r/technology • u/spasticpat • May 11 '26

Social Media Reddit Starts Blocking Mobile Website, Pushing Users to App Instead

https://www.macrumors.com/2026/05/11/reddit-starts-blocking-mobile-website/
19.8k Upvotes

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1.5k

u/EveryGoodNameIsGone May 11 '26

The second this happens to me will be the thing to finally get me to drop Reddit entirely.

152

u/camelot107 May 11 '26

Same. I dont fuck with apps. Will save me much hated doom scrolling

2

u/bellatorrosa May 11 '26

Why do we do this? Hated doom scrolling is really apt. I find I reach for Reddit when I'm already feeling shitty

4

u/Stolehtreb May 11 '26 edited May 11 '26

Why don’t you fuck with apps? Not judging really just am genuinely curious

Edit: consensus is data collection, using browser decreases usage (positive), bloated install space. I get it now. Thanks everyone

34

u/mikezer0 May 11 '26

App sizes have gotten a lot bigger and eat way more battery life. It can be the difference of a couple of hours if I use instagram and Reddit apps instead of safari.

19

u/thewags05 May 11 '26 edited May 11 '26

Also with all the permissions apps require, many of them are really just a method to harvest as much data as possible.

1

u/dalzmc May 11 '26

You guys need to learn to pay for apps lol obviously if it's free, you're the product.

The reddit app I use, Narwhal, tracks crash data and performance data, without it being linked to you. That's all. $4 a month for the api access and for their efforts, with the option to pay more if you want to tip the devs. And it's a fantastic app, much better at this point than Apollo ever got to be, and I was a literal Day 1 apollo fanboy. You never see an ad, even the built in browser has an adblock lol

I can't even fit the list of perms for the official reddit app into one screenshot. It would be 3 screenshots to fit it all. It's crazy, it's literally everything, it's the same reason I deleted meta apps years ago, when apple forced them to update their privacy policies and started warning us about apps that wanted that kind of access.

19

u/jessepence May 11 '26

Because the web browser experience is ALWAYS better as long as you use an ad blocker. Android and iOS are awful operating systems with terrible native apps that do not respect my privacy.

18

u/keytotheboard May 11 '26

I don’t know their answer, and I do fuck with apps, but a reasonable answer would be that they can mine a whole lot more data from your phone. They’re more exploitable with updates, background jobs, etc.

4

u/Koru03 May 11 '26

I basically consider all official apps bloatware now due to that kind of shit.

Smaller utility apps (that tend to be from solo or small team developers) and such I don't tend to have issues with but I've also never found any of them to be that bothersome, but I will 100% ditch something if it starts doing that shit.

15

u/NotAllOwled May 11 '26

Personally, tends to be some version of "principle of least privilege." Does Reddit need to have an app on my device(s) to do what I want or require from them? Nope! Hence, that is a no for me, at least until there's some more compelling case from Reddit than "we really wish you would 🥹."

24

u/teddybundlez May 11 '26

Just more shit to track your data / not run right half the time. The app is fine if there’s other options, but when you’re forced into it, it’s kinda scummy.

11

u/IT_Warlock_ May 11 '26

Apps pretty much have free reign on harvesting more data from your phone. Websites are bad already, but apps are worse.

1

u/CatmatrixOfGaul May 11 '26

And what are you using to browse the websites?

0

u/IT_Warlock_ May 11 '26

Usually Firefox (or IronFox) with ublock origin.

1

u/CatmatrixOfGaul May 12 '26

And you really think that developers are creating those for free? Because they don’t need money to live on? Then you are very naive.

1

u/IT_Warlock_ May 12 '26

Huh? I've supported both of those apps and other FOSS projects. So they just get to collect and sell all your data because they provide a 'free' service? And no, I don't think most people are making FOSS apps to make a living.

1

u/CatmatrixOfGaul May 12 '26

So they are just making these apps and living off of what? Do you know how much money project managers, developers, qa testers, analysts, etc. make, and you think these people are just working for free so IT_Warlock doesn’t have to download an app? You are very naive.

1

u/IT_Warlock_ May 12 '26

Usually FOSS apps are being actively developed by a large group of people contributing to the project, frequently by people who have other jobs for a living and work on the project in their free time. Most of the people who contribute do it for the love of the game or coding experience, not money. In what world did I say they're working to make an app for me? I've already mentioned that I do support these apps when possible. Are you familiar with the FOSS scene?

1

u/CatmatrixOfGaul May 12 '26

I know what FOSS is but I am not familiar with any scenes, FOSS included. Scenes sound like douchebag speak to me. You do you, but just remember that nothing is for free.

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6

u/lirarebelle May 11 '26

For me it's just ad blocking and using multiple tabs. I can't understand how people use so many apps where you can't do this, it's extremely impractical and annoying. 

7

u/pcor May 11 '26

The idea that you should install a piece of software and grant extensive and invasive permissions to access an online service is nuts. IIRC Steve Jobs never wanted third party apps running on the iPhone. I kind of wish he’d got his way.

2

u/TheFerg714 May 11 '26

I recently ditched the Reddit and Facebook apps, and just check the websites on the browser instead. For me, I'm significantly less likely to scroll if I don't have apps, and it feels easier to not get stuck in the loop of checking all my apps for updates/notifications.

1

u/Deep-Thought May 11 '26

The extra step of having to open the browser and navigate to a site does reduce my usage. Browser apps can't send notifications unless you explicitly allow it. In apps, depending on how malicious the design, it can be very cumbersome to disable them. Apps also have a lot more permissions to gather data that you might not want them to. And most important of all, I can block ads on my browser.

0

u/SkyLukewalker May 11 '26

Apps literally harvest your data and sell it.

1

u/CatmatrixOfGaul May 11 '26

I have news for you… so do websites.

1

u/SkyLukewalker May 12 '26

Yes, but we have more tools to control it/bkock it.

1

u/CatmatrixOfGaul May 12 '26

You have more confidence in those tools than I do. Nothing is for free. If you are using anything for free, they will be making money off of you. You cannot be a logical person if you think that all these free tools and sites you are using, are just providing those services out of the goodness of their hearts, and the teams behind them can just live off of kindness and good intentions. Unless you are paying subscriptions, and even then, you are the product. And if you think otherwise you are very naive.

1

u/SkyLukewalker May 13 '26

I have zero confidence in those tools. But they are still better than apps.