On a whim I decided to give the official app a try because a lot of people will be forced to use it, if they decide to stay on Reddit.

Holy hell, it’s just slow. Can’t scroll through a subreddit without annoying hitches and stutters. Comments aren’t any better also.

On the other hand, Sync is just fucking gorgeous and runs immensely better than the encumbered official app.

How can apps made by small teams or even a single person be better optimized than one supposedly made by a larger team with a larger development budget?

  • Haunting_Tale_5150@kbin.social
    0·
    2 years ago

    I used Narwhal most of the years I used reddit, it also had ads like the official app, but the difference is it ran so much smoother for many years! Main reason why I switched off it was slow development was causing it to become a bit buggy, not the ads.

    • Crayon8027@kbin.social
      0·
      2 years ago

      The worst part of the redesign is how slow it feels. I also noticed how cluttered everything looks on the redesign. The buttons below the titles are unnecessarily big. The multicolored flairs are very distracting. Some flairs are basically an entire sentence long, others have emojis. It makes reading the post titles extremely difficult.

  • abff08f4813c@kbin.social
    0·
    2 years ago

    Never used a 3rd party app. Was very happy with the official reddit app as recently as a few months ago.

    Now that I’m reading this, I have to ask, did reddit push through some updates to make it extra crudy or something? Worse, did they just do it a week before 3rd party apps have to shut down?

    • speechie_bird@kbin.social
      0·
      2 years ago

      I have to say I am also surprised at the number of people that claim the official Reddit app is garbage. I switch between the official and 3rd party apps. I’ve never loved the official app by any means, but it’s functional. Just as any social media app is nowadays.

      The perspective I understand is people who use 3rd party apps for greater accessibility options. The official app is severely lacking in its accommodations for people with disabilities. That’s why I have stopped using Reddit.

  • TheEntity@kbin.social
    0·
    2 years ago

    The people that stay never knew they could have something better. It’s like people that don’t mind the ads, on Reddit or otherwise. If they never got exposed to the pre-ads Internet or to a good ad blocker, they don’t even know they could complain about this experience.

    • genoxidedev1@kbin.social
      0·
      2 years ago

      It’s crazy to me that people still don’t know of adblockers in 2023 but there’s an absolute shit-ton of those people.

      • Hyperreality@kbin.social
        0·
        2 years ago

        Remember that a lot of people are on mobile. Android’s standard browser doesn’t allow you to install adblockers anymore, last I checked. Doubt safari does either.

        • Haunting_Tale_5150@kbin.social
          0·
          2 years ago

          Safari allows you to install adblockers, there’s multiple options too. Most vpns these days also come with adblock even if your browser doesn’t allow it.

  • XPost3000@lemmy.ml
    0·
    2 years ago

    Yup, that’s why I switch to Infinity like a year or 2 ago

    Seriously hoping for Infinity for Lemmy 🙏

  • waterbogan@lemmy.world
    0·
    2 years ago

    I’ve used it a little bit on my phone in the past. Its pretty bad, especially for a major company product

    • blivet@kbin.social
      0·
      2 years ago

      It’s genuinely infuriating that with 2000 employees Reddit couldn’t be bothered to put together a halfway decent app. Apollo was created by a single developer.

      • WxFisch@lemmy.worldEnglish
        0·
        2 years ago

        What’s even worse is Reddit bought a third party app (Alien Blue) to use as the base for their first party app. They couldn’t even be bothered to create something original and instead just ruined the most popular app out there.

        It actually wasn’t terrible right after their acquisition, it really got bad once they made the video player changes to make it more like TikTok/Instagram/Facebook in an effort to grow “engagement” so they could sell more ads. I stopped using it at about that time and moved to Apollo and never looked back. Trying it again a month or two ago (to access my chat messages since that isn’t an endpoint exposed in the API) and it was just so much worse. With Pi-hole it’s maybe usable but it isn’t fun or pleasant compared to Apollo.

        I figure most people don’t know that there are apps that have minor but key usability enhancements and so don’t really care. Those same people though are fine with the ads and taking on Facebook and Instagram and so are pretty much a lost cause anyways.

      • skulblaka@kbin.social
        0·
        2 years ago

        Thing is, they don’t have to do that. They can just wall the garden instead, and then anyone that wants to use Reddit will be forced to either use their garbage or just stay off reddit.

        It doesn’t seem to be working out so well for them, but that was in fact one of several potential solutions to this problem. Why do any work, when you can just bully the alternatives into submission?

      • hellequin67@kbin.social
        0·
        2 years ago

        What makes it worse is they killed off a perfectly good TPA (alien blue) for the dev to help create their app. Which is one of the worst apps I’ve seen, using Reddit as a web wrap is better than the app.

  • Cosmonaut_Collin@lemmy.world
    0·
    2 years ago

    Reddit app has to cram in those ads, and they don’t want you to scroll too fast past those gorgeous ads.

    Or reddit is refusing to pay their developers well, while small app projects are made out of passion.

    • TWeaK@lemm.ee
      0·
      2 years ago

      Not just ads, but trackers and whatever else they can use to wrangle data from your phone.

      • Hyperreality@kbin.social
        0·
        2 years ago

        Yep. It’s like adobe acrobat reader.

        You can use the official app. Slow and bloated.

        You can use something like sumatra or foxit, they’re faster and takes up almost no diskspace.

        IRC acrobat has trackers and telemetry included, allowing it to send data to adobe about where your mouse hovered, etc. etc.

        Same for reddit. Reddit.com doesn’t consider users customers. We’re product. There to be mined for (personal) data.

      • zedtronic@kbin.social
        0·
        2 years ago

        The API pricing is shit, but I care more about how I’m forced into an app with ads. That’s really the straw that made me seek alternatives in earnest.

        • Thalyssa@kbin.socialOP
          0·
          2 years ago

          The app also heats up my phone like games do.

          RiF and Sync do not. Because they are made by people who care about user experience.

  • Criton@feddit.uk
    0·
    2 years ago

    I use Relay Pro for Reddit (which is fantastic) but obviously that won’t be viable in a week. I go on maybe once a day for 5 minutes just to see the state of the protests but I get annoyed about how many subs just appear to be ‘back to normal’. Of course, after next week I expect that to change.

  • kemsat@kbin.social
    0·
    2 years ago

    The apps made by small teams and solo devs can be better because large teams at companies can get bogged down by politics & greed.

  • May@kbin.social
    0·
    2 years ago

    Don’t download it just to try! It has trackers be careful. Is better not to ever download it really.

  • sentient_loom@kbin.social
    0·
    2 years ago

    How can apps made by small teams or even a single person be better optimized than one supposedly made by a larger team with a larger development budget?

    Bloat!

    • Thalyssa@kbin.socialOP
      0·
      2 years ago

      At least one promoted post everywhere.

      Plus most of them are garbage crypto pump and dump schemes.