I think the dev added this image pre-rendering to address comments about data consumption and help performance on lower-end devices; because this preloading wasn't always th case.
When on Wi-Fi, data consumption normally isn't an issue and it'd be nice to have an option to just preload full images on Wi-Fi. They had this in Sync.
It seems to be working fine for me on 1.0.115, then I updated to 1.0.118 and it still seems okay. But I just did a quick check and perhaps the issue has other factors that triggers it. What version are you on?
It looks like the issue is once you change the sort order, it makes it the default. So if you set it to New and never change it, the setting will be kept. Hopefully this is changed since I also want to the default as New but like checking out Active from time to time.
Out of curiosity, do you want it larger or smaller?
Regarding the second screenshot, if you visit the thread and go to their user page, you'll notice their display name at the top, Azzy, and then their username and instance below that, @AzzyDev@beehaw.org. So their username is actually AzzyDev, which is why you got that search result.
You can change your display name to whatever you want through you account settings and currently it'll show in place of your username, both on mobile and in apps like Connect. Lenny should probably adjust that because it's a security problem. I commented in a different thread about the issue and hopefully it will get addressed in Connect as well.
EDIT: I should clarify to visit their user page on mobile. Connect currently just shows the display name if one is set and doesn't show both.
I have the include instance tags in names enabled but I noticed if you have a display name set, your display name is shown rather than your actual username. For security reasons, I think with that option enabled, their actual username should be displayed before the @instance part. Maybe the display name could follow afterwards in brackets or something. You can change your display name to whatever you want and that could potentially be an identity issue.
I was able to comment to that post without a problem using Connect.
If the thread poster has a language set that you don't have, even if they and you both post in English, you'll get that error by not having "undetermined" selected as a language in your account settings. You can add it by logging into to the site you signed up on.
Test comment. Please ignore.
Downloading pictures also works fine for me. After you tap on Download, Connect should do so and then you'll get a prompt in the bottom left corner that says "Saved picture." Does that appear?
I thought maybe you denied storage permission and you're on an earlier version of Android but I checked another phone on Android 11 and downloading pictures works fine with storage permission denied.
I think that's by default and I'm not sure an app can change the back button behaviour for the internal browser. If and when it's changed, I guess you'll have to open in the external browser when you want to navigate around. You could also enable "Open links in external browser" in Connect's Settings. I'm also on a Pixel 6 and have that on for additional benefits like ad-blocking.
I didn't even notice it did that. So personally I don't mind if the animation is removed but I guess you don't like it?
I should've mentioned that's the beta build. If you visit the Google Play page again, there's an option there to join the beta. It can take a couple minutes before you're signed up. But maybe the issue is fixed in the beta?