I think the only reason they have an app is, that it makes it easier to extract user data. If the app just was “another” choice, without any advantage for reddit, they wouldn’t display a huge and annoying hint to download the app with every page visit.

Many modern webpages are data extraction machines, which is why things got worse in many places. The design is still functional but the main function changed — where it was previously focused on the user and the content it is now clearly all about analytics and ads.

I’d like to say I can’t blame them, because the money needs to come from somewhere, but I am not sure if this is the long term sustainable decision they will praise themselves for when they look back onto things in a decade.