I don't miss reddit, but this notification hit hard

DeriHunter@lemmy.world to Reddit@lemmy.world – 47 points –

I had a feeling they'll put something like this, so I went in every now and then to see how infinity will react. I really loved the app, devs did an amazing job

79

I was really hoping to see an "Infinity for Lemmy" app. Oh well; Jerboa it is I guess.

Edit: spelling

I heard that Sync for Lemmy is going to be a thing.

I'm trying out Connect For Lemmy which came out a few days ago, seems nicer than Jerboa to me so far.

Liftoff is pretty good

I need to second this one! Tried some of the apps that came out in the past couple of weeks/days and Liftoff is the one I stuck with. The button at the top where you can switch to different instances with a single tap actually made me better understand the whole way Fediverse works. Now I switch between Beehaw, Lemmy world and some of the more obscure ones super simple (I am sure one could do this with other apps also but with Liftoff it just clicked for me).

My homescreen is still littered with a lot of the same stuff because a lot of instances have similar stuff on them but this is the first time I have something resembling control over the content I am reading in the Fediverse.

(still mourning the loss of RIF and it's simple and incredible easy to use interface. I truly hope RIF's dev makes an app for Lemmy!)

I was an Infinity user but I can't help but feel this is the wrong move. After all Reddit has done to them they just set up a way to siphon miney straight to them for the devs' hard work?

Why?

And isn't it a little unethical not to even mention nsfw?

Infinity is open source. You can change the key and user agent (and one more field, but it escapes me at the moment), compile your own APK, and continue using it for free.

Will it work without the reddit API though? Maybe if there's a way to scrape the site but idk how everything else could be handled.

I find it extremely ironic that all the closed source apps, some with subscription options, are closing or moving to support open platforms, while the prime FOSS app is staying with Reddit and going subscription only.

Is is because the sole developer was actually a CS student, now looking for a first job (sick what he achieved at his age right ?) so he has no time to change the app to support Lemmy. However he said that should someone pick up the development, it should not be to hard to integrate the new feeds to it.

See 2nd link in the post.

Even more reason not to deal with a dickish corporation and be on the knife edge of possibly being tens of thousands in the red, if you're fresh out of school.

I don't think it's ironic at all - Infinity is and always has been a Reddit client. Subscription fees seems to be the only possible way for it to continue to be a Reddit client and if only a small number of people are willing to pay, then that's fine. It's an open source project and doesn't need to make enough money to pay a salary. It just needs to pay the API costs.

Infinity also doesn't need any of it's existing contributors to continue using it, they could all move on (perhaps start work on a Lemmy clinet?) and other people might keep developing Infinity. Open source projects change hands all the time.

If someone wants to make the app into a client for another platform, they can simply fork Infinity. It doesn't make any sense for Infinity itself to change into a totally different app. And it would be totally different, Lemmy has different features.

It is baffling but maybe he sees that there will be very few decent third party apps and an opportunity to monetize his work. I have seen discussion of scripts that compile infinity from source with a personal API key. So, the FOSS option still being maintained is a win I guess. 🤷🏻‍♂️

True, I just worry that the dev will get screwed by Reddit. If I were a dev or doing some business, I wouldn't touch Reddit with a very long stick. It's like poking a huge dung, you can only get a swarm of flies.

They certainly will be screwed somehow, at some point. If they give this little warning. I doubt Reddit will disclose changes quick enough for there not to be an eventual case of a huge bill randomly, and many “oh shit” moments for the developer

Yeah it's baffling. I haven't touched Reddit since the blackout but I still had my Infinity app installed, just out of nostalgia I guess. While the dev has every right to do businesses with whomever he wants, I expected differently from a FOSS project. Now to delete Infinity...

A number of devs talked about the pricing and the consensus seems to be that the fee applied to keep the apps afloat would need to be pretty high and they don't see how it can be sustainable.

I wonder how much Infinity is planning on asking and I doubt its user base will be so keen on paying that much.

Yeah like $5 a month for more casual users. And people paying for apps tend to use them more. I think Apollo's calculations were like $10-12/mo for higher end users? Anything over $5/mo is probably a no-go so I wonder if it'll be viable.

And if Infinity's userbase makes $5/mo viable, I wonder if they'll get flocks of users from other apps and if that'll make it non-viable with high-traffic users.

Or maybe they'll go with a post-paid plan where you pay by usage? That seems iffy.

Keep in mind too, that even with the paid API usage to the best of my knowledge the 3PA still will not have NSFW/porn content in the feed. How many people are going to be willing to spend $5-10/mo while also having reduced content?

I certainly won't that's for sure. I'm a current infinity user.

Which is nuts. I was Apollo Ultra, and that was $10/year.

I honestly never looked into Reddit premium until all the API drama and was shocked it is $50/year, while only offering a fraction of what Apollo offered. Crazy pricing.

Image Transcription: Text and Image

[Screenshot of the Infinity app for Reddit. A pop-up notification is on the bottom of the screen.]

Important Notice Regarding Reddit API Changes

Starting from July 1st, 2023, Reddit API will be pay-per-use for 3rd-party clients, which include Infinity for Reddit. The announcement from Reddit can be found here: https://www.reddit.com/r/reddit/comments/145bram/addressing_the_community_about_changes_to_our_api

In order to survive this change, Infinity will become a subscription-only app after July 1st. You can learn more about the changes in this post: https://www.reddit.com/r/Infinity_For_Reddit/comments/147bhsg/the_future_of_infinity

It's required for you to update Infinity after July 1st so that you will get the new version with subscription options. None of the previous versions (including this one) will work after July 1st. But due to a tight timeline Reddit gave, the update may not be available immediately on July 1st since it requires proper testing. Thank you for your understanding!

I'm a human volunteer content transcriber and you could be too!

That would be the client I used - it's a shame they're being pushed to this.

Once that app goes subscription, I'll run a purge on my account and drop in a GDPR request invoking my right to be deleted.

If by purge you mean power delete suite, it (and others like it) won't work after the 1st.

Also I don't know how true it is, but apparently it costs them a handful of money to comply to GDPR requests for data recovery. So maybe do that and then delete.

If I understand it correctly, Power Delete Suite should work just fine, since it's using the logged in user's API access. It will just get hit by the "free tier" rate limiting, but that only should mean it will take longer to do it's thing.

I love Infinity but I deleted the app the instant I read that, I was gonna wait until July 1st to see if something changes, but damn

Sync I paid for cus it was just so slick, Infinity not so much. I certainly won't pay.

The apps for lemmy have good potential once the bugs are resolved, but in terms of UI design, nothing beats Infinty imo

I’m sure Reddit has figured out how much to charge to ensure they get the money they would get for premium one way or another. They aren’t getting anything out of me.

He doesn't want to work on a Lemmy app because he doesn't use that platform. So even after all this he wants to continue using Reddit? Learned nothing, I guess.

Wow, not even Sync dared to charge a subscription adjusted to the new API price. I wonder how much Infinity's going to charge.

A subscription to what would now be a lesser product since you can't access NAFW content. The whole thing is sad. I deleted Sync the other day after using it for like 10 years.

Yeah, I feel bad for the developers that are trying to make it work, but I don't think it's gonna fly. Sync developer already moved to work on a Lemmy app.

Yeah, I bought the $30 support Sync bundle a while ago, and I will buy another one to support him, especially if it supports Kbin.

I've heard though a few others that sync supposedly will support Kbin but not on release. Hopefully someone can verify.

Why so many of you in the comments are complaining that he "is trying to make business with Reddit"? It is his own app, he is finishing his studies and he have achieved so many things, he has the right to do whaterver he wants with his application. Also, you can just download the Infinity's source code and build your own version of Infinity with your own API key. It will work without any problem after 1 July. So where is the problem there?

Did you see that the dev is looking for entry level jobs/internships?

That's crazy

I don't think it's going to work out for them in the long run, most users aren't going to want to pay the cost to keep it running and then they risk the possibility of crack groups cracking it and then they are on the hook for API usage they aren't getting paid for. I appreciate they want to try and keep it going, I use that app, but I don't see the potential costs as sustainable.

I don't understand why people will be willing to pay for content they fit for free for 20 years. The betrayal feeling is real abs with all the lemmy migration meaning less content and no NSFW? I would rather burn my money before paying for this shit

What happened to supporting user's API keys?

Iirc it’s no longer allowed per Reddit’s new policies

What are they going to charge?

A least $15 a month.

Non power users probably wont pay, and any lower and they'll definitely lose money.

I don't see how paying more than Netflix will do anything other than kill that app.

I guess if the app's dead either way, they don't see any harm in giving it a try.

It's just giving money away to Reddit.

That’s the real issue. I would have gladly paid Apollo $5-$10 a month considering how much I used the app and loved it but the fact that so much of it doesn’t go to the developer because Reddit wants to charge 27x more for 3rd party users is ridiculous.

Reddit fully intends to kill third party apps slowly while milking their dying bodies for profit

I only read from the Apollo guy, that the amount of requests the users of his app make, would get him to pay reddit 20 million a year. So, the more popular your 3rd party app is, the more they would have to pay Reddit.

The one i use, Sync for Reddit, is also dying before the 1st of July arrives. From there on, the new prices apply.

Reddits motivation for this, is to get paid for API access by companies like ChatGPT. They suck reddits content, our posts, in order to feed the AI with content. I assume they do it big style and Reddit wants to cash in for this.

Reddits motivation for this, is to get paid for API access by companies like ChatGPT. They suck reddits content, our posts, in order to feed the AI with content. I assume they do it big style and Reddit wants to cash in for this.

That's not their only motivation otherwise they'd be charging only the companies like chatgpt for access

They're charging one of the third party apps $20 million for api access

Although I am a bit annoyed at this whole stink related to the Reddit API, I am also wondering if the website itself will also break on July 1. I'm guessing for now that it will keep working, but I guess if it stops, I'll have to send a dirty letter to them to delete my account.