This App Is the Best Way to Hide on Reddit
It’s been about a year since Reddit’s API changes killed all the good customers, and the company still hasn’t backed down. Problem: The Reddit mobile app and website can be quite annoying to use due to a combination of bugs and intrusive interaction gimmicks.
Third-party Reddit clients that can post and vote are no longer coming back, but if you prefer to stay hidden, you should still give RDX a try. Available online or as an iOS app , this open-source interface allows you to browse Reddit without opening Reddit. This tool bypasses recent API restrictions without actually using the API at all – it scrapes the actual JSON pages that make up Reddit to give you posts, comments, and media in a very clean format – an optimized version of Reddit that loads instantly, even if you can’t post (or interact with messages) while using it.
By default, the service serves r/all – these are only the most popular posts on the site at the moment. You can browse any subreddit directly – from the app or using the web version, simply tap or click the word “rdx” next to the arrow in the top bar of the site and enter the name of the community you want to browse. You’ll see suggestions as you type—select the community you want, or press Enter to see the best match.
Subscription to subreddits is also supported. This means you can customize your home page to only show posts from communities that interest you. The app can even import your existing followings from Reddit, a process that takes about 30 seconds. In addition, you can choose your own color themes, fonts, and endless scrolling mode. That’s it in terms of options, but the experience is still better than Reddit’s third-party options.
But again, RDX has a big drawback, at least for active Reddit users: you can’t use the client to post, leave comments, or upvote/downvote. This won’t change unless Reddit reverses the changes to its API. But if you’re more of a lurker than a promoter, RDX is just about perfect—a lightweight, fast alternative to the clutter of the standard Reddit UI.