For starters they could display media like videos in ways that aren’t possible (or much harder) to do on the Web, that alone could be huge for the core user base that just wants to look at pictures and videos. Presumably some users would prefer the app because you’re always signed in. You could configure it to send you push notifications for replies or something. They could probably figure out a better way to render deeply nested comment threads too - basically make the experience smoother without pageloads or visual clutter, which some users might like.
Any sort of game or seasonal “interesting” thing like /r/place could very well be mobile-only
At the very least, they can get the default mobile version to a good state, remove all the artificial blockers and nags they’ve put in place, set it to maintenance mode from a product perspective, then only add UX improvements and new features to the mobile apps. The problem is they don’t even seem to make UX improvements most of the time… just UX annoyances
Any sort of game or seasonal “interesting” thing like /r/place could very well be mobile-only
At the very least, they can get the default mobile version to a good state, remove all the artificial blockers and nags they’ve put in place, set it to maintenance mode from a product perspective, then only add UX improvements and new features to the mobile apps. The problem is they don’t even seem to make UX improvements most of the time… just UX annoyances