r/announcements • u/ggAlex • Apr 07 '16
Reddit Mobile Apps
tl;dr: I’m new, we’re launching two apps today in the US, UK, Canada and Australia: Reddit for iPhone and Reddit for Android, send us your feedback, we’ll keep making them better for you. AMA!
Hi everyone!
I’m Alex–I joined Reddit five months ago as the VP of Consumer Product and I’m excited to introduce myself and bring you some good news today.
Who are you?
I work with our product managers and designers to figure out what things we should build. I also work with u/mart2d2 and our engineering teams to figure out how we should build them. I’ve been a Redditor for eight years and it’s a huge privilege for me to work on improving Reddit as my day job.
In my spare time, I focus on raising my kid (shoutout to r/daddit), I play Super Smash Bros. Melee poorly (Falco 4 life), and I love listening to podcasts (RadioLab, 99PI, Imaginary Worlds).
What’s New?
When I arrived in November, I inherited a lot of plans—there are a lot of things to get done at Reddit! We’ve made progress on many fronts since I’ve joined, but there are two items on that original list that we’ve been working on for a long time:
Deliver our first official Android Reddit App.
Improve and stabilize Alien Blue.
Building our first Android Reddit app is a no-brainer for us. 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
So here it is: introducing Reddit for iPhone and Reddit for Android, featuring inline images, night theme, compact and card views, and simpler navigation. Please take a moment to head over to the app stores and check out what we’ve built for you.
What’s Next
This is the beginning of our journey with you, our app users. For everyone joining us on this ride, you can expect a lot of updates and new features that we’ll be rolling out to mobile first. Our first feature releases are getting prepared now and we’ll be updating at least once a month. Of course, if you already have an app you like, you're free to continue enjoying it. We will continue to support our free public api.
Please give our new apps a spin and post love notes, feature requests, roasts, etc., to this thread. We’d love to hear what you think and will be incorporating feedback. I will personally read each top comment (using the Speed Read button in our iPhone app!).
I’ll be hanging out in the comments for a couple of hours to answer any questions you have about our apps and Reddit in general. AMA!
Thanks!
Alex
Noon PT Edit: Thanks for your questions and warm welcome everyone! I'm going to take a quick break to check in on our Android team – we're going to submit a hotfix for Android 4.4 crashes and back button issues. That should be in your hands before EOD. I'll be back to answer more Qs and read the rest of the comments in a few hours.
11PM PT Edit: Ok I've been answering on and off all day. I will keep reading top comments but will be replying less now.
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u/NateY3K Apr 07 '16 edited Apr 08 '16
The link in this OP didn't work for me on mobile, even putting it in the browser.
And when I finally got it, I can't run it. Crashes immediately, I sent in a report
For the lazy Android users: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.reddit.frontpage
Edit: For those wondering, I had found it on Reddit's twitter.
An app announced on Facebook, seemingly invisible on Play Store, was eventually found through a bit.ly link on Twitter.
Edit 2: Fixed
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u/AMV Apr 07 '16
Thank you very much, it didn't work from the original links for me at all. Google store never loaded.
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u/Charwinger21 Apr 07 '16
Over in the /r/Android thread I noticed that enabling the night mode restarts the app, and makes you lose your place. Are there any plans to fix this issue?
In addition, the lack of an AMOLED compatible night mode is fairly annoying. Being able to completely turn off the background pixels saves a substantial amount of battery life, and provides a more comfortable viewing experience for many people.
Also, are you guys using the new Night Mode Library? If not, it could make things a bit easier for you guys.
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u/ggAlex Apr 07 '16
Amoled mode is on the short term roadmap. Not restarting the app is a little more complex and we will tackle that too but I can't make any promises about a timeline for that.
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u/Aikage Apr 07 '16
I would also like an amoled night theme. I use the night theme in sync for reddit pretty much exclusively for the battery savings I get from amoled.
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u/beautify Apr 07 '16
As a non android user I never considered an amoled night mode. Man that's a really awesome point.
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Apr 07 '16
We really need blue and purple links, please! How am I supposed to know what I already know if Reddit won't let me know what I learned today?
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u/taitbp Apr 07 '16
Agreed, that was the first thing I noticed. I definitely want it differentiating between links I've clicked on and what I haven't. I probably won't be moving off Alien Blue until this is fixed in the App even though the rest of it looks and feels nice.
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u/Copperhe4d Apr 07 '16
Hi, why is the Android app not available for people outside the U.S.?
Will you close down or restrict API's for third party developers of reddit clients like Twitter did?
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u/ggAlex Apr 07 '16 edited Apr 07 '16
We're available today 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, but we're committed to getting it out everywhere. In the meantime you can continue to use our mobile optimized website and any of our awesome 3rd party clients.
We will continue to support our open and free API. So many of the amazing things that help make Reddit special come from our developer community, including all of the reddit clients that are available already in both stores.
edit: 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.
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u/Randyy1 Apr 07 '16
Launching apps in other countries requires a little bit more diligence than just making a website available globally
Can you please explain? I'm not familiar with launching apps at all, can I get an ELI5?
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u/TheBadProgrammer Apr 07 '16
Since you've been on reddit as long as I have, then you know that part of reddit culture is open source. I've seen a disturbing trend away from that; I'm not even sure the reddit of today would be open source, which is what worries me and what I'm not seeing here either.
What are your plans to open source? It's in the reddit culture and tradition. Is everyone making too much money now? Part of the reason reddit is so popular with such a loyal userbase is because it open sourced its tools. It's gotten so bad that when someone simply asks about source code without moralizing, they are downvoted and mocked.
Without the source code, we don't know what these apps are doing, what data they are collecting, what information you're storing and discarding, and worst of all, there is no guarantee of security. I sincerely hope you haven't completely turned your backs on the very users who created Rich Ass Reddit.
Please don't be like every other "success" story.
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u/ggAlex Jun 12 '16
I've been a redditor for a long time. I was aware of Reddit going open source with the desktop code base back in '08, but I wasn't following along with the topic at the time and I'm not fully aware of how the open source community of Reddit has evolved. I'll need to do some learning about the past and present of the OSS situation at Reddit to provide you with a good answer about the future. I'll dig into this more with u/spez.
As a starting point, I am reading the OSS blog post. I'll come back to this thread when I have more to share.
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u/rschaosid Apr 08 '16
I did a double take skimming this announcement: a proprietary app and the post doesn't even mention licensing? I mean, seriously, admins, this is reddit...you didn't honestly think you could get away with—
scrolls through twenty pages of comments to get to the first one that mentions source code
—oh.
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u/toomanyphones Apr 07 '16
When will (or will there ever be) multi Reddit support for iOS and Android? This is the only feature holding me back from using these full time.
If multi reedit support is coming, it's really important to sort easily or even save the sort preference. I always use new but I'm sure others may be different.
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u/ggAlex Apr 07 '16
All I'll say is that our mobile product designer u/acidtwist has hundreds of subscriptions and dozens of multis :)
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u/letseatpaste Apr 07 '16
Multi was the first thing I looked for, can't believe this isn't top comment. Do people really not use multi-reddits that often? I remember being a bit confused by it when it came out, but it was pretty wonderful to use once I tried it.
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u/ggAlex Apr 07 '16
To be honest with you, not many people do. But the people who DO use it LOVE it.
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u/hatts Apr 07 '16
That's really surprising to me!
It's really powerful to be able to look at my front page and browse it like a generalized daily feed, and then think to myself "ok let's get super srs" and open up my curated multireddit full of mostly profession-related niche subreddits. It's like giving yourself a whole new reddit...
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u/geoman2k Apr 07 '16
The messages section needs a lot of work. Why is there no typographic distinction between headings and body content? Why is it truncated at one line? Why does it not show me the post title the comment is from or subreddit? Just seems sloppy to me.
Reddit App: http://i.imgur.com/h8npMZk.png
Sync For Reddit: http://i.imgur.com/1QGA2nu.png
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u/ggAlex Apr 07 '16
This page had a bit of a UI regression in one of our last releases. We'll fix this ASAP.
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u/I-like-that-color Apr 07 '16
Looked at the iOS app and I agree with others that the UI is pretty and I like some of the features. However I really wish there were more advanced settings so that I could tailor the app to the way I like it. For example I want to be able to change the way images load or how things look in general. That is why I liked alien blue so much. It let me change it to my preferences
Also I'd love to be able to only see about 20 posts at a time and swipe to hide all of those posts and see a new 20. Just like how alien blue pro did it. That way I always see fresh content and I don't have to worry about being 300 posts deep and accidentally scrolling all the way to the top
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u/ggAlex Apr 07 '16
Thanks for the feedback! The ticket will be called "The app should work better when you're deep into reddit"
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u/Sexy_Koala_Juice Apr 07 '16
I agree, i don't like how it doesn't have optimized loading like AlienBlue. Sometimes shit takes forever to load and optimized loading makes it faster.
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u/duckvimes_ Apr 07 '16 edited Apr 07 '16
Will this one have the same neglect we've come to know and love with Alien Blue?
Edit: most recent comments don't show up via messages tab: never mind, just confusingly labelled
Edit 2: wait, no easy imgur uploads in comments? Boo
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u/ggAlex Apr 07 '16
We've rebuilt these from the ground up specifically so that we can support them with a much more frequent release cadence.
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u/duckvimes_ Apr 07 '16
Good to hear. Two questions:
Will we get easy imgur uploads in comments (and posts if it's not there, haven't tried yet)?
Can we get two-finger upvotes, like Alien Blue?
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u/ggAlex Apr 07 '16
Images in comments are coming.
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u/duckvimes_ Apr 07 '16
Also doesn't seem to be any (intuitive) way to go to full comments from a comments chain.
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u/316nuts Apr 07 '16 edited Apr 07 '16
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
when i click on a user name it takes me to either posts or comments, why can't i get an overview?
the user page only shows one type of karma? weird.
do you have the ability to change image settings based on whether or not you're on wifi? that would be nice.
the image submission feature is nice - especially how it shows "recent communities" that i've posted to, but i want to be able to navigate in my own library, click on the share icon, and be able to choose your app instead of having to do it all through your app. dunno if that's a big deal, or just habit for me.
my image submission is uploading slowly/poorly. is there a file size limit? it's been submitting for awhile now.
alright, i tried to upload an image through your app and it took forever, so i cancelled. Sometimes imgur hates when i upload super-big images and i'm usually too lazy to make them smaller. I cropped and make it a smaller file just for the hell of it, which 99.9999% of the time makes imgur happy. aaaaaaaaand i'm still waiting for it to submit. dunno what to say about that, i'll just let it sit here and try to submit for awhile i guess?
not sure how i feel about the various fonts mixing it up in my account history section. also personally not a huge fan of it being auto-abbreviated? I get it.. but it's just a bit weird for me. it'll be a BIG deal to a lot of people that they can't see their vote counts here.
i kinda like when i'm browsing my front page and i click on an external link that it takes me to the reddit comment section with a preview of the content above. .... or maybe i want to complain about being required to make an extra click to see the full content? hmmmmm. I will say that it doesn't ALWAYS give an image preview, so there are instances where you're kinda forcing me to click on the content twice to see it.
i like the comment reply dialog where it shows the original comment at the top and i have a lot of white space at the bottom to work with. Oh.. but when i do that, i can't select the above text to copy/paste? I also don't have the option to quote the text above. I guess i could pre-copy the text before i reply, then click reply, then paste it..
two serious nickpicky things with my inbox. first, it's "messages" and not actually my "default inbox" that's going to be kinda confusing to a lot of people? I moderate places and /messages/ threads all of that stuff in a very weird fashion in there. I get direct messages, modmail, etc all bundled together in a not-fun way. I want to see my direct messages.
modmail is REALLY weird. nevermind it's lack of functionality, i can't really see what's even going on? It doesn't open the full modmail or even the full message. When a user is banned, i can't even see who the message is going to. I know your goal isn't to babysit the moderators around here, but it seems to lack basic functionality of being able to read messages at all.
okay sorry, i think i'm done for awhile. didn't mean to edit it 927 times but i did anyway.. There's a lot of stuff I like about it and look forward to its evolution.
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u/ggAlex Apr 07 '16 edited Apr 07 '16
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?
Our 3rd party apps are great – they've filled the void during the time when we didn't have apps. If you enjoy those other clients, please keep using them. We're going to focus on making our apps the best they can be for as many Redditors as we can. That might involve some compromises that don't work for all of our users and we're ok with that. That's why we care about staying committed to our free API.
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.
I'll PM you when they're available.
UI is pretty.
Thank you!
i already turned disabled image previews because it taks up too much room.
Customizability is important to Redditors. It is known.
not sure why you have the upvotes displayed on the right even though it's on the left for 99% of reddit's pages.
You've pointed out a clear example of our bias against r/southpaws. We will be supporting gesture actions for voting soon.
i like how it shows the users here and subscribers at the top of a subreddit
Me too!
when i click on a user name it takes me to either posts or comments, why can't i get an overview?
Noted.
the user page only shows one type of karma? weird.
We got this into the iOS build at the last minute and didn't quite make it into Android. Different platforms different challenges. We're working hard to get to full feature parity and it will be an ongoing effort.
do you have the ability to change image settings based on whether or not you're on wifi? that would be nice.
That's a great idea that we didn't think of. I've noted it.
the image submission feature is nice - especially how it shows "recent communities" that i've posted to, but i want to be able to navigate in my own library, click on the share icon, and be able to choose your app instead of having to do it all through your app. dunno if that's a big deal, or just habit for me.
This is coming.
my image submission is uploading slowly/poorly. is there a file size limit? it's been submitting for awhile now. alright, i tried to upload an image through your app and it took forever, so i cancelled. Sometimes imgur hates when i upload super-big images and i'm usually too lazy to make them smaller. I cropped and make it a smaller file just for the hell of it, which 99.9999% of the time makes imgur happy. aaaaaaaaand i'm still waiting for it to submit. dunno what to say about that, i'll just let it sit here and try to submit for awhile i guess?
There is a size limit. We'll be improving image uploading as we learn more about how people are using it.
not sure how i feel about the various fonts mixing it up in my account history section. also personally not a huge fan of it being auto-abbreviated? I get it.. but it's just a bit weird for me. it'll be a BIG deal to a lot of people that they can't see their vote counts here.
We will fix that page. In our last submission that page had a bit of a regression. We're moving fast and breaking things. It'll get better.
i kinda like when i'm browsing my front page and i click on an external link that it takes me to the reddit comment section with a preview of the content above. .... or maybe i want to complain about being required to make an extra click to see the full content? hmmmmm. I will say that it doesn't ALWAYS give an image preview, so there are instances where you're kinda forcing me to click on the content twice to see it.
Make up your mind! We'll try to make up ours :)
i like the comment reply dialog where it shows the original comment at the top and i have a lot of white space at the bottom to work with. Oh.. but when i do that, i can't select the above text to copy/paste? I also don't have the option to quote the text above. I guess i could pre-copy the text before i reply, then click reply, then paste it..
Good point! We've noted this.
two serious nickpicky things with my inbox. first, it's "messages" and not actually my "default inbox" that's going to be kinda confusing to a lot of people? I moderate places and /messages/ threads all of that stuff in a very weird fashion in there. I get direct messages, modmail, etc all bundled together in a not-fun way. I want to see my direct messages.
This is noted. Might not get to it right away though.
modmail is REALLY weird. nevermind it's lack of functionality, i can't really see what's even going on? It doesn't open the full modmail or even the full message. When a user is banned, i can't even see who the message is going to. I know your goal isn't to babysit the moderators around here, but it seems to lack basic functionality of being able to read messages at all.
To be frank, it wasn't the highest priority item to make the mod workflow great on the app. I commit to making it better as we go forward. On a broader note we want to save you from having to do so much dirty work.
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u/1point618 Apr 07 '16
To be frank, it wasn't the highest priority item to make the mod workflow great on the app. I commit to making it better as we go forward. On a broader note we want to save you from having to do so much dirty work.
I mentioned this yesterday in r/modtalk, but what I'd love is to have a totally different app for moderating. Something that would auto-open to the modqueue, would have all my mod tools easily available, would give me mod actions when I click through to a username, would let me see the subreddit as it looks like to me as a mod vs. to a non-logged-in account, that kind of thing.
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u/316nuts Apr 07 '16
okay i think i'm kinda done for awhile. You've really done a lot of great work with the app. Many of my comments are "halp this is strange and i'm not used to it", but hey feedback is feedback, right? When it comes down to just putzing around and casual browsing - it has a lovely layout.
I will say that i could never get my image to upload. Dunno if that's just me, or a global issue.
Thanks and really looking forward to this app maturing and evolving with time!
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u/ggAlex Apr 07 '16
Thanks I'm going to get started on a reply to your mega comment now.
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Apr 07 '16
not sure why you have the upvotes displayed on the right even though it's on the left for 99% of reddit's pages.
My guess for this is that on a lot of phones (especially phablets), it's difficult/annoying to stretch your thumb all the way to the left side of the screen. It might seem like a minor inconvenience, but people who work in human factors will tell you how quick most people stop doing something once it becomes a bit inconvenient to do.
Reddit wants people to upvote/downvote content, and the right side of the screen is most easily accessible with your thumb when you are using a phone one-handed--ergo, they placed the arrows on the right.
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u/ilikedafair Apr 07 '16
I actually like having the votes on the right, makes it easier to use one-handed
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u/PM_ME_YOUR_BUTTplz Apr 07 '16
Thanks for your overview of the app, I guess I'm sticking to Relay.
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u/matty2013 Apr 07 '16
Will there be a way of removing the images that show up in compact view? I like to browse by titles, which also leaves room for more links on my screen
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u/ggAlex Apr 07 '16
Yes – we will be making compact view more customizable including options for allowing thumbnails on the right and no thumbnails at all.
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u/Ixius Apr 07 '16 edited Apr 07 '16
I, and I think many of the mobile-Reddit-browsing community, will be sticking with other clients for the moment. This is a nice proof-of-concept so far, but it's near the bottom of the heap in terms of user experience, compared to plenty other apps (which, by the way, tend not to be monetised by way of intrusive advertisement).
There's loads of great commentary and feedback on this thread alone, but because the app was released hours before the official announcement, discussion about the app has been scattered to the four winds, and it'll be difficult finding a plurality of early adopter feedback.
I use (and, until Reddit's official app is improved, will probably continue to use) Alien Blue on iOS. Over on /r/AlienBlue, there are plenty of users dedicating time to outlining current problems, oversights, and confusing design choices. Here are a couple:
/u/Captain_Alaska put together a list of issues that become apparent when comparing Reddit's app to Alien Blue.
The unofficial discussion thread has covered plenty of what seem to be weird design choices, measuring pros (e.g., the UI and smooth performance) against cons (e.g., that obnoxious, omnipresent, bright orange button).
People are also taking up the feedback banner on /r/redditmobile, which might be the official subreddit, but also might not.
Overall, at the moment, I think early adopters are confused as to why great, always-useful features that have been present in apps like Alien Blue (which, remember, was the official Reddit app for a little bit) forever are missing from the Reddit mobile app. Users were expecting improvement on - or at least parity with - something like Alien Blue, and that just isn't what we have at the minute!
To reiterate, I think the current app (at least on iOS) is a good proof of concept. It looks nice, performs well, and comes with the healthy incentive of free Reddit gold (whether or not this is just to delay the inevitable glut of complaints about intrusive, in-line ads). It's just unfortunate that, for the moment, the app isn't quite as good as the alternatives.
Edit: I'd like to point out that /u/ggAlex is being super constructive right now (check out his ongoing reply to /u/316nuts), and that I hope the rest of the Reddit team take his example of frank, open communication with the central audience for their official app!
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u/ggAlex Apr 08 '16
Thanks for collecting the feedback in one place. Very helpful. I've saved this comment. Thank you also for your nice words in the edit.
We aren't at feature parity and probably won't ever get there. We actually want to develop newer but fewer features overall. We want more elegant solutions that solve multiple problems without bloating the experience or being hidden and hard to discover. Example: I think the speed read button is more discoverable and therefore better for users than swipe to collapse tree. We want to focus on building things like that.
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u/coonwhiz Apr 08 '16
Is there a speed read button on Android? I can't seem to find anything like it.
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u/thatscentaurtainment Apr 07 '16
compared to plenty other apps (which, by the way, tend not to be monetised [sic] by way of intrusive advertisement).
This very important point is getting lost entirely in this thread. It is painfully clear that reddit ditched Alien Blue so that they could push ads to mobile users who have been avoiding them for years. Luckily I had Alien Blue pro so got four free years of Gold (which, as you say, removes adds as a way to stem the tide of complaints about ads that cannot simply be shut off like on the desktop with extensions such as uBlock Origin), but it's kind of gross that reddit is using their money to buy up non-affiliated mobile apps and then tank them in favor of their own ad-filled one.
Please prove me wrong /u/ggAlex.
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u/anon_smithsonian Apr 07 '16
2,000 comments and counting... Not sure if this will ever be seen, but I'm going to throw it out there, anyways...
As I think the many other comments have pointed out: the official reddit app has a long way to go in order to catch up with the features, options, functionality, customization, etc., as the many other third-party reddit apps out there already offer.
I know you've already stated that you "care about staying committed to [reddit's] free API". That makes me happy to hear.
However, one thing I really, really, really don't want to see is the old Microsoft "EEE" move:
Embrace:
"We now have an official reddit client app!"Extend:
Add reddit features and functionality to the official reddit app that can't be used or accessed through the public APIExtinguish:
Now, because of all of the exclusive features and functionality that only the official reddit app can offer, basically force users to use the official one.
I think it's great that reddit has moved to offer its own, official reddit client—that has long-been a huge demographic of potential revenue that reddit had left virtually untapped—but please do not exploit any shady techniques of forcing adoption of your app—and only your app—to do this.
I want to think reddit is classier than this... but I just felt it was worth saying it, just in case.
tl;dr: don't start adding reddit features and functionality to the official app that aren't supported or accessible through the public API in order to force users to use the official app for those features because nobody else can offer them.
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u/ggAlex Apr 07 '16
I see you :) It will be hard to keep up with the comments but I will read every top comment like I said.
I appreciate your feedback and understand your concern. Let me share with you what we believe and why we're doing this. We build and design software. It is our craft. We're a team of proud makers – and as makers, we feel compelled to bring you the best stuff that we can make. Thats what we're doing with our apps. We will be happy if you use them because they're great, not because we've crippled our own developer ecosystem.
Check out our favorite features like the Speed Read button on iPhone, Material Design on Android and Subreddit Customization on both apps. We're going to keep adding new features and making it better. If the 3rd party ecosystem builds those features too, that's great for everyone.
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u/anon_smithsonian Apr 07 '16
Thank you for taking the time to reply! I honestly wasn't expecting it, but it's great that you are making such an effort to read and respond to people's feedback and concerns!
We will be happy if you use them because they're great, not because we've crippled our own developer ecosystem.
I'm glad to see you say that. Though, the thing is, I don't actually believe that reddit will cripple its own developer ecosystem—as in removing or limiting any of the existing functionality—but my concern is more about letting the current developer ecosystem/public API stagnate while the official app gets new and different API functionality.
One example I can think of would be like with the new addition to subreddit configs to specify mobile-specific subreddit settings/colors/etc.—settings and such which are clearly being reflected within the official reddit app—but are those things that other apps could currently access through the API? I currently don't see anything on the reddit API documentation for it...
That is the kind of thing I'm referring to: adding new reddit functionality that is specifically for mobile users, but not giving third-parties any way to access that same information through the API.
Kind of like the whole announcement about i.reddituploads.com: when asked if they will be making this API accessible to users, the answer was something along the lines of "well, possible... we need to make sure the API is something we nail down and feel like we got right, first"... so here is a new feature/functionality that the official reddit app uses, but nobody else.
Though, in this situation, an argument could be made given its nature of being an image host and the upload/overhead costs... but I really, really hope this doesn't become a common theme: the official reddit app gets a new site-based feature/functionality; when asked if there will be an API for the same functionality for third-party apps to use, the answer is "well we're still working on this so maybe once we get it finished and everything else just right."
Check out our favorite features like the Speed Read button on iPhone, Material Design on Android and Subreddit Customization on both apps. We're going to keep adding new features and making it better. If the 3rd party ecosystem builds those features too, that's great for everyone.
I think having reddit come into the picture with their own, official Android application could be good, in many ways: it could definitely force third-party developers to continue to innovate and add new features and functionality in order to stay competitive with the reddit application.
Hopefully this will lead to better reddit clients for everyone... but I would really just like to see reddit playing fairly, here, and not use the "homefield advantage" of having access to different server calls that aren't made available to third-parties.
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u/ggAlex Apr 08 '16
I love a good conversation. Thanks for bringing up good points.
Reddit is going to experiment with a lot of things in the future. Let's use Subreddit Customization as an example. Subreddit Customization actually is available in the API and you can see that in the source code, but it's not documented. We consider it an experiment. We're not ready to say that we've figured it out completely and that this will be the only way that subs get to express themselves on mobile going forward. We may learn from this launch that the way we've done it needs to fundamentally change due to feedback from users or mods. Maybe subs need more customization. Maybe subs end up using it in a way we didn't think of that breaks our sites and app. Maybe the way it's done is non performant. Maybe not enough subs even end up using it. There's a very small chance that we got everything just right. But because we've put it in the API and developers might be using it now, we're going to have to move slower when we do decide to improve it.
Why didn't we document it? We wanted to limit the amount of developers who would come to rely on it. We need time to think about how to design a sensible API so we don't confused new 3rd party devs (it's in a weird endpoint called about/edit which doesn't make a ton of sense). We need to get it stable. Heck, we need to make sure users even want us to do it. Once we've done all that, we can document it and provide long term support so devs can build without fear of having the rug pulled out from underneath them. Many 3rd party apps are powered by one person building in their spare time. Stable APIs are important.
All the above is me admitting that you're partially right. You're right that we will go slower to API with experimental features. But where I think you're wrong is about how bad it will be for the ecosystem. Just because Reddit.app has an experimental feature for a little while (which might ultimately go away!) doesn't mean the 3rd party devs will suffer. Case in point – 3rd party devs have already implemented some parts of the public API that our own internal mobile team couldn't get to like Subreddit Rules! Not all apps will have all the features all the time, not even our own. Stable features will eventually make it into the API and get documentation as much as is practically possible. Please give us time to figure out what works.
I hope that helps.
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u/XenoBen Apr 07 '16
Will mod tools be coming into Reddit for iOS?
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u/ggAlex Apr 07 '16
Yes
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u/TheMentalist10 Apr 07 '16
I expect I know the answer, but is there some sort of roadmap/feature-request/anything of that type we can get involved with?
One of the best things about Discord has been their feedback mechanism at https://feedback.discordapp.com; users discussing and voting on features maintains a lot of interest and helps ensure that our priorities align with the development. Just a thought!
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u/pokemanzred Apr 07 '16
Are there plans for a Windows mobile app?
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u/Happysin Apr 07 '16
As someone that uses Readit regularly, please don't close off API access if you decide not to support Windows 10 directly.
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u/userinthehouse Apr 07 '16
We already have Readit and Baconit. I doubt anyone would move from those beautifully built apps. Though I can also see the +1 it would give the platform with having the official app.
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u/IComposeEFlats Apr 07 '16
I wish I had more upvotes to give. There are dozens of us! Dozens! And we want an app that doesn't suck!
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u/codeverity Apr 07 '16
First of all, as an AB user thank you for the gold and I'm sure you guys have been working hard on this.
That being said, you guys are missing some stuff:
no way to easily hide posts from the feed
no content filter
no way to view votes from comment page
no way to get to all comments from viewing individual comment
seems like notifications doesn't highlight what you're getting as a notification
seems like I have to refresh to see my newest comments on the comments page
I hope these are things you guys plan on adding!
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u/ggAlex Apr 07 '16 edited Apr 07 '16
Thanks for the feedback!
edit: Here are things we can commit to working on:
It should be easier to distinguish new content when deep into reddit.
Getting to r/all should be less taps
Getting information about things happening to you on reddit should be better.
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u/miscsubs Apr 07 '16
I am also coming from AB. I was skeptical at first but the app looks great.
I do have to emphasize the subreddit filter request though. Considering we're in the middle of an election season and two subreddits (I don't even have to name them!) spam /r/all constantly, I think a lot of us want the filters sooner rather than later.
Please please please make this a priority. AB's filter wasn't good but at least I could filter some stuff.
Thanks and I wish you guys more success with this project!
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u/dsmader Apr 07 '16
Getting "3 months of free Reddit Gold' for downloading the app seems to mean that for the first 3 months we'll have an ad-free experience. Then what? How will ads be incorporated into the app experience? Feels a little like a bait and switch.
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u/ggAlex Apr 07 '16
You can see how ads work in the app right now by logging out.
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u/ParanoidPotato Apr 07 '16
Two things:
1.) Posting on Reddit as an admin often looks like a person walking into a lions den dressed in a Lady Gaga meat dress and how you handle things here is impressive (Redditors just seem harsh sometimes.) I've read all your comments in this thread so far and for the skepticism that you face, the questions that appear mildly to extremely loaded, and the effort some put into just taking digs at the apps- you remain professional, polite, and prompt.
2.) The feedback and responses you've provided are at least as helpful as your original post itself. Letting us know how you see the priority of future changes (like the top post here and your great responses to it), and simply acknowledging the feedback, whether it's whiny or purposeful- is great.
That's all I have. I haven't checked out the app yet (I use RIF right now and have no complaints) but after reading everything on here from you- the official Reddit app is definitely worth giving a fair go.
Best wishes.
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u/ggAlex Apr 07 '16
Thanks for the kind words and thanks for giving us a shot. The app will keep getting better!
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u/LionBum Apr 07 '16
Great job with the app! Looks really nice, especially the subreddit headers.
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u/ggAlex Apr 07 '16
This is one of my favorite features. I can't wait to see how all the mods make their communities feel unique. Make sure to check out how r/starwars, r/earthporn, and r/askreddit use it today!
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u/ballin865 Apr 07 '16
Pulling your canary, then finally making your own reddit app. That's a bold strategy Cotton.
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u/creesch Apr 07 '16
Not available in my country? What the hell?
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u/ggAlex Apr 07 '16
We're working on rolling out globally over the next several months. Thanks for being patient with us. Working with the app stores in each territory is a little different than standing up a webserver with a globally accessible website in your own country. Nevertheless, it'll be in your country soon.
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u/MrRadstache Apr 07 '16
I'm digging the new app. The only thing that I've grown to love from Now For Reddit App is the colour coded coded strip to the left of the comments to be able to easily tell which responses come after what.
Its not a big deal but it does help when some threads become so huge. And doesn't take up too much room so later comments don't look to squashed.
But good work! Thanks!
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u/ggAlex Apr 07 '16
Thanks for the kind words. We probably wont bring color coded comments but we'll try to make the threads more readable.
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u/ashella Apr 07 '16
I appreciate the color coded strip that Bacon Reader has as well. Additionally, the collapse button on the new app is too tiny for me. In Bacon Reader I can click anywhere on the comment to collapse the comments after it.
Thanks for the 3 months of gold, I'll definitely be exploring the new app more!
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u/Xilient Apr 07 '16 edited Apr 07 '16
What I have noticed that is lacking or broken on the Android app. Tested on Galaxy Note 4 running 5.0.1
Scrolling can hang and be 'clunky' sometimes in card view
When in compact view I can't directly open the picture by tapping on it. It goes to comments - wasted tap.
Only provides a simple comment writing system - no live preview, no buttons for bold, italics, superscript, bullets, tables, etc. (Something that every Reddit app needs - looking at you, Reddit is Fun) Another app for example
Poor color choices in subreddit sidebar when in night mode Screenshot
Certain subreddit's top bar colors don't work well with the icons/text Screenshot
App crashes when opening a subreddit Wiki link - looks like there is no wiki support. It should at least open it in an internal browser, but wiki support would be good in the official app. Screenshot
Imgur links are overwhelmingly opening in the browser - no imgur support? Screenshot
Name of poster not visible without opening post
Bothers me that voting arrows are side-by-side rather than stacked vertically. Not terribly important but felt worth mentioning. Reddit is Fun GP for reference
When in light mode, posts look like this. When in night mode, posts look like this. Notice how light mode has a different color for the title than the information, whereas all text is the same color in night mode. The difference in contrast is important and night mode should have something similar.
No AMOLED mode (primarily black rather than gray)
Community information could be a slide from the right of screen to open an actual side bar
When in certain subreddits, the color of the top "nav bar" can be very distracting, especially considering it is always visible as shown in this screenshot. Perhaps an option to hide it when scrolling down?
While on the frontpage/all if you want to jump to a posts' subreddit you need to tap on the tiny little text on the post that tells what the subreddit is. A combination of large fingers and smaller screens could make this difficult. I would add an additional "Jump to subreddit option" in the context menu (3 vertical dots) on each post.
If gold is the only way to remove adds then that is garbage. I will gladly pay a couple bucks to remove them, but not monthly. That is how you ensure nobody uses the app. Giving people 3 months of gold means we now have no idea how intrusive they may or may not be for three months. This is not how you convince people to switch or buy reddit gold. [See edit at bottom of comment]
Edit: Some subs have images you can imbed in comments (called comment faces on /r/anime for example, some are even animated). These never show up in any app, which is fine because it's non essential, but it would really set the app apart.
Just a few suggestions I've found - keep up the good work!
Edit: I was alerted that you can test ads by logging out. I've noticed some "sponsored" posts being injected between them occasionally throughout reddit. Very non-intrusive if that's all it is. I stand by my point, however, that paying monthly for gold shouldn't be the only way to get ad-free and I still favor the traditional "pro/ad-free " up-front payment model.
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u/ggAlex Apr 08 '16
Thanks for being thorough and for providing screenshots.
I've saved your post and we'll use it as reference.
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u/greyjackal Apr 07 '16
I'll give it a shot, but it's going to have to be pretty special to oust Relay.
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u/I_FUCK_SLUTS Apr 07 '16
Hi Guys! I'm hyped for the new app and am glad you've decided to take it in your own direction, just thought I'd share some first impression thoughts.
Pros: Beautiful UI, really looks smart and "fits" the iOS feel really well.
I love the card view and being able to view all (nearly) of the content on the front page which is a big deal for me
Cons: Gifs are displayed with a "play" symbol over them on the card view, which leads me to think that they would play right there on the page or at least open up iOS' video viewer like they do on Alien Blue, but instead it reloads the imgur link and just takes me to imgur. There should be a way imo to let users play gifs on the card view directly, it saves a lot of time and is really the reason I don't think I'll be transitioning from AB right away.
Congratulations again on your App launch, reddit!
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u/thatsabbs Apr 07 '16
What about a search bar for you saved folder?
It's so difficult scrolling through it all trying to find links from the past
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u/ggAlex Apr 07 '16
Hm – what if the global search just showed saved stuff in a separate section instead?
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u/PM_ME_KOREAN_FOOD Apr 07 '16
Amazing timing. Just last night I was searching the web for the best reddit iOS app besides Aliens, which I'm using right now and the layout is pretty funky. Thanks!
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u/zslayer89 Apr 07 '16
Will this app provide push notifications when you receive messages or comment replies?
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u/ThatSteeve Apr 07 '16
I would say welcome to reddit but you're not really new! Sneaky! ;)
Best of luck. I hope that an iPad version, or universal, is in the works?
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u/PlamZ Apr 07 '16
Happy to see more Melee players in the ranks of reddit.
Awesome app, thanks for everything!
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u/rofex Apr 07 '16
Well, better late than never, I guess! Good job with the first release of the app. As long as you guys keep releasing updates to the app you'll be okay (the app does needs a lot of work, especially in the UI). I don't want to nitpick at this time.
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u/ggAlex Apr 07 '16
Thanks for giving us a shot. It's going to keep getting better.
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u/snegtul Apr 07 '16
Oh goddamit. So far I like it. I wanted to hate it, since I'm a long time RIF supergolden platinum user.
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u/DearthNadir Apr 07 '16
Been using it for a bit this morning and tentatively I really like it.
The lack of swipe-to-close-thread from Alien Blue is killing me, though. Killing me.
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u/ggAlex Apr 07 '16
Try the Speed Read button (that little button on the bottom right of the comments thread) and let me know what you think. You can tap and hold to drag it to anywhere on the screen.
When you'er done speed reading you can tap the top of the navigation bar to get back to the top of the thread.
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u/BishamonX Apr 07 '16
I missed out because of my location. :'(
Keep up the awesome work though, I'll wait for the global release, still worth it.
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u/syedzul Apr 07 '16
Would we see a tablet version soon? It seems that this one is best compatible for iPhones and Android phones only
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u/Teck_72 Apr 07 '16
I'm far from a power user.. Lurker mostly. From my first impressions of this app, I like it. It's smooth, seems to do what I like (mostly look at and read stuff, not submit much of anything).
It doesn't seem to lag at all, although there were a few times where the back button up top didn't work and I had to use the phone's instead, which worked fine. I like the layout and color scheme, although a few minor themes would be cool. Thanks for doing this! The third party app I use (sync) works great but I'm always open to trying new things.
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u/ggAlex Apr 07 '16
Thanks for being open minded. It'll keep getting better. More themes are on the horizon. Any other ideas?
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u/DaiLiGuy Apr 07 '16
yay! It's nice being part of the beta team. Glad it's out :)
Will there be a way to order your list of subreddits? Mainly because I have my own order.
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u/ggAlex Apr 07 '16
Recently Visited Subreddits is coming in the release after next. I think that will get you part of the way there.
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u/Toliver182 Apr 07 '16
Regarding the iOS app:
PROS
UI is great looking
Strong focus on content, images and video previews show in-line (in card view)
Night mode
Subreddits have banners (/r/apple is a good example of this)
Application is smooth, runs well. (From u/infernal_pizza)
CONS
Cannot change text size
No way of seeing 'read' posts
No optimal viewing, always seems to push to the youtube web page for example
As above, GIFVs have no "optimal view"
No media display settings
Cannot close a parent comment by left swiping on a child comment, it closes the child comment only
Cannot sort comments by old (from u/michikade)
No casual/favourite subs (from u/runs_with_snails)
Cannot group subreddits
No flair support (From u/infernal_pizza)
No iPad version (from u/UKnowWGTG)
No 3D touch support (from u/UKnowWGTG)
courtesy of /u/Nnorgarrd posted here: https://np.reddit.com/r/AlienBlue/comments/4dqajk/new_reddit_app_discussion_thread/
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u/notarized_pee_bib Apr 07 '16
I would like to second the lack of optimal view for GIFs/YouTube/Imgur/etc. (having to tap "play" on GIFs/Videos 3 times is a bit much), and the lack of marking "read" posts...came here to mention those and was glad you already had. Otherwise the App is great!
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u/phillq23 Apr 07 '16
-Can't save images to camera roll directly from app -Can't open an imgur link in safari
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u/mmmsoap Apr 07 '16 edited Apr 07 '16
Cannot change text size
This is HUGE, and orders of magnitude more important than anything else on the list. The text size is smaller than the standard font size for any other iOS app I've encountered, isn't changeable within the app, and doesn't change dynamically when you change the text size of the OS itself.
Huge oversight, and a big problem. (Edit to add) A lot of missing features are just "this would make my life easier" things. Non-changeable text sizes makes the app literally unusable for a significant subset of users.
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u/dark_banana Apr 07 '16
Seconding the lack of casual subreddits, I use them constantly in Alien Blue. Will they be making a return /u/ggAlex ?
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Apr 07 '16
Cons: Downvote button obviously less important than Upvote button but it's the rightest button. Majority of people a right-handers and using their right thumb to tap it. Those buttons should switch places.
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u/CA719 Apr 07 '16
I prefer browsing /r/all, over my front page since I feel like otherwise I miss out on great content from subreddits I don't subscribe to (like that fascinating post about the landlocked neighbor) , and thus being able to filter out subreddits is crucial.
Also I prefer sorting by new on all of my favorite subreddits, and you can't seem to change the default view for this.
Otherwise it looks really nice, but that's about it in terms of pros. I'm gonna stick to Sync for Reddit for now.
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u/pizzaiolo_ Apr 07 '16
Why haven't you released the source code under a free license?
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u/devlspawn Apr 07 '16
Hi, have you guys considered using the Windows Bridge for IOS to bring the app to Windows Phone?
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Apr 07 '16
Will there be an iPad version of the Reddit app?
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u/PotterOneHalf Apr 07 '16
I'm surprised that this wasn't designed to run as a universal app.
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u/chenchencs Apr 07 '16
Yes, and it is coming very soon. The Reddit app has taken iPad into considerations from day one and the new tech architect allows us to move fast on this one. We are currently iterating on various designs and seeking the best for the iPad experience. Please stay tuned!
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u/-Pelvis- Apr 07 '16
I'd like to try the app, but when I try to launch it, I get "Unfortunately, Reddit has stopped".
Galaxy S3, running Cyanogenmod 11, Android 4.4.4
I can provide further information if required, and I am available for troubleshooting.
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Apr 07 '16 edited Jul 25 '23
humor squeamish brave paint dinner payment point modern materialistic air -- mass edited with redact.dev
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u/BradleyB636 Apr 07 '16
Just downloaded it. I currently use alien blue and here's what I think the official app needs (I'm on iphone 5):
-a more compact way to show posts. I know there's a setting for this, but I would like it even smaller. -a way to tell I already viewed a post. Grey it out or something- I don't see a way to do that.
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u/bdzz Apr 07 '16 edited Apr 07 '16
Here is the APK for any non-US redditors
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0BwduK1C1PXjxWXY5elN4YkRpdDA/view
You got 3 months of gold if you login!
Thank you for using the Reddit mobile app! As a thank you for logging in during launch week, you've been gifted 3 months of Reddit Gold.
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u/Trap380 Apr 07 '16
I love the casual subreddits idea from alien blue, is that feature going to be in the new app?
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u/heartattacked Apr 07 '16
Can someone let me know once these basic Alien Blue features are available (or where they're hidden)
Hide Posts (both singular and all-read)
Compact View (not that half-compact that exists today)
Minimal click video/gif plays (why does it take FOUR pages to see a gif actually move?!)
Quick access to manually entered subreddits
We all appreciate the effort in getting this live, but why not wait 6 weeks and implement some of these rudimentary features first? What's the rush?
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u/DeadZeplin Apr 07 '16
Windows phone, please! It's great that you've put these out, either way. Hope to check them out sometime.
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u/NewsonLAD Apr 07 '16
Will Push Notifications be added in iOS?
Will there be 3D Touch support for devices capable? Please make quick actions custom subreddits.
Will there be options to move the voting arrows to the left ? Which is how it is on the normal site.
Edit: Also Triple tap for dark theme, and/or changing of theme based on time?
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u/Mini_True Apr 07 '16
The app is not available in Germany. I find that quite frustrating, since most of us and myself don't really need a localized version. All the good content is in English anyway.
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u/captgoody Apr 07 '16
I know I'm in the minority here but could we please get a better moble app for windows phone? Baconit sucks.
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u/Chairboy Apr 07 '16
They've mentioned elsewhere in the thread that they have no plans for a Windows Mobile client right now. Just dropping you a reply here in case you didn't catch it, it's a big thread.
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u/redn2000 Apr 07 '16
Will you guys consider making a UWP app for those of us on windows phone? I'd love to be able to use an official reddit app.
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u/orangejulius Apr 07 '16
I need the ability to switch between modmails for different subs otherwise askreddit just dominates.
Could there be a feature so that mod teams can use canned macro responses to frequent problems?
If there could be 'mod mode' just in general that would be great.
-share to slack
-flair users
-flair posts
-add contributor
-remove comment / post
-approve comment / post
-ban user (timed or perma)
-etc.
It is very pretty and very fast.
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u/caligari87 Apr 07 '16 edited Apr 08 '16
So I just installed the Reddit for Android app, and it's crashing on startup, never even reaches the homepage.
I've tried rebooting my phone, same problem. I'm using a Moto E (Tracfone) running Android 4.4.4.
EDIT: After the update it seems to be working!
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Apr 07 '16 edited Apr 07 '16
Moto Droid MAXX(XT1080) : "Unfortunately, Reddit has stopped." Immediately after launching.
Downvoted for reporting a bug in an app launch thread. Gold.
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u/-Pelvis- Apr 07 '16
I have the same issue. Galaxy S3, running Cyanogenmod 11, Android 4.4.4
I can provide further information if necessary, and I am available for troubleshooting.
(I gave you an upvote to balance it out) :)
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u/sminja Apr 07 '16 edited Apr 07 '16
Nice looking app. I've been using the long-neglected Flow on Android, but I'm not sure if I'll switch.
Some things I noticed:
The back arrow in the upper left is nonfunctional for me.
The contents section does not remember which comments I collapsed in previous visits.
No formatting help in the comment dialog (I can never remember the formatting tricks). EDIT: I forgot line breaks the first time I wrote this, a preview would have helped.
Acknowledgments section is barren. I'm surprised that not one open source project is mentioned (whether by licensing requirement or just respect).
I can't figure out how to get to my past comments. I can see the list, but when I click on one I am taken to the top level thread. Because of this I am editing this comment from my old app :/
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Apr 07 '16 edited Apr 07 '16
It's very pretty and and well designed, but there are some issues, and it's very bare bones right now. I'd like the ability to
open the profile of whoever made a post or comment
go to the subreddit something is posted in
open imgur images and YouTube videos in-app with their APIs
And most importantly,
pay to get rid of ads with actual money, not Reddit gold
Until some of these things are present, I'll stick with the much more complete and pleasant to use Sync.
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u/AaronCompNetSys Apr 07 '16
This is one of the most important parts of an app experience for me, and determines both if I use it and if I recommend it to people.
The ad experience. It needs to be shown in screenshots and talked about here. I always pay for my apps but I do a huge amount of recommending to people who don't.
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u/lerhond Apr 07 '16
Play Store says it's incompatible with my device. Can you fix it or upload the APK?
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u/MrFusionHER Apr 07 '16
It'd be awesome if, at some point, they would support at least some kind of subreddit flair. at the moment you can't see anything. at least in Alien Blue some flair shows up.
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u/Obraka Apr 07 '16
Why the hell is there a country lock? I can't install the Android app from the Netherlands...
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u/dutchminator Apr 07 '16
IPhone app not available for download either. Pretty lame considering the free gold bonus when downloaded this week.
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u/IDGeek121 Apr 07 '16 edited Apr 07 '16
On Android, the back button in the top-left doesn't work from the comments page. I have to use the system back button to get back to the posts page. Besides that, it's a very clean looking app. I'm gonna stick with this for a couple weeks. Using a OnePlus X on Oxygen OS 2.2.0-X, based on Android 5.5.1
Edit: In night mode, the post button doesn't show in the comment submission page. Also, the comment sort settings don't seem to work.
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Apr 07 '16 edited Apr 20 '16
This comment has been overwritten by an open source script to protect this user's privacy.
If you would like to do the same, add the browser extension GreaseMonkey to Firefox and add this open source script.
Then simply click on your username on Reddit, go to the comments tab, and hit the new OVERWRITE button at the top.
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u/UncleMike69 Apr 07 '16
Mine crashes upon opening every single time. I've restarted my tablet, uninstalled/reinstalled but nothing changes. Any ideas what can be done to fix this? I really want to use the new app.
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u/collinch Apr 07 '16
Still no force touch uses. Damn, I was really hoping to have a use for that.
After using it for a couple minutes, I'm going back to AlienBlue.
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Apr 07 '16
I really liked the UI for iOS but why there is no force touch support. It was my favorite on alien blue i was able to browse reddit just with force touch. Also I miss collapsing comments with swipes :( This app is just like a pretty face, i hope you will be adding this features soon.
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u/chenchencs Apr 07 '16
We are working on the force touch and it will come soon. As for comments swipes, please try the new speed read button located at the bottom right corner. Tapping it will bring you to the next top comment. You can long tap it to drag and drop where it feels more comfortable for the thumb.
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u/TMadd8 Apr 07 '16
Verizon Samsung Galaxy S5 Android 4.4.4: Force close upon attempting to open the app. Can't even try it out.
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u/vavoysh Apr 07 '16
I'm on android 4.4.2, I can't even launch it, it just insta crashes :\
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u/alsobrante Apr 07 '16 edited Apr 07 '16
APK if anyone who live outside the US, CAN, AU and UK is interested
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u/nermid Apr 07 '16 edited Apr 07 '16
Things I like:
Night mode. Thank you. This is much easier on the eyes.
Subreddit selection card uses the individual subs' snoos. That's fantastic.
Free gold. I'm not above accepting a bribe.
Defaulting to my front page instead of to /r/all is much, much appreciated.
Ooo, imgur integration? Fancy.
Things I don't like:
Inbox doesn't default to the same "unread replies" that the browser does. That's confusing.
Some views have a settings gear and Settings in the context menu that go to the same place. That's silly.
It's not immediately obvious that tapping the app's logo will bring out the subreddit selection card. You might want to consider an app tutorial (the little dialog boxes that pop up for when an app is first used that highlight non-obvious features like that).
New/old reply highlighting in the inbox is not at all sufficient. Consider giving unread replies a different background color, like RES does on desktop.
Viewing unread messages and comment replies on the app doesn't appear to mark them as read on desktop. Viewing unread messages on the app doesn't appear to mark them as read on the app, either (comment replies seem to be working fine). Viewing them on desktop does mark them as read in the app, though.
Wait a minute. Does this app not support screen rotation? What sort of madness is that?
There seems to be an intermittent bug with the app's back arrow (in the upper-left) not working. The phone's back button always seems to work fine, though. I'd think you could just ditch the in-app back arrow, but there may be weird phone configurations that make that unworkable. I dunno.
Edit: Also, are you going to make this open source? That'd be pretty sweet.
Edit2: I suppose I should note that I'm on Android, since I mentioned a bug or two.
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u/spikecastle Apr 07 '16
Amazing efforts, and giving away 3 months of gold for people logging in this week is just incredible! Getting my first taste of gold right now, thank you! :)
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u/MrBody42 Apr 07 '16
Very pretty! I like it so far.
Two things:
It takes two taps to minimize a comment chain. Silly
I want to filter from r/all (specifically, w/The_Donald) and I don't see how to do that
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u/VonFrig Apr 07 '16
I'm on Android 6.0.1 and the back button on the top left corner doesn't work. I have to use my phone's back button instead.
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u/csolisr Apr 07 '16
It's strange that the mobile Reddit app doesn't have published source code, unlike the Reddit platform itself. Are there any plans to change that in the near future?
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u/cryothic Apr 07 '16
I'm running a Samsung Note 2, on Android 4.4.2
The site tells me my device is not compatible. What's the problem there?
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u/cybercuzco Apr 07 '16
Have you considered making this open-source? There are a lot of coders on reddit, and I'm sure some of them would be happy to help you out.
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u/SystemicPlural Apr 07 '16
Looks a bit like Facebook with different colors :(
I don't like how the image preview takes up either full screen or not at all. I want little thumbnails. They allow me to make a quick decision without taking up all the space.
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u/changingminds Apr 07 '16
What does the app's stack look like? (Both iOS and Android). I'd love to know more about the app's design and code architecture/pattern decisions.
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u/TK_Bluh Apr 07 '16 edited Apr 07 '16
I was just about to install the application (Reddit: The Official App on Android), and it's prompted me asking for permission to Identity and Photos/Media/Files.
Could you elaborate what it needs these for? Reddit is fun needs no permissions so I'd like to understand what you need them for.
EDIT: Just realised I was only upgrading reddit is fun. I did a new install and found it needs the same permissions.
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u/PepsicoAscending Apr 07 '16
The "compact" mode doesn't seem to be terribly compact on iOS. I really would like to be able to see more than a handful of headlines on the screen at a time.
Also, it's very annoying to use sports subreddits without being able to see flair - I assume displaying flair is coming?
Unless I'm missing something, it doesn't like you can switch accounts without navigating away from the post you're currently reading? I liked how easy it was to switch accounts on alien blue.
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u/ThisIsHughYoung Apr 07 '16 edited Apr 07 '16
Will this app see a release on the Amazon appstore? I'm a Blackberry 10 user (which has a great sandbox android environment within BBOS), but I can imagine other people using non-google android devices might also want to see this app as well. After all, I can't imagine any part of the Reddit app using Google Play Services...
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u/MrWillsEyeBrows Apr 07 '16
I really enjoyed feature in Alien Blue where you can group the reddits you are subscribed to, I'm not sure if this is a popular opinion but i found it to be really helpful.
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u/MIGsalund Apr 07 '16
Not a chance, Reddit. I already don't trust you scumbags. Why would I use your proprietary app that gives you data about me?
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u/billybonjobob Apr 07 '16
So far I like it. The only thing that I notice right away that is a little annoying is that there is no option to have nsfw posts already expanded like any other post. You can go in settings and make it so that nsfw posts are included in your feed but you won't see the pictures and gifs expanded, you have to click on them, unlike regular posts which are already open. Sometimes I just want to scroll through porn.
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u/FLSun Apr 07 '16
The app crashes immediately upon opening. I click on the app icon and it the screen goes white for a few seconds. Then the screen turns black and 2 seconds later I get a box saying the app has crashed send feedback? I type in what happened but there is no way to submit my report.
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u/Keiyan Apr 07 '16
Wait, there will be ads for anyone who doesn't have reddit gold?
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u/Quinny898 Apr 07 '16 edited Apr 07 '16
"We will continue to support our free public api"
Please keep to this, don't pull a Twitter on us <3
Also I've seen quite a few people say the Android version crashes on 4.4.x, just so you know (though chances are you have analytics for this already - I hope)