Indeed I don't think the new UI was caused by a desire to increase engagement. All the dark patterns and annoyances can trivially be implemented on the old UI, up to the slowness if needed (just add sleep(500) on every HTTP endpoint).

I believe the problem is that there's a significant frontend/JS team (along with managers, etc) that needed something to do so a rewrite was planned. It probably started with good intentions (and the initial MVP/prototype probably was lightning-fast), but now once all the bloat is they ended up with a pile of shit, but bonuses have been paid, people have been hired/promoted and can brag about this new "achievement" on their resumes, so turning back while saving face is impossible.

I'd recommend using [Apollo](https://apolloapp.io/) on iOS and Apple silicon MacOS devices. I use that almost exclusively these days, as their web interface is absolute ass by comparison (their own reddit app is as well)

To be frank, if a service makes using their stuff unpleasant for me, I'll just try not use the service rather than installing third-party apps. In fact there is very little “try” involved in this case, avoiding Reddit on mobile completely and only occasionally bothering on desktop when it comes up in specific searches or passed on links, doesn't leave me feeling I'm missing out on anything useful.