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Comment by wwalexander | Hacker News Reader

Another fun New Reddit quirk: on iOS, the un-dismissable “better in the app” popover makes scroll stop working, meaning you can’t scroll up to get the iOS-native “Open in App” toolbar that actually opens the app, so your only option is to click their hand-rolled button that just opens the App Store listing, or reload the page and tap the native “Open in App” button before the popover reappears.

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As an opinionated 'power user' type, I've become used to experiencing friction on web 2.0. So for example I sometimes have to make accommodations because my adblocker or user scripts aren't working with a change on a site. I also find myself doing a lot of captchas, because I use a VPN. That's not unexpected: I'm treading an unhappy path, I shouldn't expect my usage to be considered when these changes are made.

But what I find increasingly common is that I run into these kinds of frictions even when I do behave as a normie. So even if I do install the official Reddit app, I'll end up going through the broken flow you've described. Or I'll make an account and be immediately given a shadowban for being a 'bot'. Or I'll see cookie prompts interfere with login prompts interfering with app prompts.

Devs aren't even making things work outside their own setup now.

>But what I find increasingly common is that I run into these kinds of frictions even when I do behave as a normie.

Often, this friction is on purpose. A good example is how websites show the cookie banner:

The least friction will be to disable tracking cookies, and showing an unobtrusive banner asking the user to opt-in. Very few sites do this.

Showing a screen-blocking pop-up where users get to "accept all" or "deny all" adds friction.

The worst is when a site shows that pop-up but removes "deny all", instead forcing the user to reject all cookies one by one.

I think it's the most commonly used dark pattern out there.

On iOS this popover breaks scrolling, which is required to show the Chrome URL bar, meaning I have to literally close the Chrome app and reopen it to even navigate to another page. I've taken this as a sign to stop using Reddit entirely.

Its the same on Android now. Just another self inflicted gun shot from reddit. I now actively avoid reddit search results. Its unfortunate. Reddit had some toxic subs but at least you could expect mostly humans participating.

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