I used to use RiF back in the day when it was still a buggy mess. I don't even remember when I moved to the native app. I don't agree with Reddit's policy update (why I'm here) but I thought the default app was fine for normal browsing. I never had issues with the video player or anything else.
Reddit has the true numbers. I'm sure 90% of people use the native Reddit app which is why they decided shutting down 3rd party apps wasn't a big deal.
I think why people are making it a big deal is because the 10% that used 3rd party apps were the most active users. A casual lurker probably didn't care about the features of the app they used. The very active users, and mods, likely used the 3rd party apps because of the superior design and features.
Time will tell whether this just upset a vocal minority or if it upset a core group of content creators and moderators.
We'll see after today. The subs were saying 48h which clearly is not going to be effective enough... And if it's too effective then Reddit will just replace the mods. Horrible sight to behold 😔
That's the thing though. The current mods are volunteers. Is Reddit going to replace them with paid mods or are they going to hope other volunteers step up? It could turn into a shit show if subs go unmodded or are poorly moderated.
Or Reddit is going to have to spend money paying for moderators, which is great but another consequence of their decision.