I don't think I've ever experienced anything worse than how reddit tries to make you install their app. The amount of intentional intrusions it creates to make it impossible for you to actually use anything but the app is ridiculous.

Reddit in particular is absolutely horrendous.

I don't use twitter, but I could forgive them for being a little slow (if they are?) because of the sheer volume but the reddit app literally grinds my phone to a holt just to load one photo (often, too)

I tried browsing Reddit in incognito on my phone earlier and it wouldn't let me without installing their app, thankfully old.reddit.com exists. From clicking on a search result to viewing an image post took ~8 clicks. The flow went something like: Click on result -> ending on an AMP page and clicking a bottom sheet to view the post in my browser -> clicking on the title to view the actual post -> ending up on the actual post and being told I need to view it in the app??? -> changing the URL to old.reddit.com which is tedious with a phone keyboard -> finally load the page and click on the image

The Apollo app is the only correct way to browse Reddit.

Apollo on iOS or RedditIsFun on Android. Both great apps. I only keep the official Reddit app on my device for the notifications as Apollo try and charge a decent amount for them as they need to do it server-side.

Narwhal and RIF are alright too. But yes, anything but the new website, on desktop too.

Do those have tabs? Otherwise I'll have to stick to my browser.

I'm dreading the day Reddit kills the API's Apollo is using.

That’s the day I stop using reddit

Same here. Big win for other social media platforms probably.

I’m with you there.

Download the app to view this comment with the best experience.

"experience" in the tech industry's Newspeak means ads, stalking and all kinds of dark patterns.

Nobody said it was going to be your best experience...

This is a reaction to ad blocking.

Yes, and powerfully indicators of which services are full of trash.

Nothing like that here on HN, and it's some of the best news/comments on the web.

HN has a vastly different revenue model.

When you need ad revenue, you need user tracking as well as incendiary content. If you can't get people upset so they keep interacting, and then suggest they go and buy some new coffee filters, how will you ever turn a profit.

It's not like Reddit is one guy who lives in the woods, it has so much investor money they need to keep growth up. And app installs are absolutely a fantastic kpi, the more people they can force to install the app the more active installs they can claim, and that makes board members happy

To be completely fair I think hacker News also attracts a much more mature demographic. The mod team does a very good job in filtering out even borderline content.

twitter on android seems to be a web app

I use the web app, but certain features ("fleets") aren't available in the web version. So far, I haven't felt like I'm missing out on anything, but it's an intentionally incomplete experience.

Only the "Lite" app, regular Twitter is mostly native

Its not a webapp. Its a native app AFAIK