Reddit has launched a new navigational tool called the Discover tab, and it also happens to be Reddit's first major new feature in years. During initial testing last year, Reddit said it saw one in five people join at least one new community after using the new Discover tab experience it had developed to replace the old Communities tab.

Here's everything you need to know about Reddit's Discover tab.

What is Reddit's Discover tab?

Reddit's new Discover is a feature in the official Reddit iOS and Android apps. It curates pictures, GIFs, and videos in a scrollable grid to help Reddit users find new content and communities that they may want to join. It also suggests communities to explore based on history and activity, which includes a redditor's current subscriptions and time spent on communities. For instance, existing redditors who subscribe to and spend a lot of amount of time in football subreddits may be shown other sports-related content.

Simply put: the Discover tab adjusts to your current interests, so If you subscribed to a lot of baseball subs and spend a lot of time in baseball subs, you’re going to start seeing more baseball-related content in the Discover tab. If you're new to Reddit, you'll see content and communities ranked by popularity and high engagement. "From houseplants and pickling at home to Squid Game and Dungeons and Dragons", Reddit said, "Discover tab will bring a rich variety of content to the forefront in a visually appealing way".

How to find the Discover tab in Reddit

The Discover tab replaces the old Communities/Subscriptions.

Open the Reddit app. In the bottom navigation menu, you'll see Discover tab (compass icon). It's located to the right of the Home tab (house icon).

How the Discover tab works

The first thing you see on the Discover tab is a visual feed of engaging thumbnails representing various communities on Reddit. You can browse through the thumbnails, watch them, tap into them. Reddit calls this experience a "consistent, dynamic entry point for redditors to get to their communities".

Search for communities

When you open the new Discover tab, you'll see a search bar at the top. Use this area to search for communities by keyword.

Below the search bar area are several topics you can sift and tap through to find potentially interesting communities.

Community drawer

Reddit has retooled its navigation, as the Discover tab is replacing the subscription tab that had previously been found on the bottom navigation bar. Now, subscriptions are buried in the new Community drawer, where they can be sorted and customised. Just swipe right or tap the drop-down menu at the top left on the home screen to get to your communities and feed. 

The Community drawer is divided into five sections:

  • Your communities - where the communities redditors subscribe to can be sorted and customised
  • Home feed controls - where users can access their home, popular, and news feeds
  • Following - which shows redditor accounts a user follows
  • The r/all entry point
  • Moderating entry points in which moderators can see their mod feed, mod queue, and the subreddits they moderate

Why did Reddit launch the Discover tab?

Reddit said it simply wanted to help people find more communities and make it easier to discover new content. "Part of this is listening to feedback and acting on it to bring community, belonging, and empowerment to everyone", the company said. "Redditors told us they want an easier way to explore current and new interests, so [...] we are rolling out our first new surface in nearly two years - the Discover tab. This new navigational tool provides redditors with an engaging way to more easily find content and communities across Reddit."