Reddit app gets 1-star ratings – here’s what’s going on
The Reddit app has been taking a beating in the App Store lately, and there’s a good reason for that. This is what’s going on.
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Reddit app gets 1 star ratings
Despite user protests, Reddit’s leadership has chosen not to continue supporting third-party apps. Instead, the company decides to charge a lot of money for API access. And that is something that cannot count on much acclaim. As a result, Reddit’s official app in the App Store is getting the full blast.
Data shared by software company Sensor Tower with website TechCrunch shows that nearly 91 percent of iOS reviews on Reddit in the US had a 1-star rating. That was during the initial phase of the protests between 12 and 14 June. By way of comparison: in the previous two months this was about 53 percent.
The tide seems to be slowly turning
Lately there has been some improvement in the ratings. Sensor Tower data shows that the number of 1-star reviews of the Reddit app dropped to about 86 percent between June 15 and June 26.
Surprisingly, the Reddit leadership thought it was a good idea to remove third-party apps when more than half of their own app’s ratings are as low as they get.
Bad reviews out of frustration
The Reddit app reviews in the App Store have also become a way for users to express their frustration with the company. The top three most frequently mentioned terms are ‘apollo’, ‘third party’ and ‘3rd party’. That suggests that users are adding reviews out of frustration with the new API scheme.
In any case, there has been virtually no good news on Reddit since the Apollo client was forced to shut down. This Reddit app is ending it on June 30, to avoid paying tens of millions of dollars to Reddit over the new scheme. We’ll keep an eye on it.
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