While the official Reddit app offers a serviceable way to browse the social network, its many flaws led to third-party apps offering a better experience. However, due to the API fee changes, many have shut down, reducing the selection available to users.

We dug out the best third-party apps remaining, so you don't have to rely on the official Reddit app when browsing on your Android tablet. But if you've decided it's time to give up Reddit for good, try one of our favorite entertainment apps on Android.

What happened to your favorite Reddit app?

Many third-party Reddit apps were officially sunset on July 1, 2023, due to a drastic and sudden price increase for the Reddit API, which these apps must hook into to display Reddit content. The API was previously free to use, but Reddit argues that maintaining and providing the API incurs high costs. The company also says it's concerned about machine learning companies building large language model chatbots for free while profiting from Reddit's trove of data.

Most third-party developers agree with Reddit that the API should cost money, as it's clear to them that providing access for free is not a viable long-term strategy for the business. However, developers were blindsided by the quick announcement, giving them no time to calculate and incorporate pricing changes in their apps. Another issue is that along with the pricing change, Reddit is also blocking API access for not-safe-for-work content (NSFW), which means third-party apps would provide an incomplete experience.

On top of this, the Reddit leadership accused prominent third-party developer Christian Selig of Apollo of blackmailing them amidst discussions of the API changes, which he could disprove thanks to a recording of the conversation with the Reddit team. All the poor communication and the unfavorable decisions combined led to a great Reddit blackout, with many communities going private in protest.

With the new API pricing, only a few third-party apps are left on the market. Most now require a subscription fee to operate, although RedReader was granted exceptions to the API fees, allowing their users to continue using the app for free. Some apps continue to work for free but don't allow logins.

1 Relay for Reddit

Relay nailed the Reddit experience on Android with beautiful animations and intuitive gesture-based navigation. Swipe left on a post to glance through comments, share a post, or save it. You could use the same gesture on any comment to upvote, downvote, or reply to it. All these gestures summed up to flawless Reddit browsing on a small screen.

Speaking of adding or replying to comments, it offered a rich text editor to fire up comments without switching to the desktop. Other add-ons included blocking users, filtering content, and customizing the appearance.

However, Relay is no longer free to use. Using it requires paying for a monthly subscription. Tiers range from $0.99 to $4.99 a month. Each tier is differentiated by the amount of API calls allowed. The cheapest offers 1,350 API calls a month, which averages to about 30 minutes of daily use. The most expensive plan offers unlimited use. There are more expensive plans, but this additional money goes toward funding the app's development.

2 Infinity for Reddit​​

Infinity offers many customization options to change the look and feel of the app. If you're not a fan of the default hamburger menu look, head to interface settings to activate bottom navigation. You can also customize the fonts, navigation drawer, tabs on the main page, time format, posts, comments, and post details from the same Interface menu. Its theming options deserve mentioning, as they are as good as Slide for Reddit.

Lazy mode is an interesting add-on that many will appreciate. You can activate Lazy mode to turn on auto-scrolling on the homepage. The default Lazy mode interval is set at 2.5 seconds, but you can extend it to 10 seconds from the settings. Infinity is open source and was previously free to download and use.

The default hamburger menu and blue theme might not be everyone's cup of tea. We recommend spending some time customizing the Infinity interface to your preference.

Just like Relay, using Infinity requires a monthly subscription fee. Unlike Relay, every subscription tier offers unlimited use, with the proceeds from more expensive tiers going to the developer. The cheapest tier is $2.99 a month, less expensive than Relay's unlimited-use tier.

3 Redditoria for Reddit

Redditoria had a unique take on Reddit. The app didn't bombard your homescreen with countless posts. It showed a couple of posts with a huge media banner at the top. The app UI felt minimalist, simple, and intuitive. Redditoria missed out on text customization options. If you didn't like the default text style and size, you were out of luck.

You could pin your preferred subreddits at the top. If you are tired of the usual third-party Reddit apps on Android, Redditoria was worth trying.

Redditoria entered a state of hibernation long before the controversy around API pricing, with the app receiving its last update in 2021 and the developer focusing on other projects. However, it's still active despite no word from the developer regarding the API controversy. The major catch is that you can't log in. You can only view subreddits and posts as a guest.

4 Now for Reddit​​​​​​

Now for Reddit may look outdated compared to the competition, but it gets the job done with an easy-to-use interface and thoughtful add-ons. You can change the appearance, card style, subreddit layout, and more.

You can also turn off gestures, set filters to remove NSFW content or specific keywords, and use the built-in video player to watch YouTube videos without leaving the app. Now for Reddit needs a major UI overhaul to keep up with the intense competition.

Using Now for Reddit requires a $3.99 subscription fee. This gets you unlimited use of the app, and you can pay more to fund app development.

5 RedReader​​​​​​ for Reddit

RedReader is another free Reddit app on Android. Although it looks a bit dated compared to Sync and Relay, RedReader does the job for an average Redditor. The app comes with an excellent theming engine. You can pick from Red, Night, Green, Blue, Orange, Gray, and Ultra Black colors. RedReader lets you tweak font size, image and video views, and menus to your preference.

The app supports multiple Reddit accounts and comes with privacy features like hiding the app content in the recent menu. We hope to see a nice Material You makeover in future updates.

RedReader is one of a few apps that received a non-commercial accessibility exemption and can keep running after the July 1 deadline, remaining a completely free and open source app.

6 Narwhal for Reddit​​​​​​

Narwhal is another Reddit app that gives tough competition to the official app. The app has several customization features to change the fonts, image view, post view, and more. However, the major menus are at the top and can be hard to reach. The developers need to redesign the app to place all the necessary menus at the bottom for easy accessibility. The theming options are also limited to light, blue, and dark modes.

Narwhal is only available on iOS for $3.99 a month. This gives you unlimited use of the app. There are no additional subscription tiers.

7 Atom for Reddit

Atom for Reddit offers a simplistic but clean interface, several customization options, and useful tools like an easy account switcher and data saver tools. Comment threads are easy to read. You won't get lost in confusing icons. However, it is limited compared to apps like Infinity and Relay.

Atom's response to Reddit's API changes was to prevent users from loading more posts once they reached the free API requests limit. There has been little word from the developers on what a long-term plan will look like. Still, it's a useful app if you only use Reddit in short bursts.

Don't limit your social interactions to Reddit

Some apps, like Sync and Boost, switched to Lemmy for users. This social network offers a similar experience to Reddit, albeit with a smaller user base. But it's not the only choice. There are plenty of Reddit alternatives to replace your subreddits.