Yes, that's exactly why. And I assume they're pushing the app so hard because it's immune to ad blocking browsers and it can harvest more of your data.
Reddit is ripe for being in the parting end of a new digg→reddit event, with users leaving to a federated platform (I can only think of Lemmy). However, I don't know if it's even possible in the current state of things and given the amount of inertia it holds now. At least it should rot as the new Facebook for low effort posts.
For now the best way is to used teddit as a front-end (if you don't post) and Dawn (ad-free, non-spamming, FLOSS app for Android if you do).
Yeah, I've been hearing that for many years now, but I think reddit has entered into the zeitgeist and is as sticky as Facebook at this point. I have non-tech family members that use reddit. It used to surprise me when IRL people mentioned reddit, but now it's very common.
Lots of the Ads and Nags from Reddit come from Reddit servers proper, so it's not just blocking a DNS. Need the magic of a tool like UBO that can inspect URL.
Plenty of reddit ads get past the pi-hole when I view with a browser of any kind, I assume those same ads will make it into the app. As a sibling commenter said, if it's coming from reddits domain, a pi-hole won't do much to stop it.
Agreed. You can get a much better/faster mobile experience by simply adding an 'i.' in front of the hostname, like so: https://i.reddit.com/r/iamatotalpieceofshit/comments/uleq7s/... . That way you will get the old mobile UI, which is a great way of browsing reddit on a mobile device without installing any apps.
Our only real means of pushback against practices like this is to avoid working for companies that rely on them.
When reddit recruiters or hiring managers cold reach out to you, do what I do and politely tell them that reddit's new growth strategies make working there a total non-starters. Not every company has this little respect for its users when it comes to funnelling traffic, it's completely reasonable for a native and web-app to coexist happily, even if the latter results in less lucrative ad impressions.
Yes. I use kiwi browser (chrome but with addons) and installed an extension that redirects to old.* reddit, there are a few similar in the extensions store.
To drive app installs? Completely asinine.