For desktop, sure. I've tried a few mobile apps but the UI was worse than the mobile site in my opinion. I can deal with the UI of their mobile site, but all of the UX issues that OP mentioned keeps me away from it, so I never browse reddit on mobile devices.

I just noticed a few users below mentioning that i.reddit.com exists, which seems to be a similar UI to old.reddit, but for mobile. From the couple minutes I've spent browsing it seems to be a massive upgrade from the current mobile site.

If you're on iOS, try https://apolloapp.io/. Using it on an iPad has become my main way of accessing reddit. Super customizable, has keyboard shortcuts and supports pretty much all reddit features. The developer is also very active and quick to respond to bugs.

(I know this is starting to sound like an advertisement which was not my intention, I just really enjoy using that app).

I tried appollo a while back and I was not a fan. My biggest gripe with the UI of appolo and post-redesigned reddit is that it feels like instagram or a facebook. I don't like endlessly scrolling through pictures and auto-playing videos since most of them are of no interest to me. If I want to view a picture/video I'll click on it. It clutters up the page with content I don't care about. Mobile browsing (for me at least) is already a slower and more tedious process because less items can be displayed on the screen at once than a full desktop version, and typing/navigating is considerably faster with a physical keyboard and mouse.

You can completely customize Apollo. I have it setup like so with a compact layout where images and gifs and videos play only when I tap on the thumbnails. Otherwise, they stay out of my way and I can focus on the title more. (Also autoplay is customizable even if you use the large layout).

That being said, I still use the desktop reddit with RES, old reddit redirect and VIM-like keyboard shortcuts. The day they gimp the third party app apis and push people to their redesign is the day I stop using reddit.

This was exactly my problem as well, and after trying a bunch of mobile apps, I've finally settled on https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.andrewshu..... The UI is compact and keeps me from going insane while browsing.

For Android, I actually prefer RedReader with ImgurViewer as an external image viewer. Both are open source apps

RedReader: https://f-droid.org/packages/org.quantumbadger.redreader and https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=org.quantumbad...

ImgurViewer: https://f-droid.org/packages/com.ensoft.imgurviewer and https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.ensoft.img...

I mean, you're suggesting an app for a different platform.

I just put my phone browser on Desktop Mode and use old.reddit.com anyways. Then I pinch and zoom like a mad man.

It's basically the biggest reason I stick with Opera on Android. It handles text wrapping on zoom so well, that I can use old desktop Reddit on a really tight phone without issue.

The power users were always desktop users anyway. I've only used reddit a couple times from mobile.