Reddit adds TikTok style short-form video feed to its iOS app

A big change is coming to the iOS version of the Reddit app. Know for written conversations between members, the app is going to take a cue from TikTok and add short-form video capabilities to the iOS version of the Reddit app. According to TechCrunch, a button to the right of the search bar on the Reddit app, when tapped, will show a stream of videos in a configuration similar to TikTok.

Users will be able to swipe up to see a new video, upvote or downvote the clip, share a comment about it, send a "gift" to the person who posted the video, or share the video itself. A Reddit spokesman told TechCrunch that "Reddit’s mission is to bring community and belonging to everyone in the world, and subsequently, Reddit’s video team’s mission is to bring community through video. Over the course of the last year, our goal was to build a unified video player, and re-envision the player interface to match what users (new and old) expect when it comes to an in-app video player — especially commenting, viewing, engaging and discovering new content and communities through video."

Before the new feature was added to Reddit's iOS app, viewing Reddit videos was only possible by tapping on a video discovered while scrolling through your Reddit feed. While Reddit is still rolling this out to iOS users, we did discover it on our iOS 14.7.1 powered iPhone 11 Pro Max. The video icon first was spotted on the app late last month. Reddit did not disclose whether an algorithm is being used to help match videos with viewers similar to how TikTok works.

Reddit is apparently enthralled with short-form video and last December it acquired Dubsmash, a TikTok competitor that attracted attention from not only Reddit, but from Facebook and Snap as well. Dubsmash hit one billion monthly views in January 2020. The acquisition was made at an undisclosed price.

To install the Reddit app on your iOS device from the App Store, tap on this link.