Reddit Changed Its App Logo, and Users Are Not Pleased With the New Look

Whatever you're looking for, you're likely to find people talking about it on Reddit. The website, which is really just a series of message boards on every topic imaginable, has become a crucial part of millions of people's online lives.

And, because so much of our online lives now takes place on our phones, many people are often using Reddit as an app. Recently, some of those users who use the iOS version of the app noticed that the logo for Reddit had changed from its usual orange background with Snoo, Reddit's genderless alien mascot, to a grid pattern that features several colors. Now, many want to know why Reddit made the change. Here's what we know:

It's worth noting that this change to the logo is only on iOS devices, at least for now. The Reddit logon the Reddit website is still its same old self, so this doesn't seem like a total rebrand.

Reddit also hasn't made any sort of public statement explaining why they changed the design for their mobile app on some devices. While they didn't explicitly explain it, though, it's connected to one of Reddit's yearly traditions.

Every year around April 1st (a.k.a. April Fool's Day), the people behind Reddit conduct some sort of social experiment by building out a new board. The most famous of these is likely r/place, which allowed users to create art on a shared workboard that had to be defended even as it was created. The new, grid-like logo appears to be this year's version of that same trend. This year's version is called r/field, and the game is now closed for the year.

This year's special event looks a little bit like r/place, but worked more like the game Minesweeper. The goal of the game was to claim space on the board, but if you make the wrong move, your game was over. It didn't blow up in quite the same way that r/place did, but the new app design appears to have been a promotional effort to make people aware of the new game.

What we don't know is when the design for the app might return to normal. Given that the game is closed, you would think that Reddit would be moving the app design back to its normal color scheme soon, and for many who use Reddit regularly, it can't come soon enough.

"This icon is horrible," one person wrote on a Reddit thread discussing the new look.

"Sucks I hate it so hard," another person added.

Clearly, then, the logo is not one that the vast majority of people who use Reddit want to stick around. Reddit might revert to its old logo at some point, but we still don't know exactly when that will happen. Until then, users will just have to deal with an uglier-than-usual app icon. The good news, at least, is that that icon disappears as soon as you actually open the app.