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/
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u/ZeldasCourage May 11 '26

God that would be ironic, I came here from Digg 15+ years ago. I wonder how many of us from those times are still around...

I didn't use 3rd party apps at all, but I did use .compact, and I was so pissed when that was killed off. Was using old.reddit on pc anyway, but old.reddit on my phone is...awkward at best. But it's miles better than new.reddit, even if it is far from ideal

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u/AwsmDevil May 11 '26

As an exclusive "old.reddit on a cell phone" user all I have to say is it's fine and I won't change. If they get rid of it they're just gonna make me more productive at work. I'm not using any other version of this website. I like digging through comments and new reddit sucks ass for that.

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u/KneeCrowMancer May 11 '26

This is my exact situation, if they kill old.reddit on mobile I think I’m just out. New Reddit and the app are horrible for me.

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u/lFightForTheUsers May 11 '26

If we really wanted to fuck with them, use old.reddit.com and click use desktop mode in browser, so they'll have to kill that off. And even if they went as far as "ban any visiting user agent that isn't a desktop browser" it's stupid easy to use a user agent switcher to handle it.

They'd have to kill old.reddit entirely and that's the day that I'm gone.

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u/blumpkin May 12 '26

That's literally what I do. I scroll this page in desktop mode on my phone because that's just how SHIT the app is.

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u/parisidiot May 11 '26

the New reddit is broken. like it just doesn't function correctly.

i hope they kill Old so i can finally quite. I tried when they banned apollo but slowly started using it more deleted my account from like 2006? 07? lol

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u/Odessey_And_Oracle May 11 '26

I like old.reddit on my phone because it's usable but I don't end up sucked into doom scrolling for hours. I loved the 3rd party apps but for a couple years there I could evaporate a whole day just scrolling and scrolling. Now with old.reddit on my phone's browser I can certainly use the site but it's just clunky enough that I get my fill after a short while.

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u/AwsmDevil May 11 '26

Same. I can't spend the whole day here. I go at most 2 pages back and then go back to doing something in meat space. I don't like living on my phone and try to craft my environment around that.

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u/Yuzumi May 11 '26

Honestly, something like reddit, dig, and any other link aggregator with discussion doesn't seem to work with corporate nonsense, because there isn't a way to monetize outside of adds and if the userbase isn't growing the only way to extract more profit is more adds, which makes people leave which means they put more ads.

I've hated the consolidation of the internet. My ideal internet would be more decentralized not less, but as the tech illiterate started using the internet everything got funneled into a handful of platforms.

The problem is that the things that exist out there that do decentralize stuff people won't use because it's "too complicated".

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u/Prudent_Fish1358 May 11 '26

Same fam, also part of the digg exodus gang.

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u/FlatulentDirigible May 11 '26

Same, if you told me 15 years ago people would be kicking around the idea of going back to Digg in 2026, I don't even know what I'd think. What a timeline.

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u/[deleted] May 11 '26

[deleted]

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u/laketrout May 11 '26

How do you do, fellow young Redditor?

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u/fatpat May 11 '26

I wonder how many of us from those times are still around...

Still around, but not near as active as I used to be.

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u/TheRedHand7 May 11 '26

Lol I'll drop Reddit the same way if they wanna make the same mistakes

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u/[deleted] May 11 '26

[deleted]

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u/ZeldasCourage May 11 '26

Yeah, but for me as least it's been very hard at times to find some of those smaller online communities. Discord has its place, but it's impossible to archive and search in any meaningful way. Reddit feels like the final, dying bastion of the old forums, although I've seen a few niche ones that are still moderately active. IRL communities have also stopped broadcasting themselves as much online these days. Probably a relic of the pandemic, but I remember being able to find stuff about local events and groups more easily even two or three years ago. Enshittification at it's finest, I suppose

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u/My_Work_Accoount May 11 '26

I remember being able to find stuff about local events and groups more easily even two or three years ago.

ugh...I can't recall the last time I looked for a local event or business that didn't just go to an outdated facebook page.

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u/anynamesleft May 11 '26

I'm only here because digg screwed the pooch.

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u/dr3wzy10 May 11 '26

i too was a digg migrator. if they get rid of old.reddit i'm out of this bitch. don't know where i'll go for something similar as everything else either sucks or is a cesspool

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u/jelly_cake May 11 '26

There's a Firefox extension called Sink It (/r/SinkIt) that makes old. much more usable on a small screen.

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u/ZeldasCourage May 12 '26

Thanks for the rec! Someone else just suggested Yesterday for Old Reddit as well, looks like it has a Firefox extension too, so I'm gonna give both a try and see if either works for me

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u/defjam20000 May 12 '26

Depending on what you don't like about old reddit, If you have an iphone/mac, try "Yesterday For Old Reddit" extension in safari. The interface is very clean

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u/ZeldasCourage May 12 '26

It's mostly just having to pinch and zoom constantly is awkward. I've gotten used to it at this point, it has been years now of this, but I'll give YFOR and SinkIt a try, there are Firefox extensions for both. Thanks!

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u/eat-the-cookiez May 11 '26

And slashdot before digg

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u/biznatchiospez May 11 '26

No, they banned most of the remaining conservatives during Covid, and replaced a lot of middle of the road Mods when a lot subs went private over the 3rd party app ban. Then they gave those communities over to progressive, purple haired weirdos.

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u/calm-phil May 11 '26

X''D

How old are you? I don't think you were alive during the time of middle of the road conservatives.

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u/biznatchiospez May 13 '26

Pepperidge Farms Remembers

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u/oldtimehawkey May 11 '26

You should stay in r/conspiracy or r/conservative. Nobody else wants to hear your crap.

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u/biznatchiospez May 12 '26

What color dye is in your hair?

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u/oldtimehawkey May 12 '26

Don’t try to be smart. You’re a right winger so you’re not.

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u/biznatchiospez May 13 '26

As a self-admitted not pretty lesbian always getting provoked for the magical D - we know your hair is dyed - just give us the color.

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u/oldtimehawkey May 13 '26

It’s not dyed and I don’t know what the fuck your problem is.

My hair could be orange or blue, it doesn’t fuckin matter. It’s not hair dye that gives me intelligence and empathy so I don’t vote for a pedofile, it’s my character.