Sigh. Down goes Bacon Reader.

I've been using Reddit is Fun for as long as I can remember - at least a decade. Bought the "golden platinum" version way back when. I'm so sad to see it go tomorrow.

Last day to use Apollo.

Malachi Constant said:

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Last day to use Apollo.

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I am in shambles

Malachi Constant said:

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Last day to use Apollo.

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Dev who has made millions is begging his users not to accept the mandatory refund he's forced to offer them for services not rendered.

And they're lapping it up. Acting like it's charity to help a rich guy pay off his debt. Amazing.

Kampfers said:

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Malachi Constant said:

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Last day to use Apollo.

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Dev who has made millions is begging his users not to accept the mandatory refund he's forced to offer them for services not rendered.

And they're lapping it up. Acting like it's charity to help a rich guy pay off his debt. Amazing.

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Has he made millions though? Can you link that supporting info?

Naveronski said:

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Kampfers said:

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Malachi Constant said:

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Last day to use Apollo.

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Dev who has made millions is begging his users not to accept the mandatory refund he's forced to offer them for services not rendered.

And they're lapping it up. Acting like it's charity to help a rich guy pay off his debt. Amazing.

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Has he made millions though? Can you link that supporting info?

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Apollo reportedly has 50k annual subscribers @ paying an average of $10 per year. That's $500,000 revenue per year alone from a single revenue source.

In 2018 he commented that Apollo made $4,000 worth of sales the previous day. That's well over 1m per year and assumes no growth since that time. It was as a part of a fundraiser so they likely don't have that kind of daily income on a regular basis but he's still in no position to cry poor.

An app analytics website (idk if reliable) says Apollo made 70k in estimated revenue in May 2023. That's 840,000 per year.

A quick google shows one website estimating his net worth in the 3 million range.

The guy isn't hurting for money, although he might not have a liquid 250k to pay back the necessary refunds. Still don't feel sorry for him. His entire business model was parasitic - leeching off of another company (not paying any support costs/API access/whatever) while denying Reddit the company's primary source of revenue (by blocking ads in his app).

Reddit's business model is parasitic too, but that doesn't make this guy some champion of the masses.

Kampfers said:

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Malachi Constant said:

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Last day to use Apollo.

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Dev who has made millions is begging his users not to accept the mandatory refund he's forced to offer them for services not rendered.

And they're lapping it up. Acting like it's charity to help a rich guy pay off his debt. Amazing.

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The apollo fan boys and their leader have been the best part of this whole thing.

I loved the Apollo app. I switched back to the official reddit app and found the UX vastly inferior, but not so much so that I'll up and quit reddit altogether.

I also never understood the martyr-like reaction Apollo got. I see that at least one of the bigger 3rd party apps (Narwhal) was somehow able to reach a conclusion that allowed them to keep operating by introducing monthly charges. I'm not going to pretend to know if the solution that worked for Narwhal would've worked for Apollo or any of the others. But my feeling is that Apollo's argument takes a hit now that we see that at least one developer was able to make the math work.

Narwhal dev treats it as a hobby and has a day job from what I've read. He would only need to charge enough to break even. Apollo dev obviously treats it as his source of income and would charge more, which may just end in him not having enough users to make it profitable enough anyway.

Regardless, I'm surprised he hasn't even attempted to just accept that his userbase would become way smaller and only available to those heavy users willing to pay. Not sure if he showed the math on that as an option or not.

Narwhal is also the only app I've heard of that's surviving, so maybe that guy has some unique circumstances aside from just treating it as a hobby.

Well, baconreader is gone, so finally bit the bullet and moved to the official app.

The app isn't bad, but I'm disappointed to see no widget for it on Android. That was the main way I interacted with it.

Anyone know of an app or way to get a widget on Android?

I've already given up on using the official app. It's so ****in bad.

HossAg said:

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I've already given up on using the official app. It's so ****in bad.

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It really isn't that bad.

powerbelly said:

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HossAg said:

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I've already given up on using the official app. It's so ****in bad.

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It really isn't that bad.

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It absolutely is.

HossAg said:

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powerbelly said:

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HossAg said:

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I've already given up on using the official app. It's so ****in bad.

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It really isn't that bad.

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It absolutely is.

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As a Sync user for 5+ years the official app is awful. I tried it yesterday and uninstalled it by the end of the day. I'll stick to old.reddit and will probably be visiting way less often.

I used Alien Blue for a while until it was purchased and incorporated as the official app for Reddit.

It started sucking so I switched to Apollo.

Apollo has (well, had) some of the best UI features of any app. Things like being able to hold and scroll left/right on a gif and scrub the video back and forth. It was so good I started to get frustrated with things like YouTube and twitter that couldn't do it. The official app is completely inferior user experience IMO.

I get there are a lot of 3rd party app fanboys. But in this thread there are some also Reddit official app goal-tenders.

I'm not exaggerating when I say Apollo was the most well designed app I've ever used. The official Reddit app just doesn't even come close and it's so weird that there's people acting like it does.

HossAg said:

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I'm not exaggerating when I say Apollo was the most well designed app I've ever used. The official Reddit app just doesn't even come close and it's so weird that there's people acting like it does.

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I'm a bit jealous that I never tried Apollo, but I can say the same about Baconreader. It was head and shoulders above the "official" Reddit experience.

I wonder if the official Reddit app will be able to start incorporating some of the features of the now-defunct apps?

HossAg said:

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I'm not exaggerating when I say Apollo was the most well designed app I've ever used. The official Reddit app just doesn't even come close and it's so weird that there's people acting like it does.

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I mean, I get it... For some people ignorance is bliss. They're the type who you'd have to wrestle their Bud Light from their cold dead hands and you'll find at Applebee's every Friday night because there's nothing better.

Seems like this applies to those gatekeeping for a CEO who has already devalued their IPO with this 3rd party app maneuver.

Brian Earl Spilner said:

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Well, baconreader is gone, so finally bit the bullet and moved to the official app.

The app isn't bad, but I'm disappointed to see no widget for it on Android. That was the main way I interacted with it.

Anyone know of an app or way to get a widget on Android?

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Redreader is pretty decent. I've heard Relay is sticking around but will go to a monthly subscription (hence the monthly sub) to help cover the new API costs.

powerbelly said:

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HossAg said:

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I've already given up on using the official app. It's so ****in bad.

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It really isn't that bad.

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Using the official app since Apollo went dark.

It really is that bad.

Yeah, the official app does suck. Especially when you've been used to Apollo. I did figure out how to turn off their suggested posts, so now it's mostly the feed I'm used to but with some adds sprinkled in.

Biggest annoyance for me is how slow the official app is. Takes noticeably longer to load comments. Videos are constantly buffering for me, as well.

I've been using Narwhal for the last week after Apollo shut down and it's not bad. I guess the author cut some kind of deal with Reddit? Supposedly there will be a subscription coming "at some point" to cover the API use charges so I'm not sure if it will be viable long term.

BowSowy said:

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Yeah, the official app does suck. Especially when you've been used to Apollo. I did figure out how to turn off their suggested posts, so now it's mostly the feed I'm used to but with some adds sprinkled in.

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How did you do this?

I have been a Narwhal user for a few years and its awesome. But with the advent of them starting to charge, I thought I would start to look at the official app. And its as bad as everyone says. I dont see how they put out a product this bad. If they were smart, they would just buy Narwhal or Apollo.

Settings>Account Settings>Personalized Recommendations

I just turned off all of the options in there. But the one you're asking about specifically is "Enable home feed recommendations"

exitone said:

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BowSowy said:

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Yeah, the official app does suck. Especially when you've been used to Apollo. I did figure out how to turn off their suggested posts, so now it's mostly the feed I'm used to but with some adds sprinkled in.

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How did you do this?

I have been a Narwhal user for a few years and its awesome. But with the advent of them starting to charge, I thought I would start to look at the official app. And its as bad as everyone says. I dont see how they put out a product this bad. If they were smart, they would just buy Narwhal or Apollo.

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They bought alien blue back in the day to do that but seems like they just shut it down rather than incorporate it or make it the default.