Same. I had it installed in my app drawer, without the badge just this morning. Updated to get the new icon and it has been a chrome shotcut since then.
Checked with Samsung Internet too. As you said, it's buggy.
Also, minor issue, but the system status bar no longer matches the app colour ( its dark grey regardless of light or dark theme ). Wasn't the case before.
Noticed the same thing too. Would've preferred having it show up in my app drawer. No idea if it's because of chrome or wefwef tho sorry.
I used to use the official Reddit app back in 2019. Then one day, I was watching MKBHD's What's On My Phone video where he showed Relay for Reddit. I started used Relay from then on. Was very impressed with Relay, paid for the pro version as well.
I thought of trying out all the clients to see if there was something better. Saw Sync being recommended on random discussions on r/AndroidApps. Gave it a try. It was good, but I was too used to Relay to make the switch. Read about the beta program for Sync (I think it was v21), gave it a go. It took some getting used to, but it was perfect for me, switched to Sync full time. I decided that I'll buy the pro version one day (I was kinda broke :[ ).
Stuck with Sync since then. Purchased the Pro version on 7th April 2023 (had landed a well-paying job a few months prior :] ). Then a month later all the API shenanigans happened :(. But I don't regret the purchase one bit and I will buy the Pro version again once Sync for Lemmy comes out.
I have tried pretty much all of the apps that I've seen being mentioned (Jerboa, Liftoff, Connect, Thunder, Summit, Lemming, etc.). Using wefwef.app which is a PWA inspired by Apollo. Going to stick with it until Sync for Lemmy comes out because I was on Sync for R****t before the whole fiasco. Registered for Boost for Lemmy as well. Wefwef is pretty nice and smooth for the time being though.
P.S.: My first comment on Lemmy using wefwef :)