As quoted from the linked post.

It looks like you’re part of one of our experiments. The logged-in mobile web experience is currently unavailable for a portion of users. To access the site you can log on via desktop, the mobile apps, or wait for the experiment to conclude.

This is separate from the API issue. This will actually BLOCK you from even viewing reddit on your phone without using the official app.

Archive.org link in case the post is removed.

https://web.archive.org/web/20230611224026/https://old.reddit.com/r/help/comments/135tly1/helpdid_reddit_just_destroy_mobile_browser_access/jim40zg/

  • shellsharks@fedia.io
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    1 year ago

    Jeez. The speed at which I’ve gone from “man it sucks that Apollo is shutting down but I still really enjoy Reddit and will suffer the first-party client” to “wow, Reddit is really trying to destroy their service and it’s probably best I don’t invest any more time there” is insane… going to draft up some thoughts and a probable farewell message for my frequented subs and followers there. End of an era.

  • sintamo@beehaw.org
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    1 year ago

    It’s one thing to test a new idea or a UX tweak or similar on a small portion of users - but just turning off a key way to access your service is so just so weird to me. How many of Reddit’s decisions at this point are some version of, “hey, how angry do they get? What can we get away with?”

    • overlordror@beehaw.org
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      1 year ago

      People need to understand that this is about tracking your eyeballs. Reddit viewed on a webpage does not provide the metadata they want. What metadata does the app provide? Things you wouldn’t think about wanting as a human, but the aggregate is very valuable.

      Stuff like how long did you watch that video Ad? Where did you click on screen and at what time? What content were you viewing and what course of action did you take to get there? Web viewing only shows the landing page you arrived on reddit from and the exit page that took you away from reddit. Performing these actions in the app provides metadata cookie crumbs like a trail of roach shit to every single thing you’ve done on reddit in micro activities.

      • darkkite@lemmy.ml
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        1 year ago

        I’m not sure. I’ve worked at companies using amplitude and hotjar that can record all click event and sessions on web

          • BitOneZero@beehaw.org
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            1 year ago

            That’s probably a big part. Web browsers can do ad blocking. Within the official Reddit app that’s way more difficult.

          • 42triangles@beehaw.org
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            1 year ago

            Users can block those on desktop without issue. On mobile it’s a bit harder so most people I know don’t even if they use ublock or something on their PCs/laptops (though that is of course only anecdotal).

            So if anything if that was the issue they should’ve shut off support for the desktop version LOL /s

    • Continuous@lemmy.world
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      1 year ago

      I wonder if some of it is fluffing the metrics too, like “Since we announced that third party apps are going away, we’ve had X thousand downloads of the official Reddit app” (meanwhile not mentioning that they’re forcing a majority of mobile users away from the mobile website)

  • BreakNeckJim@sh.itjust.works
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    1 year ago

    It’s unbelievable how’s user hostile all of these major site have become. I deleted my 11 year old Reddit account today and while it hurt a little it’s important that we send a message and not use Reddit at least until they repeal this bullshit.

    • NataliePortland@beehaw.org
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      1 year ago

      Same! I deleted my 10 year account. Kinda not even sad. It was going downhill for a while now. But hey I just created my own instance for gardeners called thegarden.land so now I have a new home to grow roots and thrive!

        • NataliePortland@beehaw.org
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          1 year ago

          Hey from the Garden! We had to restart the site last night. Having some difficulties getting off the ground. I think we lost all our users! Were you one of them? Could I ask you to try there again and tell me if things are working okay, if you still are logged in, etc ? I Appreciate the help. Thegarden.land

          • JuicyGyri@lemmy.fmhy.ml
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            1 year ago

            Is there a way to follow this instance directly from the Jerboa app? Sorry to be daft, clicking the link seems to take me directly to a chrome tab :(

            • Metacortechs@lemmy.stellarvortex.com
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              1 year ago

              You should be able to add it as an account, I think from the top left when you are the main feed.

              Edit : went and checked, there’s a down arrow next to your name when you hit the menu icon, hit it and you should be able to add an account on a different instance

      • makeitso@lemmy.world
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        1 year ago

        I’m pretty sure I’m going to delete my three year and ten year accounts and just walk away for good. Honestly I was a little sad all day today, because I have a few hobbies I’m really crazy about and the cooking, baking, gemstone, and gardening communities have felt like home for a long time…but just using lemmy for a tiny little bit, I’m actually really excited! I’m having a much simpler experience here that’s refreshing. I like the content I’m reading.

  • nick@campfyre.nickwebster.dev
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    1 year ago

    They’ve already made the “new” reddit web view unusable for any sub marked NSFW. I feel sorry for the web devs at Reddit that spent all this time making a responsive site that works on mobile, then to be forced to artificially block access to push app usage.

    • spoonful@beehaw.org
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      1 year ago

      Reddit had so much community favor too. The whole awards thing was born from people wanting support the website. If they really struggle to make money could have rolled out an optional subscription or something with a message that everyone would have fallen for. The incompetence is incredible.

  • socsa@lemmy.ml
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    1 year ago

    Some asshole at Deloitte is going to make a ton of money writing case studies about this.

  • m_g@sh.itjust.works
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    1 year ago

    Honestly this is so absurd it’s funny. Peak business brain to think that people in 2023 are willing to download an app and register an account to simply access content.

    • ZenMorph@lemmy.world
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      1 year ago

      Some of the Reddit community is outright hostile to the fediverse and decentralization in general. Apparently the lot of us are too nerdy over here.

      • Uniquitous@lemmy.one
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        1 year ago

        I am absolutely fine with that crowd staying far, far away from us. If they like where Reddit is going, fine, by all means let them stay there.

  • Manticore@beehaw.org
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    1 year ago

    This… is dumb. Reddit gets traffic from people using it as a secondary search engine to get relevant answers.

    Most people on the Internet view it from mobile. Reddit already makes their mobile experience genuinely awful despite this. Blocking it entirely?

    The herding to their mobile app is so transparent (and DEFINITELY through stick, not carrot) I’m morbidly curious to see what horrible things they planning to put in their app that they know users will loathe, that requires their alternatives to be zero.

  • Pekka@feddit.nl
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    1 year ago

    They already made the mobile site practically unusable by constantly reminding you to use the app. The mobile browsing experience was just terrible. They can just show the same adds in the mobile browser…

    • Troy@lemmy.ca
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      1 year ago

      Ironically, I’d just set my browser to desktop mode, and use the old reddit desktop interface. The more they modernized, the more entrenched I become.