Hands-on with Reddit’s new official Android app in beta [Gallery]

As part of a broader post about the year ahead, Reddit founder Steve Huffman announced that their new Android app is going into beta today. We’ve got our hands on the beta and from our first impressions Reddit made an okay app, but it still has a ways to go.

It has a circular bright orange icon and a few Material Design flourishes that Android fans will appreciate. At first launch, users have the ability to log-in, sign-up, or just browse Reddit without logging in. The app supports the ability to have and switch between multiple accounts.

The app colors the top bar blue, but the rest of the app is white. Like many third-party clients, there is also a night mode that darkens the interface. Users can choose between a compact or card view. Both show users which subreddit a post is from, its title, a short preview, and has buttons to upvote/downvote. Additionally, there is an overflow button that allows users to share, bookmark, hide, and report a post.

Users can see the subreddits they are subscribed to by tapping on the action bar. There they will see shortcuts to the front page, popular posts, following, and moderating. Tapping the latter two items will drop down a list. The app tries to maintain the design of a subreddit by showing its header image and icon.

The action bar, which also has buttons to search, see their Inbox, and an overflow menu, is always present no matter where users are in the interface. A FAB, that disappears when scrolling, allows users to post a link, text, or image. It is also employed as a reply button when in a thread. There are options to sort comments by best, new, top, and Q&A.

The app is clearly beta and is not smooth and suffers from occasional errors. Additionally, there are no Material animations and the subreddit menu is inconvenient for users who subscribe to a lot of things. Hopefully, Reddit will allow users to reorder them in a future update, as well as quicken the app. Users who signed up to be a part of the beta last December are receiving first access. However, users can also sideload the app and freely log in.