I’ve got some bad news for you if you don’t like the new pixelated Reddit icon on your iPhone: unless you want to switch to an icon themed around the Dogecoin dog or WallStreetBets, you’ll need to sign up for Reddit Premium in order to use an icon that only includes the standard Reddit logo, as 9to5Mac’s Benjamin Mayo noticed.
The available alternatives are listed below. (I placed them next to each other so you wouldn’t have to navigate through a huge vertical image.) The icons with the standard Reddit logos are at the bottom of the list, while the free ones are “OrangeRed” (the pixelated one), “Doge,” and “Wall Street.”
I could have access to features like additional personalised app icons, ad-free Reddit browsing, and the r/lounge community if I purchased Reddit Premium, which costs $5.99 per month or $49.99 per year. But since I don’t, I’m forced to use one of the three free icon alternatives, all of which I find to be unappealing.
The Reddit app typically resides in a folder in my App Library, so I don’t see it every time I go to my homescreen, so this, admittedly, isn’t a big concern for me. However, I can understand how you might not be happy with your present alternatives if you aren’t a Premium user and Reddit is one of your homescreen apps or has recently entered your homescreen lineup after Reddit’s new API price pushed some third-party apps to shut down. The restricted options for free app icons might be even more annoying if you’re already dissatisfied with Reddit’s recent plans to erase chat history from before 2023 and get rid of its Gold Honours system.
If it’s any consolation, the Wall Street and Doge emblems will reportedly only be accessible for “a limited time.” But it’s not clear how long that might last or what alternatives would be offered if those were replaced with other free options.
A request for a comment from Reddit was not immediately complied with. According to a coworker, the Reddit app for Android now comes with the pixelated icon as well, but if you don’t like it and don’t want to pay for Reddit Premium, you might find it simpler to replace the icon with your own on Android than on iOS.
