we even need an app?
Instacrashes on my OnePlus One
Available only od US Store...
what i the world were they waiting for?
that webpage makes me seasick
Ah, reddit.
Reddit is penalized on HN (sorry for the shock), but this is obviously real news, so we've taken off the penalty and restored a few hours of clock time to this post.
Interesting! Is that a hard-coded penalty or is there some sort of calculated weighted penalty per-domain based on some criteria? If the former, is it just due to mod experience of poor-quality/just link submissions?
Not sure what you mean by hard-coded penalty but there are two classes of sites (called lightweight and midweight) whose submissions get penalized by default because of too many lightweight stories in the past. Not necessarily bad content, just content that doesn't fit the HN guidelines. Reddit's great of course—it's just that sometimes (well, usually maybe) HN isn't the best vessel for its greatness.
Most major media websites are in one of these categories. Moderators take the penalties off when we see a solid submission, and there are other ways that the software interprets community input to mean that an article might be better than usual and lifts the penalty.
We were nervous about making heavier use of this technique, but there were so many complaints about fluff articles making the front page that we had to do something, and banning major sites that sometimes produce excellent-for-HN articles wasn't an option. By now the current approach has been in place for a couple of years and it has worked out pretty well. Those complaints will never go away but they're at a more manageable level.
Most major media websites are in one of these categories. Moderators take the penalties off when we see a solid submission, and there are other ways that the software interprets community input to mean that an article might be better than usual and lifts the penalty.
We were nervous about making heavier use of this technique, but there were so many complaints about fluff articles making the front page that we had to do something, and banning major sites that sometimes produce excellent-for-HN articles wasn't an option. By now the current approach has been in place for a couple of years and it has worked out pretty well. Those complaints will never go away but they're at a more manageable level.
Thanks for the response! What I meant by "hard-coded" penalty, is there is a list of domains somewhere and "reddit.com" is on it. I was wondering if that was the case, or if these domains were discovered automatically somehow. Based on your description, it sounds like it's the former and then occasionally the penalty is negated automatically?
Yup that's correct.
So thats why so many frontpage articles on HN are blogspam versions of comments copy-pasted from reddit threads, in contrast to linking the actual threads directly? That explains a lot.
Do you have links to these?
I used to have links to these, but in the 1.5 hours I had to wait before I could send a comment again ("You're submitting too fast. Please slow down. Thanks."), I lost them. You might want to just check them yourself – often the reddit thread is mentioned in the comments, or as source in the blog post.
I thought the whole point of not doing mobile apps themselves was because it's a waste of engineering time since there's a massive community that will do the work for them. I would much rather see them focus on making the site better.
1. No moderator support. With AlienBlue, we could read all of the Mod Mail, and remove posts, With Reddit.app, I can read some of my mod mail (some message chains are missing), and I can't remove anything.
2. No Comment flairs
3. Can't see which posts I've read already
4. The in-app browser isn't as good as the older AlienBlue one, and doesn't have an optimized view for imgur/direct links
5. No casual/favorite subreddit groups
6. Most of the settings in AlienBlue are not in Reddit.app
7. No swiping gestures except for swiping from the left edge to go back.
Commenters in /r/AlienBlue found more issues with it than what I've found so far. While I have hope for the future of Reddit.app, I'll be sticking with AlienBlue for now.