Leave a Review Narwhal 2 for Reddit
Best app for Reddit, hands down.
Dev cut a deal with Reddit to pay by the whatchamacallits they charge for, then figured out how much he needed to charge users to cover the cost. It worked.
He then aggressively modified the app to use fewer whatchamacallits, reducing costs to the users. I pay like $4.50/mo to use Reddit. It's a ridiculous bargain, even if you don't consider that this is after 15 years of using it for free.
He's active and responsive to bug reports, and is regularly adding features. If he didn't believe he could make this payment model work long-term, or if he didn't truly intend to do so, he'd be doing the minimum fixes necessary, but that's not the case. He's making the app better all the time. He cares.
Besides all that, Narwhal has been my go-to reader for Reddit for ten years or more. It was great, is great, and there's every reason to believe it'll continue to be great. And people, if all that's not enough, don't forget that this is a viable way to avoid using the official Reddit app which, if magically transformed into a paper product, would be toilet paper. Used.Show lessuybkjbftu
Best way to browse Reddit on iOS. Smooth, reliable, and customizable.
I was skeptical coming from Apollo a while ago. I tried Narwhal years ago and wasn’t a fan the first time. That is no longer the case. You can customize every button on every type of page (Home Feed, a subreddit, a post, etc.). I love that if I accidentally go back a page, I can hit a button that sends me right back to where I was (a feature the Reddit app doesn’t have). The UI is great in general. It’s worth spending like 30 minutes just going through all the settings, because there are a lot of options to make the experience better for you.
Most importantly, the app is so smooth and reliable. It has all the bells and whistles, but what makes this app great is that it just *feels* good to use. I don’t think I’ve experienced any crashes in the last 6 months. Navigation feels intuitive, and I don’t ever feel like the app isn’t “cooperating” with me, if that makes sense.
It seems to be a small team working on this app, and they are very active in the community. They recently added an extension that makes it so you can open a Reddit page in the Narwhal app if you’re browsing on Safari. This is such a helpful quality-of-life improvement for my phone, and I appreciate their work very much.Show lessChieftawsmcool
Brilliant but lacking one or two key features
So I absolutely love this application! It is a great alternative to browsing Reddit. It is beautifully designed, and the user experience is very well optimized. Graphically, it presents data in a very pleasant and easy to consume way.
The only feature that is missing is that it’s still forces you to browse Reddit in either a single column feed or double column feed. I’ve been looking around the settings to see if there was a way to increase the number of columns in the feed to 3+ so that I could browse in a gridlike manner however, I was unable to do so. Devs, Please let me know if there is a way to do this, but if there isn’t, it is a feature that I humbly request be added to the application.
it would also be cool to be able to filter the posts in a feed based on the type of media. So if one only wants to browse a sub for images or videos or text only submissions, then they should be able to do so.
But aside from that, the application works very well. The deaths provide consistent updates and are quite active. It is my preferred way of browsing Reddit, and I sincerely hope that these features can be added to it in the future.Show lessMusicologist PHD
Finally progress!
Narwhal 1 was a great app but it had so many quirks and bugs and the dev rarely fixed them because he was spending all his time on Narwhal 2. For years he got to enjoy this app and pretty much no one else could. Then Reddit cracked down on the API usage and pretty much forced the dev to make changes and finally release this app. I hate subscriptions but I’m so glad he was essentially forced to finally release this major update. The app is so much better now! The dev is very responsive at fixing things now and I think it’s well worth the cost! There are so many 1 star reviews here that either don’t understand the subscription (not the devs fault, blame Reddit) or they are mad that Apollo no longer works and they are expecting this app to be exactly the same as that one. People are too lazy to spend the time going through the options to customize the app the way they want. With that said, just give the app a try and and go through all the options. If you invest the time you can make this app perfect for your needs and if something is missing, request it! Don’t complain and leave bad reviews!Show lessScott👨💻
An excellent app from a dedicated developer
I downloaded Narwhal in April of 2016, and I dont think I have gone more than a week without using it since then. The developer is a one man shop who has worked very hard to overcome some of Reddit’s recent decisions so he can continue to offer this app that I and many others rely on. Reddit has forced all 3rd party apps to pay for their API usage. If a subscription is not an option for you, you can use the official reddit app or a web browser. Personally, I would rather not do either of those things, since I find the interface and constant ads very annoying. I can afford to pay the subscription and a bit more to support this developer. I understand not everyone is able to do that, but please, if that is the case, direct your anger toward the bone-headed exectives at reddit, not this developer, who has no control over the situation. Det0ur, I hope for your mental health you are staying out of the reviews, but if you do read this, I want to thank you for all you have done to bring us this excellent app. Do not be discouraged by the hate, know that you are appreciated.Show lessmax000000
Outstanding app and wonderfully responsive dev
After Reddit had their debacle this summer, Narwhal is one of the only apps that managed to find a proper path to legally continuing third party Reddit support, and Narwhal 2 takes a great app and improves on it in almost every way. Great design, lots of customization, responsive and works great. Yea, there is a subscription, as it’s the only way for the app to work with Reddit now, as they are charging the developer for every API call. The subscription model was done in a way that allows affordable access while allowing the developer to make ends meet. The dev is also very responsive and active on Reddit, incorporating fixes and new features after speaking with users. Great app.Show lessJman1313
Best Reddit App Next to Apollo (RIP)
Yes, this app has now gone to a subscription model. But at only $4, I think it’s worth it. I’m not HAPPY that it’s gone to subscription, but honestly , I get it. What Reddit is doing to the third party app devs is pretty scummy. These devs like this app’s needs revenue to “keep the lights on” so to say. I hope to see the day where we can go back to Reddit apps being free, but, if there’s any Reddit app that is worth your money, this is it. It’s the next best thing to Apollo. The UI is sleek and navigating the app and Reddit is very fluid and looks great.
To the devs, please keep putting love into this app. It’s a gem for Reddit mobile as of now. I’m also glad you guys chose to do a flat $4 fee and get unlimited API usage instead of the tiers. I feel like if you’re gonna charge people for the app, this is the best way for it.Show lessBobaaganoosh
Way better than the official Reddit app
I’ve been using Narwhal for years. It’s my go-to app whenever I go to Reddit. Before Reddit forced users to view all mature content and other non-mature ones only in Reddit itself, Narwhal was my choice. It’s also very sad that Reddit forced Narwhal to decide to go on a subscription-only app. I wanted to pay for the subscription to support the developer, but I can’t view all of the content that Reddit wants/forces us to view through their trash app.
I hope Narwhal can go back to have a free version, albeit with ads, but I don’t mind the ads.
Like I said, I may pay for the subscription to support the developer, but I’m paying too much things currently. It was great experiencing Narwhal for the past 5 years that I’ve been using it for free.Show lessMush n Smush
Great app and an even better developer
The developer of the app, det0ur, is probably the most active dev I've ever seen with the community, he comments so much in the app's subreddit, this is highly appreciated and gives me a lot of confidence in the dev and the app. 5 stars just for the insane work ethic the dev has clearly displayed with the new and improved Narwhal. Also the amount of one star reviews being put just because the developer was FORCED to place them is ridiculous. You should be grateful Narwhal even exists in the first place because it's pretty much the only third party app on iOS that actually put in the work to stay viable. The monthly subscription is Reddit's fault, not Narwhal's, so those terrible reviews and ratings are completely misplaced.Show lessBiggie Smalls the Boss
Excellent app. Lots of great updates over Narwhal 1.
Gotta balance out the stupid 1 star reviews - rate the app on its own merit, not because Reddit is forcing 3rd party devs to charge for usage.
On that note, love the plethora of customization options available to make the Reddit experience your own … the app is fluid, smooth and easy to use. Devs have put a lot of hard work into making an app that is head and shoulders above the first party app… although the monthly fee is unfortunate, there is literally no way around it for the devs, and it is less than the $6/mo that Reddit charges for a much more mediocre experience through the first party app.
Appreciate the work and glad that we are able to have an excellent alternative to the first party app.Show lessSGR2023
