10 Life Hacks Every Reddit User Should Know
If you’re looking for online discussions, recommendations, or advice, it’s hard to ignore Reddit . From popular sports to niche crafts, it seems there’s a community for every taste on Reddit. (And if there isn’t one, you can create one yourself.) If you use Reddit, here are 10 tips to help you improve your experience on the site.
Hide your post history to keep your profile private.
Reddit used to allow everyone to view your post and comment history, but in recent years, you can make your profile private. You can hide your posts, comments, and the subreddits you’re a member of. To do this, after logging into Reddit, click your profile icon and go to “Settings” > “Profile.” Alternatively, you can follow the direct link to the Reddit profile settings page . Click the drop-down menu next to “Content & Activity” and select “Hide All.” You should also disable your “Online” status on this page to prevent others from seeing when you’re using Reddit.
Use the old version of Reddit as default to disable infinite scrolling.
Old Reddit offers a classic site design, and I prefer it over the more modern interface. Old Reddit looks dated, but it doesn’t have infinite scrolling, distracting animations, or a ton of features designed to increase time spent on the platform. Unsurprisingly, Reddit makes this version of the site difficult to access . While it’s still around, you should switch to Old Reddit for a more comfortable reading experience. You can do this by going to Reddit Settings > Preferences and enabling the “Default to Old Reddit” option . You can also visit old.reddit.com , although you’ll need to log in to access it.
Disable annoying subreddit styles to make it easier to read.
Many subreddits use custom themes, which range from beautiful to practically unusable. If you want a more consistent interface across the site, you should disable these custom subreddit styles. Go to Reddit Settings > Preferences and disable “Use community themes.” If you’re using an older version of Reddit, click the “Preferences” button in the upper-right corner and, under “Display Options,” disable ” Allow subreddits to show me custom themes.”
Turn off social features to prevent strangers from bothering you.
Reddit’s social features are useful if you have friends on the site, but in most cases, they’re annoying at best. If your post or comment goes viral, be prepared for an influx of strange people who find it amusing to send you unsolicited advice or opinions. To avoid this, you should disable the site’s social features. Go to Reddit Settings > Privacy and uncheck “Allow others to follow you.” On the same page, click “Who can send you chat requests” and select “Nobody.” You can also uncheck “Show in search results” to remove your profile from Google search results.
Create multireddits to keep track of your favorite hobbies.
A multireddit is a feed that displays posts from a specially curated group of subreddits. You can think of it as a way to bypass Reddit’s algorithms and create your own feed. I use multireddits to keep track of all the sports-related subreddits I’m interested in. I even have one for gaming and one for fountain pens. It’s a great way to create feeds focused on specific interests, and if you make them private, no one else will see them. To create such a feed, click the “Create a Custom Feed” button in the left panel in the new Reddit. In the old Reddit design, click the “Create” button in the left panel. Be sure to select the “Private” button to prevent the feed from being visible to other users. You can add as many subreddits as you like to your list and bookmark the feed so you can access it at any time.
Turn off ad personalization and block ads to reduce tracking.
If you want to reduce tracking by Reddit, you should disable ad personalization. Go to Reddit Settings > Privacy and disable “Personalize Ads.” To completely block Reddit ads, you can use any ad blocker of your choice. I recommend uBlock Origin , which is one of the best ad blockers you can install , although most can block Reddit ads on desktop. On mobile devices, you can try using AdGuard or Wipr to hide in-app ads on Reddit.
Turn off all email notifications to stop receiving spam messages from Reddit.
Reddit notifications are so intrusive that I have no desire to receive them via email. You can easily disable all Reddit email notifications by going to Reddit Settings > Email and enabling the “Unsubscribe from all emails” option.
Explore Reddit’s new feeds to sort posts in the order you want.
Reddit recently switched to an Instagram-like interface . They removed the ability to sort posts by newest, most controversial, most popular, and so on, replacing them with “For You” and “Following” sections. If you don’t like this change, you can work around it. I use Reddit in mobile Safari and recommend the Sink It for Reddit extension . It can automatically redirect you to the old version of Reddit, and there’s a mobile-optimized feature that restores the old sorting options. You can also use third-party apps like RedReader for Android or RDX for Reddit on iPhone or iPad to restore the old sorting options for Reddit posts.
Use a disposable email address to create temporary Reddit accounts.
Reddit no longer allows you to register without an email address or phone number. This makes creating temporary accounts a bit more difficult, but it’s not impossible. In fact, you can create multiple Reddit accounts with the same email address if you use aliases in Gmail or another email service of your choice . For greater privacy, you can use services that provide disposable email addresses, such as Yopmail .
Use advanced search filters to search Reddit like a pro.
After all these years, Reddit’s built-in search still leaves much to be desired—at least at first glance. To find posts on Reddit faster, use the site’s search filters . For example, adding “title:” to your query will limit results to post titles, and logical operators like AND, OR, and NOT also work for advanced searches on the site.