I'll one up this - I use an alternative, unofficial app for reddit. Until recently the 'open' button on their website would take me into that specific app - as you would expect - but since last week or so it's started sending me to the Google Play store page for the official app instead.

Reddit's app registers itself as a uri handler for reddit links but (thanks to google) AMP or iframe results don't prompt the actual system uri handler that would take you to the app.

Oh wow, is this what happens when multiple Fuck You Patterns collide?

I think you just encountered the clusterfuck pattern

"Don't cross the streams."

Whoa, is that what this is? I’ve been wondering for quite some time why in the world Reddit hasn’t figured out how to make the “open in the app” links actually work. It’s bonkers that they spend so much effort making the web site push you to the app, but don’t even provide a working way to open a piece of content in the app.

Isn't that a failure of the reddit devs rather than of Google? They could have the app register for amp.reddit.com links.

So much this. Now that I know it works this way, I just try to ignore any promising-looking search results from any of the sites that do this, because I don’t feel like trying to search for the same thing in their app because they broke their mobile site and broke the “open in app” by assuming I don’t already have it.

I use Baconreader on Android and its great. I've heard loads of great things about unofficial reddit apps and nothing good about the official app.

Use Apollo or (better) quit reddit, IMHO.

What browser are you using on your phone?

Safari, nothing fancy.