[Updated] RIF is fun for Reddit app not working or throwing 'HTTP 403 Forbidden' error? You're not alone (potential workarounds inside)

New updates are being added at the bottom of this story…….
Original story (published on November 21, 2022) follows:

Reddit is one of the most popular social platforms out there today. Millions of users visit it daily to be catch up with the latest developments on multiple topics.

Reddit also offers an API that allows developers to create alternative clients. One of the most used external clients is ‘RIF is fun’ app.

However, currently many RIF is fun for Reddit users are facing an issue where they get an ‘HTTP 403 Forbidden’ error when accessing the app.

According to multiple reports, many RIF is fun for Reddit users are unable to access the client due to the issue. The error started appearing suddenly and with no apparent explanation a few hours ago.

RIF error: Forbidden

I’ve been using RIF on mobile for years (even bought the premium way back when it was the old name) and all of a sudden I am getting a “forbidden” error. No changes were made, literally just opened the app this morning and im locked out.
Source

Major Reddit API outage for logged-out requests

Without advance warning, the Reddit API is suddenly returning HTTP 403 Forbidden for all requests while logged out. It is at least affecting RIF and Infinity, both Android apps. Started approx 8am Pacific on Nov 20, 2022.
Source

It seems that the cause of the problem is a sudden change to Reddit’s API. This change was not reported by the platform according to a RIF dev.

This is a sudden, unannounced change on Reddit’s API. I don’t know what the workaround would be, as they seem to be blocking all logged-out requests with HTTP 403 Forbidden. But apparently only targeting specific apps(?): for now I’m aware of RIF and Infinity being blocked.
Source

Also, it seems that the change is only affecting some specific apps. Besides RIF is fun for Reddit app, Infinity app users are experiencing the same situation.

However, there are a couple of methods that may help fix the problem. First, some discovered that it occurs when offline, so you can try logging into your account before using the app.

Also, uninstalling the app and installing a previous version (v5.5.4) seems to have helped address the problem for others.

Unfortunately, this latest workaround is only working on older Android versions. There are reports from Android 9 (and even Android 7.1) users that they can use v5.5.4 without problems.

We will update this story as events unfold in the future.

02:15 pm (IST): According to a RIF developer, the issue where the ‘HTTP 403 Forbidden’ error kept popping up for users has now been fixed. The same was also confirmed by a Reddit user.

The error seems to have stopped at 11:53pm Pacific on Nov 20.
Source

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