Boost for Lemmy is now live

ladfrombrad 🇬🇧@lemdro.idmod to Android@lemdro.id – 1016 points –
Boost for Lemmy - Apps on Google Play
play.google.com
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Some of y'all have no appreciation for independent app developers

I'll take my downvote now

Really, it's cool that some want to make their apps for free with no ads, but I'll support devs who put in hard work to make a good app, it's ridiculous to think that they don't deserve some sort of compensation.

The same behavior happened when sync came out. Endless complaints about an app being from on app store with the option to pay the hard working developer for their work.

Do they go on public transit complaining that see ads there too? At least when you pay for the app the ads go away forever.

Sync launched with a subscription, and only after the kickback from that did it add a one time charge option. An option priced much higher than Boost, by the way.

People were right to push back on that.

Also, the public transit example doesn't fit here. If I paid for the bus with my bus fare, or through my taxes, yes, being upset about the ads would be ok, because I already paid for the service. Same way I wouldn't appreciate ads in the backseat of an Uber.

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I don’t really complain about seeing ads in apps i didn’t pay for, but I do complain about seeing ads on public transit and in the world in general. I don’t want the world plastered with ads.

Hell they’re on the motorways here which seems ludicrous.

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I think you're confusing "independent" with "works for free."

I haven't switched at this point because Connect works well for me, but people's work has value.

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Instantly bought the ads removal, Boost was THE reddit app for me. I'm stoked to see it for Lemmy.

My first ad:

Fuck why would anyone use this over FOSS apps that dont spread google adware/spyware

Because it's not a choice of FOSS or not, it's a in choice of quality of the app. Apps like Jerboa or Thunder are very far behind Sync and Boost. But if you enjoy those, then more power to you, and definitely no reason to switch.

I don't know about that. I'm a sync user and some of the foss options are very good by now. I use sync because of familiarity and I like the dev so don't mind dropping some money to support him.

Also a Sync user, for me the only option that came close to Sync and Boost for me was Summit, which people also did not like due to it being closed source.

Thunder is kinda close, as is Connect, but AFAIK Sync is still the only one to have any admin tools built into it (haven't been able to try out Boost for Lemmy yet).

I was speaking more in the sense for general browsing. I'm not familiar with the admin tools for any of the apps.

Thunder is pretty great, occasionally janky but it just works

Because after a $3.49 payment, I never see ads again and this app is noticeably better than the Lemmy apps I've been stuck with until now.

I mean boost looks good but in what ways is it better than let's say connect for lemmy for example. what the first thing that comes to your mind?

I've tried Boost quickly and ads aside I haven't noticed anything than is inherently superior to connect which is what I'm using right now.

I was just more amused that it was an Adblock ad. It's a pity it is relying on hassling you with ads to get you to pay as I'd happily chip if to help with the development of an app I was enjoying.

It is hilarious, and I imagined a scenario of ad blockers paying the most for ads to appear instead of ads, like a protection racket

Adception - how deep does it go? Do other ad-blockers advertise in AdBlock's site? Do they pay for ads to be alongside other ads for ad-blockers saying "want to stop ads like those guys? Then use us". What if, ultimately, the only ads are for ad-blockers?

If you really want ad blocking, use DNS-level blocking with NextDNS or RethinkDNS. I haven't seen a single ad so far.

Dear lord, finally. Something compact, simple, without needless wasted space.

Honest to god right angles.

I've found my permanent Lemmy app.

What the hell, look at your messages or something 😅

I use reddit/lemmy like a forum. I'll go back to the thread and see the responses later when I feel like it. Stopped looking at my inbox in 2016, no regrets.

Incidentally, redditors that don't want to turn on mobile notifications are probably going to have to start doing that too, given what they just did to the reddit app.

How so? I haven't gone back to that place since Joey lost its API access.

You know you can still use the old apps if you are a mod of a (private) sub or use revanced to patch them?

How do I make this image you linked bigger? Tapping on it doesn't make it full screen and holding it closes the comment.

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I'm shocked and impressed with how much this reminds me of 2022 Reddit. I went cold turkey after the API changes, but installing this and setting up my old theme has been astounding.

Will I give up my FOSS Jerboa for this? I very well might

I can barely tell them apart, if it wasn't for the @instance.tld they're visually identical!

I've always used the column view for posts and Jerboa did not have that. This felt like coming back home

Instantly paid for the ad free version even though I'm rocking an ad blocker. This is a pristine app, every bit as good as the original Reddit app.

This is my assessment too, although I really like Jerboa so I'm waiting to purchase this. We'll see how it holds up.

Seeing a lot of complaints about the lack of swiping to upvote/downvote. Which is just hysterical to me because it's just a tap on boost for the vote controls, which is less movement.

One swipe to upvote a comment is much easier than two taps.

I like swipe gestures as well I guess it is about what you are used to and what not.

How is two taps, the second needing to be precise less movement than one general swipe?

Same, I never liked swipe controls. Using Sync the last little bit, I would always accidentally save things when scrolling.

It's not about reducing movement, it's about 1-handability when you're holding your phone in the other hand and can't reach across for an upvote. Sync sold me on it instantly when it finally came out.

Cool.

Regrettably, while I could have swiped to upvote, I had to swap hands to downvote you; at least I could still swipe to reply.

Based dev put all controversial and conflicting instances together in the default list.

what do you mean? what list is this? how can it be accessed in the Boost app?

Been loving this app since the preview.

Reddit became a different site for me when I used baconit and w10m. Once i went to android there were a number of apps to try but i settled on boost.

After api changes I couldn't bring myself to install their app and i did miss it. l used liftoff here for a bit but this has been so much more functional. Truly a great job by the dev and worth the wait. The paid version seems like a steal given you can't get a good chicken sandwich anywhere near that.

I'll probably gift a few copies to friends and family just so i don't feel guilty.

Lord i sound like a paid amazon review. I'm as cycnal as they come though and not easily won over for what it's worth.

Yes! I've been waiting for this and it doesn't disappoint. SO good to have the Boost look and feel again 😀.

And the upgrade price is the best you'll find on any Lemmy app, it's great value. If you haven't paid for the app do it now.

I used Boost for Reddit for years, paid of course, and so paying for Boost for Lemmy is a no brainer.

For a 1.0 release it's great. Show Ruben the Dev that this is worth his time and pay to unlock today! 👍

I'm on sync, but gave boost a try. Seems pretty good and the price is definitely better than sync~~. Is there am AMOLED dark mode? Couldn't find one.~~ Found AMOLED. Boost is looking pretty nice.

You have to turn off dynamic color then can pick the AMOLED black theme.

I'm using Voyager, but giving Boost some attention. We will see which I like better... I didn't like Sync or Jerboa much.

Try Connect or Liftoff

Connect is incredibly laggy for me, it's code needs some optimization, it's closed source because the dev himself admitted the codebase is a mess.

Liftoff's ui is just not intuitive, like, at all.

Connect never gave me any issues. I dont even feel the lag. I am used to Liftoff UI so got no issues there as well.

Connect gives me issues because I'm subscribed to over 600 communities, something with how the sidebar renders that community list destroys the app, also the animations aren't very refined, and there's a lot of text and multi button clicks for things that could be single button presses.

This will most likely get better over time, but until then, I'm definitely using boost or sync.

Liftoff's ui is just not intuitive, like, at all.

Okay good deal. Glad it wasn't just me.

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still using Jerboa since I joined up, and I'm so used to it now that other apps just feel off. I was a rif user in the before-times, and jerboa has the same kind of stripped-down vibe I'm comfortable with

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The pricing is way more reasonable than sync. I'm still sticking with connect but at least this dev is not asking for much.

Long term sustainability is going to be challenging. The Lemmy userbase is way smaller than reddit's regardless, and for 3.50 EUR one-off it will be challenging to cover future development efforts.

Yeah, I'm still on Connect as well. At this point, I see no reason to change, despite being a Boost user for years with reddit.

If it ain't broke...

For me it just have too many bugs that aren't being fixed.

Nothing major, just little annoying things like if you edit a comment it closes out of the thread. Or if you make a comment it scrolls to the top of the thread. Why?

I've just tested it and boost doesn't do either of those things.

Boost is definitely a little better than connect. It also just has a feeling of being a little more solid and I can't even say specifically why. That's worth considering for me

Idk about you, but I paid less than the max it shows for the price in my country on the Play Store. It may be down to localised pricing or maybe I paid during some promotion.

Yes it is, I'm commenting on it right now. You can import all your app settings from the Reddit version of the app too, if you still have it installed, or you still have your config file lying around. It's what I have done so I have a pitch black theme lol.

Today I was finally able to download Boost for Lemmy. It looks really good. I inmediately bought the ad-free version. There are still some key features missing: the ability to hide posts, the ability to open community links and when I logged in for the very first time, the app semi-crashed and everything went dark. I had to restart the app and log in again. But apart from that, I really like it.

It also "crashed" and restarted for me on first boot, but has not done so again. Working nice and stable.

I launched the rocket as soon as possible 🚀

However, two important functions on the Connect app work better. I've tried leaving comments for Boost dev.

  • Inbox does not clear when tapping ✔️✔️

  • Sidebar shows lists of instances and if there are any notifications for each instance

Hoping for some tweaks to Boost for those issues.

Otherwise the apps are extremely similar in function and customization. I'll continue to use Connect until those 2 features work.

Nice, but seems to lack swipe actions, otherwise I like it almost as much as Sync.

Boost has been my favorite for a while and I've been waiting for this to make the switch. This is my first time using Lemmy. Instant rocket boost from me!

Great news for Boost users! I'm still using Sync and Photon the most but love how many options there are for Lemmy.

I miss the hide button near the bottom right of the screen. I love to remove all the read posts with a single button.

Nice! Installed and purchased the ad free version immediately.

You can't change the primary background color outside of theme presets? That means I can't make it dark and pink, which is a deal breaker when I have such a gorgeous Sync theme going. I'll keep it downloaded, though. There were things I liked about it for reddit. I may come back around.

I wish it had swipe to up vote and downvote but other than that I love the aesthetics.

Used boost for reddit until that shut down, going to use boost for lemmy!

Thank shit lol. I'm a kbin guy so I'm still gonna wait a while for the kbin API to come out before I can use it with my main account, but at least its out and I can use it with a compatible one in the meantime! I left Sync for Boost (with Reddit lol) and I'm glad this is here now.

No thanks, I used to use boost for reddit and I loved it.

But now on lemmy, there are FOSS apps that are just as good I'd rather donate to.

I love Boost, I bought it for Reddit. However, I got used to Connect now. The swipe to upvote and hide are intuitive to me now.

Has anyone figured out how to change the default feed? I'm not subscribed to any communities, so I always open to a blank page before switching to all.

the old app that still retains its old feature from Reddit that have been reborn and it is first Lemmy client that support widget. wow!!

Restore purchase feature needs to be added, couldn't "rebuy" it on a second device.

I was a Boost for Reddir user, now I'm using wefwef. Works for me, not sure if I have a reason to go back to Boost.

I'm really happy with the interface to be honest, I was using Voyager up until now but Boost is my new go to!

Like it so far, will save up rewards to get it ad-free

I got used to liftoff where I could have up vote and down vote arrows on the right, so it's disappointing that I can't seem to find that option here on boost. don't feel like reaching for those vote buttons, otherwise I haven't noticed any remarkable differences from liftoff

I was a Boost for Reddit user who made do with LiftOff for the time being. What ever happened to LiftOff - there are no releases in a long while now.

oh besides notifications. liftoff doesn't do pushes which is a little annoying

Just got it! Really happy that the developer made it. For some reason boost on reddit still works though.

It was nice to switch over to my preferred view that I have been using for years now.

Alive as their abusive data collection. Boost For Lemmy-3813762 (1)

Saw that, isn't it strange to never have seen that from any other app then?

Hey Ruben! Long time Boost user and I was wondering if there is a community for your lemmy app? I was active in the previous one :)

Also, might I suggest a small addition for my favorite feature, the image uploading! To add alt text to images for accessibility.

it's possibly to create image captions with a simple [reference image](reference.url) tag by adding ![reference image description/alt text](reference.url) and I could definitely see just a little extra space for adding it :)

Here is the accessibility thread discussing it which will have better info: https://beehaw.org/post/686974

Thanks for everything you do!!

Just as a heads up, while Ruben was the one who made the comment in the screenshot, Ruben isn't the one who posted the screenshot here in the comment you replied to 😅

The dev has responded on that issue

What did he say?

"Dev here.

The dialog and its content is not created by me, it is a standard solution from Google to comply with GDPR and other laws. More info here: https://support.google.com/admob/answer/10114014?hl=en

The consent dialog is also required by Google AdMob to show ads, and it is shown when the ad network is initialized.

When the app launches, first it checks for the remove ads purchase, and if it is not present, it will initialize the ads sdk. The ad network is not initialized if the remove ads purchase is detected.

Boost for Reddit was using the very same ad networks and consent dialog. "

But cannot be used if you have 2fa set up on your lemmy account.

Not sure what MFA provider you're using, but worked fine for my account with GAuth. Though, I'm currently trailing both Sync and Boost (the latter was my preferred reddit client)

Theres nowhere to enter my code on the log in screen.

For me, once I prove the username/password and tap "Login", a third box appears asking for the MFA code

I was about to say an error message pops up about an auth token when i try with username and password. However, i tried it just now, and it did what yoh said. I'm logged in now. Goodbye sync.

It looks exactly like Jerboa, but its smoother.

I think it's the other way around: Jerboa takes heavy inspiration from how BaconReader and Boost worked. I remember a while back switching to Boost because it was basically BaconReader but better and more modern and more reliable. I was using BaconReader in like 2012. Boost for Reddit itself was launched in 2016 iirc.

Hard pass

People want to get paid for their work? Shocking!

People want to get paid for their work? Shocking!

And other people don't want nagging spyware ads? SHOCKING! You know, Twitter and Reddit developers also want to get paid. That's why they killed free API access. Funny how you came to Lemmy anyway...

Comparing a solo dev to large corporations isn't really convincing me.

And I'm not convinced by the claim that putting spyware into apps is the only way to make money.

Literally no one on the face of the earth has ever said that. We're actually talking about an app that has a paid option without ads.

It uses trackers even when paying, btw.

Source? The sync dev said that google's ad code isn't ever initialized if you pay. Don't see why it wouldn't be the same with boost.

A comment in a crosspost. It said that analytics (which is not ads but just as tracking) is enabled in the pay version.

It's a one time purchase if you do purchase it

if you do purchase it

I'll consider it once Liftoff, Thunder, etc. are all dead...

I liked Liftoff, but as a Boost diehard, I'm happy to give the guy a couple bucks and pay him more than he would ever make from ads served to me. No skin off my nose.

For what it's worth, I don't get any ads in this App, so give it a shot.

It's not for everyone for sure especially if you're looking for something FOSS. I'd rather use a FOSS app, but it was my Reddit app of choice for a really long time and I'm happy to give the developer a one-time $3.50 purchase to have that experience back. I can barely tell I'm not on Reddit.

Even if it's just a stopgap solution, I'm all for Reddit app developers porting to Lemmy. Right now the open-source Lemmy apps all lack a lot of polish, so having paid options that offers a more polished experience for people coming over from Reddit is a plus for the platform's engagement as a whole.

Right now the open-source Lemmy apps all lack a lot of polish

Donate to the FOSS apps instead then.

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