Reddit is stumbling right now. Starting late December 8 and rolling into today, access to Reddit has been flaky across regions. I am seeing slow loads, error pages, and feeds that never finish. The issue affects both the website and the official apps. It is not your phone, and it is not just your ISP.
What I am seeing right now
Beginning Monday evening, requests to reddit.com and the app API started failing in bursts. In my tests across multiple networks in the U.S. and Europe, pages would load the chrome, then stall while pulling posts and comments. Some calls returned generic server errors. Others timed out after 20 to 30 seconds. The mobile app showed the familiar try again prompt and blank cards.
Logins still work for many users, but actions often fail once you are in. Voting, saving, and posting can hang. Images and video sometimes load because they sit on a separate content network. Text content is less lucky, since it relies on API calls that are choking.
Under the hood, what seems broken
This looks like a backend or gateway problem, not a full platform loss. The front end loads, which means DNS and the content cache are mostly fine. The trouble starts when the site calls deeper services to fetch your home feed, subreddit threads, and comments. Those requests are returning errors or timing out. That points to a few likely culprits.
- A bad code deploy that hit core feed or comments services
- A misconfigured cache or feature flag that increased load
- Database connection pools saturated by a spike in retries
- A noisy service flooding the gateway with slow requests
I have also seen old.reddit.com load when the new design fails. That suggests the simpler, server rendered path can get through when the modern client hits a brittle API chain. It is a classic sign of stress in a mid tier service layer.
A 2025 pattern that keeps repeating
This year has been rough for Reddit’s uptime. We have seen several short outages tied to updates and heavy load. Each time, the symptoms matched today. The site renders, then the dynamic bits fall over. Engineers usually roll back or hotfix the change. Service recovers within hours.
What is different today is the silence. As of this morning, I have not seen an official status update. That gap matters. It leaves users guessing, and it costs trust with advertisers, partners, and moderators who plan posts and events. A crisp note, even without a root cause, calms the room and reduces churn.
What you can do right now
If you must get in, there are a few safe workarounds. None are perfect, but they can help while Reddit stabilizes.
- Try old.reddit.com for lighter pages
- Switch from app to web, or use a private window to skip heavy caches
- Toggle Wi Fi to cellular, or vice versa, to avoid flaky peering
- Turn off autoplay in settings to reduce media calls
- Wait a few minutes, then refresh during quieter bursts
Quickest win, use old.reddit.com and sort by New. It reduces complex calls and often loads when the main site stalls.
Do not log out or delete the app during an outage. You may create new login issues and lose drafts.
Why this matters beyond a slow feed
Reddit is a live platform. When it stutters, moderators cannot remove spam quickly. Scheduled posts miss their windows. Advertisers lose impressions they paid for. Developers who rely on the API hit rate limits and retries that drive costs up. Repeated blips also push power users to backups like RSS or email digests, which hurts engagement.
The fix for this kind of failure is well known. Freeze risky deploys, drain traffic from bad regions, roll back suspect services, and increase caches. Then publish a short note with scope, impact, and current status. Even a two line update helps users and partners plan.
Frequently Asked Questions
Q: Is Reddit down right now?
A: It is having a partial outage. Pages load, but feeds and comments often fail or time out.
Q: Is it my internet or device?
A: Unlikely. The errors appear across devices, networks, and regions. This points to Reddit’s backend.
Q: What parts are most affected?
A: Home feeds, subreddit threads, and comments. Logins usually work. Media may load more often than text.
Q: When will it be fixed?
A: Based on past incidents, fixes often land within hours. There is no official timeline yet.
Q: What can I do to access Reddit?
A: Use old.reddit.com, try the web instead of the app, switch networks, and refresh during quieter periods.
Reddit is wobbling, but it is not offline end to end. I will keep testing and update as recovery progresses. For now, treat it as a rolling disruption. Use the simple routes, avoid risky resets, and give engineers room to steady the ship.
