Exploring Reddit’s third-party app environment 7 months after the APIcalypse

ardi60@reddthat.com to Reddit@lemmy.world – 226 points –
Exploring Reddit’s third-party app environment 7 months after the APIcalypse
arstechnica.com
90

I used Sync. Sync went to Lemmy. I moved to Lemmy.

Upvoting from my sync app.

Up vote this if you also did! ☝️

Downvoting from my sync app.

Why would people do this? Seems kind of mean. I thought we were having fun together...

Sync downvote feature works great!

Why, bro?

It's meaningless anyway. What karma are you gonna farm?

I'm telling everyone to up vote someone else, for fun. I try to be nice, you know, have some camaraderie, but everyone down votes me instead. Like, I thought we were different from Reddit, somehow. 😑 I don't care about karma, I care about the actions themselves, and it disappoints me.

Sorry for this, seems like people misunderstood your comment

Thank you for that. ❤️

You're welcome! If you want more casual discussions, feel free to join !casualconversation@lemmy.world

Oh, cool. That actually seems pretty chill. Fits the vibe I'm going for on this platform. It's what I was looking for on Reddit but was disappointed again and again.

Maybe we'll bump into each other again one day. 🤝

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I mean in general upvotes or down votes are fairly meaningless on this platform.

I know that, I just wanted to have some fun...

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Same, Sync was Reddit to me.

Absolutely. Every other interface was trash.

And the official app and web interface were a port-a-potty upturned into a flaming dumpster.

And the official app and web interface were a port-a-potty upturned into a flaming dumpster.

Could you believe that there are some poor souls that just went straight to Reddit using that garbage app and didn't even make the effort to patch Sync?

The patching never worked consistently for me, and after I bit I realized that Reddit wasn't a place I wanted to be anymore.

The patch works fantastically for me, but I agree on the last part.

Same. Except I moved before Sync on Lemmy was a thing so went with Jerboa. Then the prices for Sync came out (I had bought it for Reddit before and refused to have ads ever), and I just stayed with Jerboa.

I used Sync for Reddit. I still do (Vanced patch) but I used to too.

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Apollo… I miss Apollo. Voyager is nice but I still miss Apollo.

It’s at least possible to sideload Apollo and use your own API key for it.

Wait… what?

EXPLAINNNNN!!

https://github.com/Balackburn/Apollo

You'll have to install AltStore (or Sideloady) on your computer + phone to resign the app each week (this can happen automatically if they're on the same wifi network). You can make your own personal API key at https://old.reddit.com/prefs/apps/ (It's limited to 100 requests per 10 mins, which you wont run into browsing by yourself). Also as long as you moderate a subreddit (I think even if it's just an empty one you make), NSFW content wont be blocked on the API.

Also while you're sideloading, I'd highly recommend uYouPlus for a better youtube app

Thanks I’ll dig into this. I already have uYouPlus and Ignited (Delta emulated but better). But I may try to get Apollo instead of YouTube which I barely use.

Isn't it better to simply move to Lemmy?

It's not perfect but seriously: fuck reddit

I haven’t been on Reddit since the api lockout. But there are some communities that have not moved over and I want access to them. I realized that the private api would still generate traffic for them but if through Apollo they won’t get my ads revenue at least. But yeah fuck Reddit.

On the topic of generating traffic: I use a little app off of github called geddit. It essentially uses the RSS feed reddit has and skins it into an app. It's pretty bare on features since you can't log in, but you can have a personalized front page. And no ads as well. And nsfw posts/subs aren't blocked.

That's my compromise for accessing niche communities without giving reddit traffic.

Edit: It's an android app. Not really an option if you have an iPhone I guess

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Interestingly, Narwhal remained open ahead of Narwhal 2's release without users having to pay anything. I asked Harrison in June how that was possible, but he said he couldn't explain due to a non-disclosure agreement (NDA) with Reddit. I asked again for this story, and Harrison said he couldn't provide full details but noted, "Reddit was willing to work with me so that I could transition the app to subscriptions in a reasonable timeframe, especially considering it's not my full-time job."

That is interesting given all the shit Spez gave Christian about just this issue with respect to Apollo.

Same with RIF and hell half the other apps. Dude straight up didn't want to work with anyone.

I believe part of the difference between the two apps is Apollo had yearly subscriptions users which Reddit didn’t seem to want to accommodate for, so he would have been on the hook paying for those users. While Narwhal just had a ad unlock making it easier to move to version 2 with a subscription.

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Too bad the article only mentions apps migrating to Lemmy as a single line in a huge article. Would have been nice to hear about the transition process.

Its like they went out of their way to not mention Sync, Boost, and the other apps that pivoted. One little sentence that I missed on first read through is all they get.

Used Boost, Boost ported to Lemmy (eventually).

Kinda lost a reason to use reddit after most of my subs got banned, shadow banned, or admin mod changed so they could ban content.

And no it wasn't anything insane, it was stuff like r/dankvideos

I use Memmy and voyager on Lemmy after Apollo died.

I sneak back into Reddit using the rdx interface though. As much as I hate what they did, there is so much more user engagement on Reddit and what is a small niche community on Lemmy is bustling and thriving there

It’s still a 50/50 split

A 50/50 split is more that we could have hoped for when they announced the API changes

Now we just wait for shitlord in command to commit his next blunder and prepare for the next surge of redditfugees.

There is an app on iOS called Sink It for Reddit. It’s basically a Safari extension that makes Reddit.com suck less. But, you should avoid Reddit. Lemmy is our new home.

I use Lemmy now because of Sync but I really hate the normal web UI. It's awful. I wish they would update it to make it more pleasing to the eye. I simply avoid Lemmy when on my PC.

I really like the default look of Lemmy, it's refreshingly clean and functional unlike most social media sites these days. And it doesn't have infinite scrolling which I hate.

On Lemmy.world you can use old.lemmy.world for a theme similar to old.reddit.com.

Which is also outdated and has been outdated, which is why they redesigned it. An actual, modern UI would do wonders for the platform.

This is kind of the opposite of the interface that I want (compact text), but if you like to use Lemmy/reddit to scroll memes, then this looks like a great and very clean implementation.

The fact that you need to mention it already makes the default UI a failure. Imagine a regular lurker jumped in. They wouldn't look at a site you need to know about - people don't expect it to exist. The default experience is like making a first impression. Having a bad one makes it that much harder for people to like the platform.

As you are on Lemmyworld, the link is pinned in your sidebar: https://p.lemmy.world/

I agree that the default frontend can be improved, but there is only so much work the devs can do at the same time. There were rumours about a new frontend at some point, let's see how it goes.

I completely agree with you. I personally use the Voyager PWA on my iPhone exclusively. The interface is nearly perfect, and regularly gets cross platform updates. I find that I almost never use Lemmy on the desktop because it feels a bit too clunky for me.

Interesting, I actually kinda like Lemmy's UI. Still imperfect though

Sync moved to Lemmy, so I moved to Lemmy. Then I switched to Voyager.

Almost the same story here. Switched to Sync for Lemmy when it became available, left after a few months due being unhappy with it for a variety of reasons, then tried a bunch of clients (Boost, Eternity, Voyager), though I ended up choosing Boost in the end.

Like wtf is this. How is Reddit adding an API cost an exercise for you to triple it?

Surprised to see no mention of RedReader?

This is the app that I used before I left Reddit and I heard they got exempt from the API charges. Is that still the case? Still seems to be on F-Droid.

Isn't it in the exceptions paragraph?

Well annoyingly the article was broken up into arbitrary pages so I couldn't easily ctrl+f it for that. It is there but I'm still surprised it's just a footnote given that it used to be what I used out of choice. I assumed it would be what everyone still there jumped on instead of paying, but I guess if you're still happy with Reddit you're happy with a lot of crap.

I guess if you’re still happy with Reddit you’re happy with a lot of crap.

Yes, that's probably it

What a waste of article by ASStechnica. Not a single mention of Apollo, you know the most popular Reddit client by far.

Wha? They talked to Apollo's dev at the end?

Or do you mean a breakdown of the numbers and such?

FYI for those confused by parent comment or the comment I’m replying to: if you use the reader mode of the in- app browser, the article is cut off quite early and there’s no indication that there’s more to be read if you read it directly.

Being the most popular for an OS that only had two choices isn't that big of a flex, tbf

Yeah they’ve gone way downhill the past few years. I was a paid subscriber for over a decade and finally canceled last year as the quality just wasn’t there anymore, even the one great comment sections kinda suck now too.

Reddit killed Joey - long after their stated cutoff date, how did they fuck that up? Anyway, now I have Lemmy+Eternity.