Reddit snaps up Alien Blue, makes it the official iOS app
Despite being one of the biggest websites today, Reddit didn't have an official app. Instead it relied on the many, many third-party options to satisfy its mobile users. We say "didn't" and "relied," because that's not the case anymore. The social news site just snapped up Alien Blue, its most popular app for iPhones and iPads. The company has been working closely with its sole developer, Jase Morrissey, for years, but they finally made things official. Reddit's head of partnership and strategic development Ellan Pao said in an interview:
We want to be able to have new features from Reddit.com show up on mobile faster and better. With Alien Blue and Jase, it was getting to a point where it was too much work for one person. He was helping us, we were helping him and the fit was really strong.
If you want to see how the new all-official version looks, you'll need to download the app again, even if you've been using Alien Blue for a long time. It's already out on iTunes, you'll find it alongside the official AMA app. To ease the transition, Reddit has instructions on how to import your old settings, and you can also upgrade to Pro status for free for one week. Currently, the iPhone and the iPad apps exist as separate entities, but Reddit says it plans to merge them soon. While Alien Blue's exclusive to iOS users, that doesn't mean Reddit's got nothing for folks on team green. The company's currently hiring an Android engineer in San Francisco to develop an app for Google's platform, too.
