Hacker Newsnew | past | comments | ask | show | jobs | submitlogin

Wait, I just realized after 15 minutes browsing this website that I'm not using VPN. Reddit is blocked in my country, so Teddit will be the replacement for me.

I like browsing Reddit without an account, just to read something. But I don't want to install their super big mobile app (1GB+), and I hate their lagging and weird website on mobile.



Not sure if you're on iOS, but Apollo is a very well built third-party Reddit client. It's about 70MB to install, and lets you clear the data cache if you're concerned about storage. You can also browse without an account.


I wish I could get Safari reddit links to open in Apollo without having to copy the URL. First it's "continue in browser" to dismiss the overlay that shows up each time trying to get me to use the app, then it's "read the rest of the discussion" to go from amp trash to the actual reddit site, and now they only load like 4 comments at a time and you need to click a link to load another page each time you want to see the children to a comment.

Apollo is a breath of fresh air, but iOS rules for having a website link open in an app are extremely convoluted and require explicit hard-code dapproval from both the domain owner and app author, meaning even if you man-in-the-middle reddit.com on your intranet to provide the required headers/metafiles, you would need Apollo's author to also add reddit.com to the list of URLs the app is capable of intercepting. Yuck.


If tapping Share -> Apollo isn't ideal for you, there's always the web extension route. You can hack the Sea Creator sample code extension's `content.js` file to replace https://*.reddit.com/ with x-whatever-apollo-url-prefix-is:path/to/reddit/comment if you're serious about doing this in iOS Safari:

https://developer.apple.com/documentation/safariservices/saf...

That's using their modern extension model, so you could compile it onto your device yourself for testing. The WWDC talk is here: https://developer.apple.com/videos/play/wwdc2020/10665/

It might be possible to ask Apollo to include this, by providing something like the above comments as a feature request. I'm not sure what Apple would think during app review, and Apollo might not be willing to risk it.


Thanks, I’m going to give this a try.



Apollo already has a share target that opens Reddit links in Apollo (and can also detect copied Reddit links when you launch Apollo). I just purchased Opener because I want it to automatically launch Apollo when I click a Reddit (AMP) link in Google, but it can’t do that.


Ditto, use opener for exactly this.


If you are on reddit.com, click the share icon, and there will be a "open in Apollo" option. If you end up on an AMP page, you have to click the share icon in the gray bar up top next to the reddit.com header, and there will be an "open in Apollo" option.


Switch to DuckDuckGo and don’t get AMP pages again. You can also use !g at the start of your search to try Google’s results. Search quality is good and I only check Google occasionally when I know I’ve found the answer that way before but it’s not one of the top results on DDG. I haven’t measured but I think this saves me time.


I used DDG for years but switched to Google and StartPage because DDG just doesn’t work well for the types of searches I tend to perform. I found myself using !g for everything.


Yeah, but it’s always via AMP and the double dance to get the share action to be available and then open in Apollo is too much friction.


I need to look into it a bit more, when I used Apollo images were loading so fast I assume they are preloaded before I even clicked on them. If that is the case, that’s not ideal for me - I’ve seen NSFW content make the front page, but I don’t click on it. Just not sure if it is actually loading the content regardless.


By default, content marked NSFW should be appear blurred. There are options to further control the display of NSFW content.


The issue is if it is loaded it would still show in network logs on enterprise networks. Regardless if the content was viewed or not.


'Slide' on Android. They got an iOS version too, but it's not as polished and not that sliding...

Slide is the best Android app I ever used and it's FOSS too, available on FDroid.


Android users have boost for mobile, which is another alternative


Whoa, their app is 1GB+? Why on Earth is it so large? After all of their horrible, annoying, devious and deceitful ways that they've tried to get me to install the app when trying to browse their mobile site I will never ever install that app and this is just another good reason not to.


... What? I've never downloaded it myself (for the same reasons as you), but that doesn't sound true. Play Store says it's 39MB. But maybe OP has that much in media in the app's cache or something.


It's not app's cache I believe, but rather app's data. I think they're different? It's indeed 39MB on Play Store, but after I installed it and used it for a month, it's using 1GB+ storage on my phone (after I deleted app's cache).


Ha, I hate it when apps do that. One of the main reason I got rid of Spotify and my Spotify paid subscription was because their android app gobbled all the free space it could find on a device by filling it with caches music. “Of course Spotify, I pay extra for more storage on me device so you can use it to cache songs and save a few cents on bandwidth, you’re very welcome.”


Funny, that's pretty much the only reason I pay for spotify. Having music offline is really handy when you're out and not near wi-fi.


I’m not talking about being able to download an album actively. I’m talking about Spotify using up all my devices storage to store their own cache, songs I listened to but didn’t select to be downloaded for offline listening.


Ah, fair. Though to a certain degree I still think that's helpful when I recently listened to something but forgot to download it. I agree though that that shouldn't take up all of your storage and should definitely be toggleable.


Yeah, so that's pretty bad.


Apollo is 70mb to install, Reddit is 104mb.

He’s comparing the downloaded data to the app itself. Unless Apollo clears the downloaded data instantly it’s an unfair comparison I think.


Sure enough, the little information popup (activated via the "i" in the top-right) has this information:

> All requests go through the backend, client never talks to Reddit

> Prevents Reddit from tracking your IP or JavaScript fingerprint


If you're on Android, I can recommend Relay for Reddit. I've been using it for at least 6 years now. Super clean interface that implements Android's material design language well. My phone reports it takes ~48 MB.

I only wish it also supported Hacker News!


What country blocks Reddit?


>Wait, I just realized after 15 minutes browsing this website that I'm not using VPN. Reddit is blocked in my country, so Teddit will be the replacement for me.

I love to heart that! Awesome.


Probably it won't help to get around VPN, but for mobile I prefer reddit is fun app. Simple and usable without any crap.


Try i.reddit.com

You can fallback to old.reddit.com for subs for which don't load with it.


Check Alien Blue on the iOS


Alien blue is discontinued since several years by now. Reddit bought it and the developer made the official Reddit app now instead.


1GB how? I see 112MB in the App Store...




Guidelines | FAQ | Lists | API | Security | Legal | Apply to YC | Contact

Search: