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Reddit keeps testing desktop UI changes ahead of its IPO
Are the developments related? We don’t know yet
Reddit is among the largest repositories of authentic, human-generated content, making it everyone’s favorite Google Search keyword when they seek real-world opinions and immediate answers to questions, without any precursory drama and fluff. The UI design for Reddit on the web and on Android plays an important role in making such vast information digestible and easy to read. However, Old Reddit made way for the current UI, but ahead of filing an IPO and offering data for language model training, the company is experimenting with a newer UI design.
Don't let Reddit monetize your knowledge just so Google can train its AI
Let's take our content back to send a message
I can honestly say that I wouldn't be working at Android Police if it wasn't for Reddit. I started more than a decade ago making lists on r/androidgaming, because even back then the Play Store was atrocious for discovery. After messing around with my own sites and a startup, I moved on to writing at AP, still to this day making lists of all the best games you can find.
Gemini misses the mark as AI goes social in this week's biggest Android news
This week in Android: Google kills an app, pauses a killer feature, and births a new partnership — all before MWC
If it feels like the AI revolution is happening too fast, too bad — there's money to be had and many companies see the tech as the biggest cash cow since the dot-com boom. That became more apparent this week in Android news, as Google had to hit pause on a Gemini feature that was evidently a bit undercooked, and we found out which "unnamed large AI company" is injecting Reddit with capital ahead of its IPO. Meanwhile, a popular app has died, some Wyze cam users might be dying of embarrassment, and a pair of drop-dead gorgeous smartwatches are making headlines this week.
Google will use Reddit's hate-filled content to train its AI
Deal for $60 million per year was struck ahead of Reddit's rumored IPO
As Google continues to expand upon its ventures into artificial intelligence, it’s looking for new sources of data to train its language- and machine-learning models. Without relevant, accurate information, AI tools immediately lose their value. That being said, not everyone is ready to consent to companies like Google using their data for AI training. Now, new reports have confirmed one entity that is stepping up to meet the tech giant’s needs.
Reddit deal to allow 'large AI company' to train its model on user content
Months after restricting API access, Reddit finds a buyer for all those valuable user comments
Even if you don't frequent Reddit, there's a good chance you've used everyone's favorite Google trick, where you type something you're looking for into a search engine, and then just add the word "reddit" afterward to find threads full of valuable information like reviews and other user comments. With AI chatbots like Google Gemini and ChatGPT doing their best to answer questions directly instead of only listing links, Reddit comments have become a hot commodity in recent months, and the company famously monetized its API last year as a result, effectively killing off third-party Reddit clients. Now, it appears we're seeing the next phase in this plan.
The 4 best Reddit alternatives: Top picks to replace your subreddits
Build your communities elsewhere now that most Reddit third-party clients are dead
Many people haven't forgiven Reddit for killing the thriving ecosystem of third-party apps by outpricing developers with high API usage prices. Many of the best Reddit clients had to be sunset, and there was a public fight between the developer of the popular iOS client, Apollo, and the CEO of Reddit. That's why people are leaving Reddit behind and turning to alternative social networks. We list the most promising contenders in this roundup.
Reddit can be a great social media platform if you want to explore niche hobbies with a certain degree of anonymity. The app lets you dig deeper into varied topics, share content, and interact with a diverse community online. Not only that, Reddit users often provide resources, ideas, or product advice. You can access Reddit across multiple devices, whether you use an Android phone, a laptop, or a cheap Chromebook.
If you're tired of the standard social media experience, try Reddit. While it's not considered one of the major social media platforms, its users will tell you, in a long-form essay, that Reddit is an excellent tool to discuss everything from news and entertainment to conspiracy theories and DIY home projects.
A massive Reddit outage affecting users across the globe has been resolved
'An elevated level of API errors' was to blame
Read update
Many Reddit users are currently experiencing issues loading the front page and comments sections, both in the app and on the mobile and desktop website. The social media company maintains its own status update site, and at 1:16 p.m. ET, it reportedly began investigating issues with its API that are affecting users globally.
How to make a subreddit
A quick-start guide to creating a community on one of the most popular social media sites
Reddit can be an amazing social media platform for those who want to dive deeper into interesting topics, explore niche hobbies, and interact with various communities online. Reddit is available on all devices, whether it's an Android phone, a laptop, a desktop, or an inexpensive Chromebook.
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.
Popular Reddit client offers first sneak peek of potential subscription pricing
Pay for Relay for Reddit based on your usage
Thanks to Reddit's stringent new API guidelines, almost all the best third-party clients for the platform are dead. While many developers tried to ensure their app survived the ordeal, Reddit's absurd API pricing made this extremely difficult. Back in June, the developer of Relay for Reddit, a popular Android Reddit app, suggested the app might survive by going the subscription route, though there was no mention of the pricing. Two months later, the developer has provided more insight into the app's potential subscription pricing and how you can see your daily average API calls.
Sync for Reddit returns as Sync for Lemmy
The new app uses a federated social feed and comes with optional pay tiers
Sync for Reddit was a popular third-party client for Android users — in fact, it topped our list of the best Reddit apps back when those were still a thing. But after Reddit's recent API changes effectively killed third-party apps, Sync developer Laurence Dawson decided to pivot toward a new project: bringing his app's intuitive Material You interface to a different platform. Now, Sync is officially back from the dead.
Sync is back on the Play Store, but it's not a third-party Reddit app anymore
The fediverse shall heal us all
The concept of federated social media is still one that's not on many people's minds just yet, but as Twitter got taken over by Elon Musk and Reddit went thermonuclear on third-party apps, many started looking at it as an option. In that regard, Lemmy is to Reddit what Mastodon is to Twitter — a federated alternative where you have many different servers with many different communities co-existing with each other. Being an open alternative to Reddit, it's also where many developers of third-party apps are going. Now, Sync, formerly a third-party app for Reddit, has officially become a Lemmy client, and it's now listed in the Play Store.
How to add Reddit spoiler tags to hide comments and posts
Do everyone a favor and stop showing spoilers
You may have dabbled with handy third-party apps for Reddit to ease your browsing and posting experience. However, Reddit's paid API has caused turmoil for many third-party apps, even causing some to shut down completely. But if you haven't moved on from the most popular platform for social news and discussion aggregation, you may need to relearn Reddit's essential posting etiquette tools, such as spoiler tagging your Reddit posts and comments.
Reddit has been in the news for all the wrong reasons lately. It caught public attention with several subreddits taking part in a site-wide protest, going dark in an attempt to overturn Reddit’s new paid API model. More recently, the platform that has curated all these wonderful communities over the years killed the awards system through which people paid Reddit real money to appreciate other redditors in the form of mostly pointless internet points. Now, the platform has dealt itself another devastating blow, deleting messages and live chats older than January 1, 2023.
Reddit kills one of its easiest revenue streams after switching to paid API
The company is getting rid of useless awards that Redditors were happy to throw money at
Reddit recently caused turmoil when it introduced steep prices for access to its API, effectively killing many excellent third-party Reddit apps out there that augmented the core experience in often significant ways. The company cited its desire to become profitable and cut off GPT scrapers as a reason why it took this step. It previously all but lost money on providing and updating the API. Reddit’s next move then could strike you as odd, as the business has announced that it will discontinue coins and awards, which likely provided the company with a small but steady stream of revenue.
This new Reddit app found a workaround for the paid API, but there are some drawbacks
The free and open source app doesn't rely on Reddit’s paid API, which isn’t entirely good news
Reddit found itself in the middle of a massive controversy following its sudden decision to charge for its API access, which had been available for free all this while. This resulted in widespread outrage as several massive subreddits decided to go dark while many popular Reddit apps like RIF and Apollo were forced to shut shops, leaving only a few clients that survived. But this new open-source app has found a free workaround to deliver your favorite Reddit content, albeit with a few caveats.
Reddit has been the center of attention during the past few weeks, because it is changing its API rules and adversely affecting third-party apps in the process. A few of the big apps have announced shutdowns, and several major subreddits have gone dark in protest. Now, we are learning of a hacker group threatening to leak 80GB of confidential Reddit data unless the company rolls back the API changes and coughs up a ransom.
Weekend poll: Do you currently use a third-party Reddit app?
How affected are you by Reddit's incoming API changes?
Unless you've been living under a rock for the past couple of weeks, you've probably heard about the ongoing drama happening at Reddit. Some unpopular changes to the company's API are set to go into effect at the end of the month, and under the new pricing structure, the vast majority of popular Reddit apps are unable to continue functioning (with some potentially lucky survivors). This led to a massive subreddit blackout at the start of this week, and although many of the nearly 8,000 subreddits that went dark have since come back online, some major players remain locked.