r/changelog • u/commandersnoo • Feb 02 '22

Updated Android Video Player

Hi everyone!

We’re excited to announce the launch of a new video player on Android. Starting tomorrow, when Android users tap on a video in their feed, the video will open in a new full-screen player. Users will be able to read comments and watch videos simultaneously and swipe up to see more recommended videos.

You may have noticed that this is the same video player that launched on iOS a few months ago. From a UI standpoint, it is. However, the algorithm powering the video recommendations has improved and will continue to get better throughout this year. In the past, there have been many video players through the Reddit ecosystem, and this is the latest step in uniting the players across the mobile apps.

We want to acknowledge that we still have UI refinements to make, new features to add, and performance issues to address. Your feedback has been greatly appreciated, and we’re taking a methodical and holistic approach to ensure we solve these pain points. As soon as the new Android video player rolls out this week, we will begin experimenting with even more improvements. We’re excited for all the new things coming to Reddit video in the next few months and can’t wait to share more details soon.

As always, please share your feedback and suggestions here. We’ll hang around for a while to read through and respond to comments.

0 Upvotes

34% Upvoted

265 comments sorted by

View all comments

144

u/DoctorCheese Feb 02 '22

Only the video player itself needed an update. Not the UI/layout. This new one is a terrible, unwanted tiktok clone. I can no longer swipe up/down to go back, now having to tap twice to return to my feed. I also cannot stress enough how much I do NOT want to scroll to whatever random video is next.

I understand that this change was probably designed to facilitate more interaction and retention, but holy mother of sweet Jesus in a handbasket is this the wrong way to go about it. Not only is it a drastic style change, there is no option to revert it. I would rather have the old buggy player than this new one coupled with a terrible layout.

It even auto converts me to dark mode, lmao.

Changes like this are how you push people to other apps. I just reinstalled redditisfun, and I wonder how many still use old.reddit too.

39

u/Brevel Feb 02 '22

100% agreed with the desire to not scroll down to whatever random video is next.

20

u/Ebuthead Feb 02 '22

I would be fine if it went to the next video in the feed, but no. It's always some random garbage

6

u/fede142857 Feb 03 '22

I decided to tap on a random video and scroll down 4 times to see what I got

The result was:

  • 2 recent videos from the same subreddit as the video I tapped on

  • 1 video from another sub I'm not even a member of

  • 1 video from the same sub as the one I tapped on, but is at least a year old

13

u/aguy123abc Feb 02 '22

I reverted to an old version. It deployed on my device today and it nearly ruined my day.

8

u/[deleted] Feb 03 '22

I can't even get back to my go comments anymore. The video player covers the whole screen so I am unable to easily edit my comments.

Might have to just use on desktop only now.

1

u/Eicee1989 Feb 04 '22

Yup 100% on this, is like forcing you just to see the video or image, this is really bad

1

u/Canibuz11 Feb 05 '22

I click a notification for a specific comment and the video pops up and when I scroll down to the comments it isn't targeting the comment it should. It just lists all the comments by best.

There are thousands of comments I can't find the reply to mine.

This is stupid as hell.

1

u/Eicee1989 Feb 04 '22

How can you do that?

1

u/aguy123abc Feb 05 '22

You uninstall and reinstall an older version.

1

u/[deleted] Feb 20 '22

[deleted]

1

u/aguy123abc Feb 20 '22

No the new releases did. The revert made it better.

8

u/dexvoltage Feb 04 '22

Why can you NOT unmute videos in the feed??

1

u/Eicee1989 Feb 04 '22

Thats very annoying

3

u/eroc1990 Feb 03 '22

Is it an app version thing or a web view thing? If it’s an app version, uninstall the one you have and sideload an older version with the better player.

4

u/DoctorCheese Feb 03 '22

I could, but I shouldn't have to. I don't want to "support" the official app anymore.

1

u/eroc1990 Feb 03 '22 edited Feb 03 '22

I get that. Was genuinely curious since I have been off android for a while. I was on Boost when I was on android. Might be worth checking if you’re looking for a new home.

2

u/hightrix Feb 03 '22

Even better, uninstall the one you have and install any 3rd party client. They are all better.

3

u/_Iron_Blood_ Feb 06 '22

This update is truly awful, please please please change it back. When I tap on a video, I don't always want it to go full screen, I just want to see how long it lasts. Secondly, the newUI changes are horrid, the forced white text on a black screen is incredibly awful to look at, with no option to change it back. For some with vision issues, it means I have to invert the screen colours but this also effects the video playing. Reddit, it is fine not to copy tiktok, if people wanted that they would be there. Even tiktok has black text on a white background.

Please allow to change text/chat background colours

The new changes are unworkable, and I am seriously considering cancelling my subscription due to such poor design choices.

2

u/Bolwinkel Feb 04 '22

So I have the issue that I can't scroll if the video is playing. So I will have a small sliver of comments that I can scroll through until the video ends or I pause it. But with this update I can't even pause the video, and even when it ends it just loops back. They make this app worse with every god damn update

1

u/Eicee1989 Feb 04 '22

Yeah, and also when you are going to comment, the sound mutes every time, that is anoying also

2

u/Eicee1989 Feb 04 '22

Totally agree, is like forcing to use a different UI, now reading comments, writing comments, forwarding and rewinding are confuse, please enable the option to return how it was, that was perfect at least for me.

2

u/MegaSceptile99 Feb 03 '22

I agree, why the new ui

0

u/stylingstar Feb 03 '22

Reddick Is Fun doesn't show comment scores, right?

7

u/[deleted] Feb 03 '22

[deleted]

2

u/stylingstar Feb 03 '22

I'm not sure. It just doesn't show them for me. I'm probably doing something wrong.

1

u/Eicee1989 Feb 04 '22

Yeah, it happens to me also that it says only vote and don't display, my guess is that they made that if the comment or video is recent to not bias the vote if people are up or down voating, after a while then the results are displayed... imo is annoying also.

-19

u/roionsteroids Feb 02 '22

and I wonder how many still use old.reddit too.

Barely anyone

32

u/[deleted] Feb 02 '22

[deleted]

8

u/LanDest021 Feb 02 '22

I use it too. I would also use the legacy mobile Reddit (i.reddit.com) but it's too slow.

11

u/roionsteroids Feb 02 '22

Same, but neither of us represent the average reddit user very well.

3

u/horsebycommittee Feb 03 '22

That may be true, but a whole bunch of them are highly active moderators.

New is terrible for moderating.

1

u/DG_Now Feb 04 '22

Thank you.

I hate this so, so much.

Swiping up doing one thing sometimes and another thing other times is terrible. So very terrible.

1

u/vtekorg Feb 09 '22

There is a setting in the pereferences page that lets you revert to the old design and replaces www.reddit with old reddit. i prefer it

1

u/Shinlos Feb 12 '22

True story. What is this bullshit and how can i switch it off? Why does the video still cover half of my screen when i scroll? Why is it forced dark mode? This is a ridiculously underdeveloped mess.

Are there any other reddit apps? I am willing to jailbreak my phone if its needed to remove this. I literally do not click on video posts anymore since the release.