Vibrant for Android is a Reddit media browser
Picture and video subreddits are probably the most popular groups on the site these days. Whenever you check the site's frontpage without being signed in to an account, you will notice that the majority of items listed there are pictures.
While you have lots of options to browse pictures or videos on Reddit, for instance in your web browser of choice, with browser extensions such as Reddit Enhancement Suite or mobile apps for various devices, there is always room for specialized applications.
Reddit Vibrant is such an application for Android. The free application concentrates on Reddit's media offerings and provides you with an interface to browse as many or as little groups on the site as you want in an interface optimized for just that.
When you start the application it displays a selection of popular image and video posts on its frontpage. You can scroll down for as long as you want to browse media that is popular on the site right now or up to refresh the selection.
A tap on the settings button displays a selection if popular image or video related subreddits that you can add to that selection. It offers direct access to popular groups such as aww, pics, videos or funny and about 50 or so more subreddits, but also customization options that you can use to add any other subreddit to the app so that it is displayed on the frontpage.
Click on the search icon to start adding your own groups. You cannot add them directly but need to search for them to add them to your list of favorites group that are displayed by the application.
Note that it is necessary to sign in to the app or create an account if you want to add one of the preset groups or custom groups using the built-in search functionality of the application.
It is however possible to browse any group by tapping on it instead of the favorites icon that is displayed next to it.
The app blocks NSFW contents (that are flagged this way) by default which you can change once you tap on a NSFW post displayed by the app. The video or picture is replaced by text unless you enable the option with a tap.
Media contents can be sorted in various ways. You can switch from hot as the sort option to new, rising or top instead at any time.
You can display the comments, up-vote or down-vote posts or leave a comment if you are signed in to your account. Other options include to download the media, save the post to your account or open the thread or the comments in a browser instead.
Verdict
If you go to Reddit for images or videos, then you may like the application as it provides you with a great interface to browse a preset selection of subreddits or a custom selection if you sign in to your account.
