Reddit has been the front page of the internet for a long time. It’s a huge online community where people can share their thoughts, ideas, and other online odds and ends. One can spend quality time on Reddit while learning something new, exploring and by sharing something they already know. Albeit, there are some distractions out there that you might encounter. But, it’s far better to spend time on Reddit than on Facebook or other social media sites.
However, Reddit is not really known for its website design or user experience. The site’s design hasn’t changed for years now, and, it’s quite underwhelming. Users are looking for a better way to access the content on Reddit. And, there are many chrome extensions and client apps available for it. So, we thought why not shortlist some of the best ones? Well, there you have it. Here’s our list of the 10 Best Chrome extensions and Apps for Reddit:
1. Reddit Companion
Reddit Companion is an extension that lets you share a webpage on Reddit, right from that web page. After you have installed the extension in Chrome, you can just click on it and a toolbar will be displayed on the top, through which you can share the open webpage to Reddit.
You just have to add a title for the Reddit post and hit submit. You’ll be taken to the Reddit’s submit page, where you can further add the subreddit and other details. Apart from that, you can even upvote/downvote already shared web pages. You must be logged in to enable that.
It also shows new message notifications, which can be enabled from the options page of the extension.
One thing to note here is that the original extension has not been updated for the past 3 years. But, another user has updated the original version with bug fixes and a new UI. So, you can find the link to the new version below.
Also, there’s another extension you can use along with this one. It’s called Reddit Comment Companion (Install). The extension shows you the top 10 comments, when you hover over the comments link of a Reddit post.
Install from Chrome Web Store (Free)
2. Reddit Enhancement Suite
Reddit Enhancement Suite is a collection of modules that can really improve your user experience on Reddit. It has so many modules that it will require a separate article to cover them all. However, I’ll mention some of the most prominent ones.
Here are some of my best modules and options in Reddit Enhancement Suite:
- Block NSFW Content – Yes, Reddit does have this feature but it doesn’t do a great job in blocking all NSFW content. Reddit Enhancement Suite is better is filtering out such content. To enable it, go to Settings Console->Subreddits->filteReddit and turn on the feature.
- View Images/Video right on the Front Page – Reddit Enhancement Suite gives you the ability to view images/videos right on the front page of Reddit, without having to open a new tab to view them. To enable it, go to Settings Console->Productivity->Inline Image Viewer.
- Filter out Subreddit on the front page– If you want to personalize the front page with some unnecessary subreddits filtered out, then this option is for you. Go to Settings Console->Subreddits->filteReddit and add a filter for certain subreddits. You can even filter out posts with certain keywords.
- Switch Between Accounts – Reddit Enhancement Suite makes it easy for you to switch between accounts. Go to Settings Console->My Account->Account Switcher and under Accounts, add your other accounts with Username and Password.
- Subscribe to Threads – You can actually subscribe to Reddit posts for new comments. RES will actually you of new comments. The feature is enabled by default in the extension.
- Tag Users – You can tag users and give them a label to identify them better. You can do this to track your friends in comments. The feature is also enabled by default.
- Never-Ending Page Load – Pagination is quite annoying. With the Reddit Enhancement Suite extension, you can get a continuous stream of posts on the Front page and Subreddits. The feature is enabled by default but, you can disable it if you want. Go to Settings console->Browsing->Never-ending Reddit.
Well, these are the few features that I like in Reddit Enhancement Suite and you can enable them too. You should also explore more, as there are many modules that can give you the perfect user experience in Reddit.
Install from Chrome Web Store (Free)
3. Reditr Client App
Redditr is a Chrome app that lets you browse Reddit in a totally revamped look. It’s got two views – Stream View and Column View. The Stream View allows you to explore the content in an easier way by showing you the stream of Subreddit posts on the left panel and the selected post on the right. It’s very similar to the Preview Pane we are accustomed to in Outlook or Gmail. Here’s how it looks.
In the Column View, you can multitask by exploring 3 subreddits in 3 different columns. All 3 columns will show you the stream of posts on which you can hover your cursor and view the content directly. Here’s how the column view looks like.
Apart from the design, you also get a good set of features, which includes multiple account switcher, Reddit Enhancement Suite integration, interactive chat for private messages, gallery mode, dark and lights themes, live notifications and much more.
Install from the Chrome Web Store (Free)
4. SHINE for Reddit
SHINE for Reddit is another Reddit client app, which is simply a CSS overlay for Reddit. The main focus of SHINE is the content. It’s a got the same design language as Reddit but with a few enhancements using Material Design.
You can switch between Grid View and List View for your front page or other Reddit pages. There are quick toggles available for Multireddit sidebar and the actual sidebar. There’s a FAB button as well, available for toggle, settings, and search. Apart from that, it’s got the Reddit Enhancement Suite integration too.
However, it’s not completely free. There are many features that are locked behind a donation package (aka. SHINE Bright). Features include night mode, enhanced list and grid view, inline media viewing and few unlocked settings. In my opinion, SHINE is the best CSS Overlay for Reddit with a well-polished design.
Install from Chrome Web Store (Free with purchases for full version)
5. Readr for Reddit
AskReddit is one of the best subreddits, where you can learn about different experiences of different people and their perspective on the topic that’s being debated. Amongst such subreddits, long comments are very inevitable. Sadly, Reddit doesn’t really do a great job in handling such long comments. So, to make such long comments less clumsy, you should use the Chrome extension called Readr. The extension brings you a clean and pleasing layout to read such long comments.
It will show a small “read” button below every comment. Clicking on the button will pop out a new layout (as shown above) for that particular comment. In the settings, you can change it to night mode and even change the fonts to Sans-Serif instead of Serif. The position of the “read” button can also be moved to the top of the comment.
Install from Chrome Web Store (Free)
6. AlienTube
YouTube is a great social media platform for entertainment, music, and learning. If you use YouTube, you’d know that even the comments section can be quite handy for different information. However, that’s not the case with every video, as there are various useless comments. Well, what if you could get Reddit comments below a YouTube video? Yes, this can actually happen with help of the Chrome extension called AlienTube. The extension shows various Reddit comments below YouTube videos as shown below.
Well, it only shows Reddit comments on those videos which have been shared on Reddit. So, that’s the only limit. Apart from that, you can customize the comments and posts on the options page by settings a limit under which they should not appear. You can even restrict specific subreddits on YouTube. Also, switching to Google+ comments is easy with the G+ button on the right. It’s the best way to experience Reddit on YouTube.
Install from Chrome Web Store (Free)
7. Hover Zoom+
Opening full-size images on Reddit is quite a tedious task. The images open up in a new tab or get redirected to Imgur if it’s uploaded there. So, to ease down this process there’s a well-known extension dubbed HoverZoom+ that lets you zoom into images by just hovering over them.
First off, this is not specific to Reddit. This even works on other websites that include images in JPG and PNG formats. Apart from zooming images, it also zooms into videos when hovered over such links.
It even creates a gallery of all the images that are available on a web page. With the help of Action Keys (shortcuts) made available by the extension, you can save the images and trigger other actions like viewing gallery. It’s a must-have extension as it is not limited to Reddit only. However, you can limit it to Reddit if you want.
Install from Chrome Web Store (Free)
8. Open NSFW Reddit Links in Incognito Tab
As mentioned in the intro, Reddit also has it’s own distractions in form of NSFW content. Well, some users might like such distractions but might not want others to know. An incognito tab would be the best answer to that, right? But, why surf your whole session in incognito mode when you can open a specific NSFW link in an incognito tab automatically? Yes, the NSFW Reddit Links Chrome extension does exactly that. It opens NSFW links in a new incognito tab automatically when clicked on it.
Install from Chrome Web Store (Free)
9. Reddit Mini
Do you want to access your favorite subreddits from any webpage? Do you want to access Reddit with just one click? Well, Reddit Mini can do that for you. It’s a well organized mini version of Reddit, which you can access in any tab.
Click on the Reddit Mini icon and a panel will pop out. Here, you can simply add the name of the subreddit and it will be loaded. You can even read the comments right in the panel. However, there’s no way to comment.
The images are expanded by default for a full view, which can be changed in the settings. The same is available for NSFW images as well. Apart from that, the self.text posts don’t come expanded. You have to click on them and the extension will redirect you to that particular Reddit page. It’s the same case for video posts that contain YouTube links. However, if you’re more into images and want a quick access to subreddits, Reddit Mini should be your first choice.
Install from Chrome Web Store (Free)
10. Reddit Comments Collapser
When there are a ton of comments on a Reddit post, you must have noticed how messy it gets. There are so many threads under threads, which make it difficult to follow through other parent threads. However, Reddit does help you in such situations by providing you “tiny” + and – signs to collapse and expand comments; which further makes it difficult for you to figure out which thread did you collapse. So, to get rid of this hassle you should use Reddit Comments Collapser extension. This creates a colored dotted line between the starting and ending thread. Thus, helping you skip through a big comment chain by just clicking on the line.
Install from Chrome Web Store (Free)
SEE ALSO: 30 Best Subreddits You Should Subscribe To on Reddit
The Best Reddit Chrome Extensions You Can Use
So, these were the best chrome extensions for Reddit you should definitely try out. These extensions will surely enhance your user experience and let you browse Reddit with elegance. So, which are your best Reddit Chrome extensions and did we miss any? Let us know in the comments section below.
