Title: Reddit kept telling me to download its iPhone app. I’m on a Mac. So I made Reddit forget its app exists.

Reddit has apparently decided that the best way to improve my browsing experience is to make browsing impossible.

I was trying to submit a post on Reddit, using Firefox, on my Mac, when this gigantic, non-dismissible popup appeared:

“Get the best of Reddit in the app.”

No close button. No “Maybe later.” No “I’m literally using a desktop computer, you absolute walnut.”

Just a giant button telling me to download the Reddit app.

And clicking it? Takes me to the iPhone App Store.

ON. A. MAC.

The best part? The popup darkens the entire page behind it, so you can’t even continue what you were doing.

Anyway, I decided that if Reddit wasn’t going to give me a close button, I’d manufacture one. Permanently.

How I got rid of it (Firefox + uBlock Origin)

Step 1: Install uBlock Origin if you don’t already have it.

Step 2: Open Reddit and wait for the stupid popup to appear. This shouldn’t take long. Reddit is very enthusiastic about ruining your day.

Step 3: Click the uBlock Origin icon in your toolbar, then click the eyedropper icon (Element Picker).

Step 4: Click the popup. uBlock will show you the HTML/CSS elements responsible for this masterpiece of user-hostile design.

In my case, I found these classes:

  • configured-xpromo-bottom-sheet
  • configured-xpromo

Apparently, “xpromo” is Reddit-speak for “you WILL download our app.”

Step 5: Open uBlock Origin → Dashboard → My filters.

Paste these four lines:

www.reddit.com##.configured-xpromo-bottom-sheet
www.reddit.com##.configured-xpromo
www.reddit.com##body:style(overflow: auto !important)
www.reddit.com##html:style(overflow: auto !important)

Step 6: Click “Apply changes” and reload Reddit.

The first two rules hide the app promotion. The other two attempt to restore scrolling if Reddit has locked it.

Result: The popup appears to be gone in my Firefox profile. I tested Reddit in another profile without these filters, and the stupid thing immediately showed up again.

These selectors worked for me, but Reddit could change its markup, and I haven’t tested this across every browser or account.

I just wanted to submit a Reddit post. Instead, I had to inspect the website’s DOM and write custom CSS filters to regain access to a text box.

Reddit, if people have to install an ad blocker to protect themselves from your advertisement for your own app, perhaps the problem isn’t that they haven’t downloaded the app.

P.S. The funniest part? I came to r/assholedesign to post about this and found someone had already posted about the exact same popup. Reddit then displayed the popup AGAIN in my other Firefox profile.

You genuinely cannot make this shit up.