Exploring Reddit’s third-party app environment 7 months after the APIcalypse::Apollo dev: “I don’t believe Reddit’s leadership… cares about developers anymore.”

  • mindlight@lemm.ee
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    5 months ago

    The issue was never to get access to Reddit without paying a monthly fee. It was about the experience as an user. However, what really made me drop Reddit was the way Reddit management acted in all of this. They showed no signs of being someone to trust.

    So I don’t care if there are 3rd party Reddit apps since Reddit is irrelevant to me.

  • wreckedcarzz@lemmy.world
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    5 months ago

    RedReader gets a barely-glance in a single sentence. A single dev (and with users providing PRs) has one of the best, and most unknown, apps for over a decade now. Really? QuantumBadger also put up quite a fight in favor of other developers, was openly critical about the changes and the handling of the situation, and was smart enough to record calls to prove that what reddit was saying was 180 from what they were doing. And all this could be gleaned from 15 minutes on their subreddit. Cmon, if you’re going to do ‘investigative journalism’, investigate each equally, fucks sake.

    • redcalcium@lemmy.institute
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      5 months ago

      I guess Ars writers can’t be too critical to Reddit. They’re owned by the same parent company (condé nast) afterall. The fact that they’re even allowed to cover this topic by their corporate overlord is already a miracle.

      • 𝒍𝒆𝒎𝒂𝒏𝒏@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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        5 months ago

        There was this piece on Youtube I watched a while back, where a news company was investigating itself (think it was cnbc or something). They reached out to themselves for a comment, got no response, and included that in the video 🙃

        I hope that reporter is still employed there lol

    • Rentlar@lemmy.ca
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      5 months ago

      RedReader by QuantumBadger was my main Reddit app, which I used for 6 years, so much so that my old phone had the back, sort and refresh icons burned into the screen. Reddit’s official app was hot garbage six years ago and still is today.

      If Reddit management hadn’t acted with such hostility, there’s a chance I would have stayed on RedReader… I’d known for a while change was coming to the site and it would continue to be for the worse. I’m so happy to have a nice place like Lemmy to go to instead.

      • wreckedcarzz@lemmy.world
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        5 months ago

        Do note! RR is supposed to get lemmy support, as they are expecting their api access to end at some point, and lots of users migrated here. It hasn’t happened yet but try to check either the sub or the Github from time to time (or just get notified by watching the gh releases tbh).

        I was using RR (am, it’s still on my device) since basically launch, and I was the one who suggested that qb open an avenue for donations. I’ve been a patreon for the last… 2 years? Basically my first ‘I’m never giving this one up, this is a permanent install’. 11 years later, still going.

    • AlmightySnoo 🐢🇮🇱🇺🇦@lemmy.world
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      5 months ago

      RedReader gets a barely-glance in a single sentence. A single dev (and with users providing PRs) has one of the best, and most unknown, apps for over a decade now.

      RedReader is definitely a gem. Incredible app that still works despite the Reddit appocalypse.

  • linearchaos@lemmy.world
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    5 months ago

    The real TL;DR

    Most third party apps are pay, somewhere around 1 to 3 bucks per month.

    A couple are still in free because they’re negotiations with Reddit

    At least one is free because it’s delivering the web version of the site with minor changes.

    At least one of the apps that was paid before is now slightly more profitable as the playing field is leveled.

    • Hamartiogonic@sopuli.xyz
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      5 months ago

      I switched to Lemmy around the time when the discussion around the APIcalypse was intensifying. After the blackout, I still visited about once a week, but within a month or two my Reddit usage had gone down to zero. Can’t say I really miss that place. Pretty soon, it’s going to be a year after the 3rd party apps died, and I won’t even notice. I’ve moved on already.

  • return2ozma@lemmy.world
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    5 months ago

    I never used the official Reddit app in my 11 years on there. Only used the Reddit is Fun app paid version. I left to come here and although I do miss it, F SPEZ!

    • Cheems@lemmy.world
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      5 months ago

      I searched a question the other day and reddit popped up with a niche subreddit with the same question I had. I tried to go to it but I was unable to view it without logging in.

      • return2ozma@lemmy.world
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        5 months ago

        If it was an NSFW question or sub, just change your phone browser to desktop and you can bypass the login. At least that’s how it used to be

  • Xanis@lemmy.world
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    5 months ago

    Literally the only thing I still “use” Reddit for is [insert niche issue here]

    Google: Reddit [what the fuck is happening??]

    Usually get a decent starting line.

    • Katana314@lemmy.world
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      5 months ago

      I’ve given up and started asking Bing’s “chat” direct questions. It sorts through the bullshit search results and explains the answer to me in direct words.