Reddit users revolt against the iOS app’s new video player

Wall Street isn't the only thing Redditors are revolting against

When Redditors are displeased with something, they make it abundantly clear. One needs to look no further than the current war between retail investors on /r/WallStreetBets and institutional investors on Wall Street. While meme stocks are currently dominating the front page of the Internet, a lot of users are not happy with how Reddit’s hot memes are being delivered to them. The official Reddit for iOS app recently received an update that added a new video player UI, and many users don’t like it one bit.

The Reddit Mobile subreddit, the community where Reddit administrators notify users of new Android and iOS app updates, is currently filled to the brim with complaints about the new video player. Many users describe the experience as TikTok or Instagram-like. Others simply say it’s too intrusive and also requires more button presses to reach the comments section of a post. Here’s a screen recording that shows off the new video player UI in Reddit for iOS:

[iOS][2021.03.0] Why does it now take three actions to get to the comments on a video? I was quite happy just pressing one icon. I’m not impressed with this update at all. from r/redditmobile

The new video player UI has yet to reach the Android version, but we’d be surprised if Reddit pushes ahead with the controversial video player changes in their current form. Personally, I use Reddit is Fun on Android, but I’ve been tempted to switch over to the official app since a lot of new features aren’t available to third-party apps (eg Chat). I definitely won’t switch over if this is the direction that the official Reddit app is headed. Fortunately, many third-party Reddit clients provide a better core experience than the official mobile app, so the benefits of staying away from the official app outweigh the downsides in my opinion. On iOS, I’ve heard great things about the Apollo app, so check that out if you’re looking to switch to an alternative.