Reddit released an official app for iOS and Android today to mixed reviews.
Before today, the subreddit r/mobile was dedicated to discussing the iPhone app Alien Blue and third-party apps on which people used Reddit. After the official app was released, the subreddit started over a hundred threads in a few hours critiquing, commenting and asking questions about how to use the app.
On one Reddit thread in r/announcements, vice president of consumer products Alex Le explained the apps briefly, saying the company has made progress in many areas since he joined five months ago, but two things have been undergoing constant work: releasing the first official Android Reddit app, and improving and stabilizing Alien Blue.
"Building our first Android Reddit app is a no-brainer for us," Le said on Reddit. "Many core Redditors are Android users and it is important for us to deliver an official app experience that makes us proud.
Revamping Alien Blue is also a pretty obvious thing to do, but what started out as a simple improvement project turned into a much larger effort. We’ve decided to rebuild our iPhone app from the ground up to be faster, more modern, and more usable. We’re proud to share with you what we think is be the best way to experience Reddit on iPhone."
Reddit removed Alien Blue, which only catered to iOS, from the App Store after releasing the new official Reddit app for both Android and iPhone.
Reddit user 316nuts asked a lot of questions on the top comment of the announcement thread that Redditors seemed to appreciate (gaining almost 2000 upvotes in two hours). It reads (in part),
why should i use your android app instead of something like reddit is fun, baconreader, reddit news, reddit sync, etc
what do you bring to the table that they don't?
you're going to have to do some pretty fancy tricks to get me to move away from paid RIF.
edit: no mod functions? i'm out. let me know when it gets updated.
UI is pretty.
i already turned disabled the big image previews because it takes up too much room. compact has thumbnails.
not sure why you have the upvotes displayed on the right even though it's on the left for 99% of reddit's pages.
i like how it shows the users here and subscribers at the top of a subreddit
Le, after leaving a placeholder answer of "I'm going to get started on your mega comment now," answered almost all of 316nuts' questions, mostly noting his feedback and promising to look into concerns.
Reddit user _YouDontKnowMe_ was one of the many who replied to Le, but he included PSA and lots of caps: "Edit: I just got 3 months of FREE REDDIT GOLD for downloading the app. Thanks and answer the questions whenever and however you want!!!"
That Reddit Gold is pretty tempting.
The app is available to download for free for both iOS and Android users.
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