My Reddit user experience is similar to yours. I paid for rif years ago because it's simple and fast, and I don't want to see ads. I'll gladly pay Reddit for an ad-free experience if I can use an app that's better than their own, but if they don't want to take my money, they'll lose me as a user.
I'd love to be a fly on the wall at Reddit HQ at the moment, also I wonder what it's like to be a dev on the Reddit app too? Don't get me wrong I'm not downplaying how poor the app is (I've gone desktop-only based on how much I dislike it) but it can't be fun having the entire web panning your daily work every time it comes up.
I'm guessing that the devs working on Reddit's app are fully aware of why people talk poorly about it. I'm further guessing that it's the way it is because of requirements being imposed on them rather than their own decisionmaking.
I also have to assume they're fine with it all, or they'd take their skills elsewhere.
