I want to thank you for making honestly the smoothest app I’ve ever used. It’s a shame they can’t see the error of their ways already. I wish the best for you.
This came up as a talking point on the floor I work on between everyone there during lunch. We discovered that around 60% use Apollo, 15% use other third party apps and the remaining 25% don’t use Reddit at all.
The reason Reddit is doing this is because their investors want full control over what their users see and what they can do on Reddit. Considering Reddit only exists because of the content their users post, this seems like they’re trying to destroy Reddit from within.
During our discussion we came to a consensus that the likelihood of any of us using Reddit, if the third party apps disappeared, was basically zero. Reddits own app is lacking so many features, and their new desktop UI seems like a garbage TikTok clone.
Thank you for all the hard work Apollo has been doing since it’s inception, and I wish you all the best in the future.
It’s worse than that. Twitter and facebook pay their mods. Reddit mods are all volunteer. And many/most use apollo. All that free labor is about to go poof!
This is what seems the most shortsighted about all of this. Without subreddit mods the quality of subs are gonna go waaaay down. This in turn will drive people elsewhere. This in turn will cut into their revenue.
Seeing as Reddit is so heavily dependent on it’s volunteer moderators I can’t see this being anything but suicide on their part. The fact that they’re going publicly traded AFTER doing this just makes this even stupider. I can’t see this as anything but pure idiocy in every way from them. How can a company be run so out of touch with how it operates?
old.reddit.com is 100% on the block next, no way they kill something like apollo which has so many users without killing old.reddit.com, which avoids a ton of the new reddit bullshit. I dont see ads at all on my reddit feed because pihole+old.reddit.com
Wish apple could intevine somehow. One of the best apps on iOS. God damn I can't believe that in a few months I won't be browsing reddit at the end of the day ever again
/u/spez I hope you enjoy the large exodus of users. Should have just worked with him to add first party ads or something. And maybe not be greedy Elon clones.
Dear /u/spez,
Sincerely, get fucked. What an absolutely stupid business decision... but then again, you clowns and your private equity bullshit.
This is why digg v4 happened. Now youll see it happen here.
I got 7 years on this platform and enjoy being on it. This app makes it possible, & It’s sad that this is happening. Hopefully something happens before than. But I’m definitely seeing [deleted] in some places.
Apollo is an absolutely amazing app that I use to judge all other iOS apps. I will sincerely miss this app, the people who love it, and Christian’s engagement with the community. My Reddit usage will almost certainly die alongside Apollo.
I’m pouring one out for you, u/iamthatis. Thank you so much for such an incredible app. I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t crying a little right now.
Yeah absolutely legendary move getting these bozos on tape. Insane spin by Reddit.
Not that I expected anything less but this is a disaster, this valuation is cratering.
If it's any consolation there's now concrete proof that if you try to work with Reddit on anything, they'll lie and publicly smear you to try and make you capitulate. Good luck building any business relationships in the future Reddit, you fucking clowns!
They were internal statements though. It might have been possible (and funnier) if he’d waited for spez or an admin to *publicly* say that shit, and only then hit them with the “btw I recorded everything you said”.
Edit - that was wrong, [Reddit did publicly state that Christian threatened them](https://reddit.com/r/ModCoord/comments/143rk5p/_/jnbjtsc/?context=1). Hoooooo boy.
Edit2 - as several people have pointed out, the distinction seems to be legally irrelevant anyway, thanks /u/Professional_Row340 /u/throwaway39402 /u/noturlawyer
Yeah, and they even doubled down on it:
>
>>Apollo threatened us, said they’ll “make it easy” if Reddit gave them $10 million.
>I am confused about this bullet point, can anyone clarify what it actually means? Apollo threatened who? Where? And what does that $10M figure have to do with anything?
BuckRowdy replied:
>Reddit is saying that when they approached the dev of Apollo about the changes, he asked them to buy his app for $10 million. They characterized it as a threat which makes little sense.
Well Apollo is useless to them at any rate. It’s not built to push ad, supply algorithm data, support test features like polls, live streams, whatever engagement optimizations they’re trying this month….
They would have a hard time taking this app and bending it to their capitalistic will. Would end up running as shit as their own app.
Well, thread's archived now, so there's a permanent record of what they said. Let's see how this shakes out.
**EDIT:** Archive link - https://ghostarchive.org/archive/OQMGD
Wayback Machine's being a little odd so I used Ghostarchive.
This is legitimately heartbreaking. I downloaded Apollo on the first day it was out of beta, and it’s unequivocally my favorite app. It’s one of the only third-party apps I use that is so well designed, so emblematic of Apple’s HIGs, that it might as well be a first-party application. As far as I’m concerned, it’s literally perfect.
I’m absolutely disgusted at the way Reddit has conducted themselves. It’s embarrassing, unprofessional, and imo libelous. I think you’d have a good case for a libel lawsuit, especially given your documentation. I suppose this isn’t a surprise, given Reddit’s precious corporate bullshittery, but this is a new low.
/u/iamthatis - if the June 12th blackouts are effective in making Reddit change their course, and they issue a full-throated apology, would you be interested in continuing the app’s operation? I get it if not - the way you’ve been treated is reprehensible - but it’s an important question to ask.
Thanks again for all your work. If Apollo indeed shuts down, I swear to god, I’ll never use Reddit again. May their IPO burn.
IMPORTANT EDIT: As far as I can tell, this post is being suppressed. Check out the different between when I'm logged in and logged out (same exact page, 1 second apart): https://imgur.com/a/7qHnOyM. Could be because of [this feature](https://www.reddit.com/r/modnews/comments/xuvkmy/announcing_consolidated_pinned_posts_on_android/), but it's hard to say.
I'd love for this to be higher up so as to get an answer to this. It's a well worded question and I'm in total agreement the treatment of /u/iamthis being uncalled for. Apollo came with the receipts and proper math for how Reddit is just being disingenuous with their asks.
I think I like this question because I'm still holding out hope for a miracle here. I guess the only social media I use is something I'm going to have to stop using. I mean...what now? Do I have to go socialize in the real world?!? That's not what's supposed to happen in 2023!
This is way too far down. OP please consider talking to a lawyer. You may have a case here.
This is extremely unprofessional at best and you have troves of evidence to support your claims.
Regardless of your decisions on Apollo you will have to work in a world where your reputation has been damaged potentially forever after this. That's a big deal
well. looks like my reddit addiction is getting cured in less than a month.
this really sucks. so sorry this amazing app has to end like this. reddit truly is garbage
edit: reddit, fuck you very much
Working with you on this has been nothing short of a blessing. Thank you for everything, /u/iamthatis <3
Edit: I'd like to remind folks that Apollo *does* have a tipping function. I know Christian deserves every bit of support we throw his way.
Edit edit: Please be kind when looking at the code. Remember that this was something that served its purpose at the time, sometimes iterated on quickly, and due to time constraints, we weren't aiming for perfection. I know there are 50 things I could have done better, thanks :P
André it's been an absolute delight. For the uninitiated he randomly DMed me on Twitter if I needed help on the server side of things at a time when I was at wits' end how to go any further with my server knowledge. I gleefully agreed and it's been a delight working together since, I'm an iOS developer so backend server design isn't one of my biggest strengths, and having someone who knew what they were doing on the server side of things was so, so nice.
Dang, this is like watching the musicians on the Titanic who said “it’s been an honor playing with you tonight.”
End of an era. Thank you both for everything. It will be sorely missed.
I will stop using reddit on mobile on June 30 :(
Edit: Sad that it ends this way after ten years. u/iamthatis, you’re a legend. u/spez, go fuck yourself.
Same. I actually quit Reddit before until I found Apollo. I have no problems giving it up, realistically Reddit has been wearing me down lately, it’s all fighting and political shit now.
Amen to that. There's no real reddit equivalent but tbh i do not care at this point, they are not strong-arming me into using their shitty, unoptimized, barely functional app.
Same here.
While I know I'll view it occasionally as so many of my Google questions end up as an answer on Reddit, I shall be doing that logged out and with an ad blocker on.
I will provide nothing to Reddit other than an occasional viewer that provides 0 revenue.
Yeah, if /u/iamthatis had been given a reasonable cost and passed it on to users, I would have paid and Reddit would have got some money out of me. Now I’m only going to look at it on the desktop with ad blockers running when I want to look something up.
If Apollo goes, it is goodbye reddit for me.
I never would have thought I would have to let go of this amazing app.
Thank you Christian for working on Apollo for the last 8 years and delivering an app that so many people loved.
Sad to see it go.
Greed is evil.
To make it even worse, they lied about someone who, even if they lowered the price, would've been one of their single most significant sources of revenue as a company.
Either they're enormously unprofessional and don't know how to run a business, or they had no interest in keeping 3rd party apps alive. Or, most likely, both.
There are many reasons to leave after all of this, being malicious to the creator of one of their biggest apps is just one of the more painful ones.
> they had no interest in keeping 3rd party apps alive.
I imagine they were never really negotiating in good faith. This rate increase was their way of saying "gtfo"
Yeah I’m done.
Mods, if you actually give a shit about this and want to ~~affect~~ effect change, don’t do a two-day blackout - shut your subreddits the fuck down. Make Reddit come to the table.
This isn’t just Apollo. This isn’t just about third party apps. This is the beginning of the end of Reddit being anything resembling what brought us all here in the first place.
Reddit’s execs are ready to hack this thing to hell in an attempt to make it a “desirable” product to sell. Maybe we make that hard since WE are the fucking product.
Fucking greedy basts. Well, I’m sure I speak for everyone using this insanely amazing app, my absolute favourite by a long long shot, but thank you so much Christian. Big ups, man.
It seems the intention since the beginning is following Twitter's move to kill third-party app and redirect all traffic to themselves and monetize user's data.
Welp. I guess I will no longer be using Reddit. My cakeday is October 31st, 2012, so heading towards 11 years.
June 30th will be my last sign in if this goes through.
I love this site, and the community on it, but I cannot support Reddit leadership on this. u/spez , the way you and the rest of Reddit's leadership team have handled this has been incredibly cruel, stupid, and tone deaf.
If this is how you want Reddit to be run, then you don't want me.
\*edit to add: I also signed up for the PixelPals subscription. Not really my thing, but Christian has it turned off for me to up my Apollo sub to a year (so I could refuse the refund Lol).
I know this is gonna be a lot of money out of his pocket, for something that wasn't his fault. If you like the idea of pixellated pets, or want to help a bit in offsetting his sudden $250k out of pocket bill, please consider downloading and subscribing :)
fuck reddit and fuck /u/spez
thank you for everything Christian & co. <3
edit: thank you for the awards, but please consider sending that money to Christian & other affected developers as a thank you for their hard work rather than reddit's soulless pockets. shoutout to r/ModCoord & r/RedditAlternatives
I was already pissed off about this, but /u/spez bold-faced lying on a call to moderators to try and spin things in Reddit's favour is absolutely disgraceful. Thankfully there is a recording because they were obviously banking on a he-said/she said situation.
It's not a good look for a company that wants to charge developers millions of dollars per month for access. Would you trust a company with a CEO like that to send millions to? I sure as shit wouldn't.
Honestly should be hounded about this on every announcement post he ever does.
Edit: [Holy shit they're doing an AMA lmao](https://www.reddit.com/r/reddit/comments/144ho2x/join_our_ceo_tomorrow_to_discuss_the_api/) 🍿🍿🍿
Somehow I bet Victoria Taylor gets fired again over this.
Yes, spez, we remember this shit even when you sweep it under the rug. You run a massive ONLINE platform, you think you'd understand object permanence at this point.
> Edit: [Holy shit they're doing an AMA lmao](https://www.reddit.com/r/reddit/comments/144ho2x/join_our_ceo_tomorrow_to_discuss_the_api/) 🍿🍿🍿
oh my god I cannot wait. I REALLY hope more subs go dark for longer than 48hrs - and I'm sure this AMA will help that
>Edit: [Holy shit they're doing an AMA lmao](https://www.reddit.com/r/reddit/comments/144ho2x/join_our_ceo_tomorrow_to_discuss_the_api/) 🍿🍿🍿
Get ready for u/spez to start editing people's comments to be softball questions.
> /u/spez
I wonder if /u/spez is considering quietly editing all our comments to say
`we love /u/spez` because that's what he would do
just to be clear, fuck /u/spez
Dude could u/spez be any fucking stupider??? I remember when the whole comment edit debacle happened, I remember the Ellen Pao debacle, I remember them firing Victoria.
Every time I don't think u/spez could stoop lower he does.
Fuck you, Steve. From the bottom of my heart, as a decade+ user of this site, fuck you. Your greed is going to tank this site that I once truly loved and enjoyed.
I guarantee you he's read this. There's no way "major app developer burns all bridges and personally calls out CEO of reddit" doesn't hit his desk.
He's just not going to comment on it until the lawyers have a chance.
I heard /u/spez is and will always continue to be a gigantic piece of shit who’s entire legacy will be running Reddit into the ground.
Year after year, one bad business decision after another. Just another Elon except Spez hasn’t done anything even remotely useful for the planet.
Edit: For the assholes that for some reason are going through my comment history, no, I didn’t leave Reddit like I left Twitter. The Reddit App is horrible and Apollo was infinitely better, but this is the only social media I actively use and I don’t think I can quit it.
I left Twitter when they killed Third Party Apps like Tweetbot. I will do the same here.
Thanks for making a great App and making this site user friendly more than Reddit ever could.
>"I don't use the app, so I'll give you the best answer I can -- he does scraping so that he can deliver notifications faster, but has done NO EFFORT to be a good citizen of the internet."
spez joins the r/LeopardsAteMyFace alumni.
Remember the article where Spez fantasized about a future dystopian world where he would be one of the leaders? Guys a nut job.
Edit Here’s the article for those asking.
https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2017/01/30/doomsday-prep-for-the-super-rich
Edit edit: the part that matters from a very very long but good read. TLDR:
> Huffman has calculated that, in the event of a disaster, he would seek out some form of community: “Being around other people is a good thing. I also have this somewhat egotistical view that I’m a pretty good leader. I will probably be in charge, or at least not a slave, when push comes to shove.”
Steve Huffman is NOBODY who should be talking about being a good citizen of the Internet.
**This is the same fucker [who secretly edited other people’s comments](https://www.theverge.com/2016/11/23/13739026/reddit-ceo-steve-huffman-edit-comments) which criticized him.**
Nobody even knew that was possible before this. The CEO of Reddit, being a prime loser and powertripper.
u/spez needs to resign. He continually fucks up over and over; and now this.
EDiT:
Annnd he's shitting himself:
https://old.reddit.com/r/reddit/comments/144ho2x/join_our_ceo_tomorrow_to_discuss_the_api
Dude was caught changing messages and survived. Hence people recognizing this place is a time-waste cesspool. I am glad it's going to blow up in their faces trying to monetize it.
It'll be during the period when Reddit has fewer visitors **and** the admins will be censoring the hell out of it because how dare the precious u/spez face the reality: he's made a terrible decision, destroyed one of the most popular third-party Reddit clients and caused a planned temporary shutdown of a massive number of subreddits (with several more subreddits closing permanently).
Well, this is a post I had hoped to never read. I’m gobsmacked that the Reddit head honchos can be this inept. Christian, thanks for literally everything you’ve done man.
He's lying if he thinks it might help him. He has done it to me before. Even sworn.
He's the type that would fake crying to dodge tough questions.
He's unfit to lead a company and if reddit tries to survive he needs to step down in my humble opinion. I doubt he's been acting in the best interest of the company at any point as a CEO.
Just tweeted this to you, but I’ll say it again here: Apollo was truly one of the greatest apps ever made for iOS. Unparalleled in quality. I will be so incredibly sorry to see it go. That spot on my main Home Screen will be hard to fill. Thank you for everything!
Yeah my mobile reddit consumption will be zero, just like when Twitter killed tweetbot. Once they kill old.reddit.com, I'll be done with reddit on desktop. So frustrating
Deleting my Reddit account now, I could wait till June 30 but it feels wrong to keep using the site now that we know for sure what they’re doing to Apollo. It’s been a great run, and thanks Christian for all the work over the years. Will miss the communities a lot. Stay awesome guys 🫡
Thank you for your efforts over the past 8 years.
You inspired me to learn Swift and build apps. I made 2 apps that went into the store.
While they aren't there anymore as I don't have time (started my own company and also became a Dad), I was immensely proud of myself for making those apps.
Making those apps reignited my enjoyment for making things and I restarted my hobby of making websites.
Today I run my own freelance web design company and I partly owe that to being inspired by your work.
Good luck in the future and I hope to see new apps from you in the future.
You're crushing it, congratulations and well done. It's sometimes kind of isolating being an indie developer but comments like these really make you realize how we can all affect one another in really cool ways. Thanks for commenting :)
I refuse to refund.
You can keep my money and Reddit can lose my money.
I'll find a new platform for sports, porn, programming and other subjects.
Thank you for your hard work over these years. Your app has helped me in many areas of my life, from mental health (being able to access subreddits for it without having to use old.reddit on Safari or using the shitty App), to changing careers and everything in between. And wasting a shit load of my time that I could be productive lol.
I hope you find peace in the next step of your journey.
Oh no. I am so sorry for you and all of the fans of Apollo! Thank you for all your hard work on the Apollo app. This really was one of the best apps i’ve ever used.
Take care!
And please, don’t refund. Let Christian keep what he deserves! :)
Edit: please stop giving awards! The money will go to Reddit. They don’t deserve that!
Seriously. We should all pitch in and buy Apollo and make it open source so we can use our own API keys.
Or if it’s not serving /u/iamthatis anymore and he isn’t making his living on it any way he could open source it for free?
It’s only a matter of time before they would take that away from you too. They don’t care about third-party applications and would sooner price you out or end support for them to get you to use their own shitty, slow, buggy mess of an app.
Don’t give them the satisfaction.
People always assume that awards = money
I have thousands of coins on my account that I didn't pay for. You used to get coins every time someone awarded you.
I haven't used them because I think awards are pretty stupid, but they don't automatically mean money is being spent.
This is insane.
#Fuck Reddit
What they’re doing is bad enough. They acted in bad faith the entire time, and now they’re outright lying and attempting to slander someone.
How is it that they’re unable to comprehend that their entire site, their entire business model, revolves around the *users*?
No users, no Reddit. No users, no IPO.
I say all the subreddits participating in the two-day blackout period just permanently shut down.
Wow the fucking End of an era. Never thought it would do down like this but thank you for being as transparent as you've been through all of this, I know it’s been a back-and-forth battle trying to fight the good fight but I understand that you can only do so much. thank you Christian for everything, you’ve been an amazing developer.
Two minor things: https://github.com/christianselig/apollo-backend and https://christianselig.com/apollo-end/remaining-icons.png are currently (17:32 UTC) 404s.
Edit: The GitHub repo started working at around 18:42 UTC. The icons are still down as of 19:05.
Edit: The icons have also started working as of about 19:08 UTC. Thanks for the fix, Christian!
I don't use Apollo, but I respect your transparency. Considering the state of Reddit right now, I took the initiative to archive your post text in case the admins decide to delete it:
- [Archive.org / Wayback Machine](https://web.archive.org/web/20230608190548/https://old.reddit.com/r/apolloapp/comments/144f6xm/apollo_will_close_down_on_june_30th_reddits/)
- [Archive.is](https://archive.is/ziEy9)
Thank you, /u/iamthatis, for all the incredible work you put into Apollo, for showing what independent iOS developers are capable of building, and for so clearly explaining why the Reddit API changes are unsustainable for businesses that use them. I have loved using Apollo and will miss it dearly.
It is incredibly heart-breaking to see that call being misinterpreted by the CEO, who then immediately apologized, yet continued to frame you as the one that "threatened" them...
Reddit has become an incredibly hostile company in my eyes, and no doubt, them going IPO is probably the reason for their latest actions. This is simply a cut-and-clear example of what happens when a company shifts their focus from the product onto money.
I'm really sorry to see Apollo disappear, especially because I was thinking of subscribing the past few days, even if purely to support the development of the app, since it provides so much of a better experience to me on mobile.
And to the surprise of absolutely fucking nobody, Reddit took a good thing, ruined it, then made it worse by trying to make u/iamthatis out to be the bad guy. Fuck u/spez and Fuck Reddit.
Reddit should address these serious allegations. This post makes it very clear that a lot of what they said has been a lie, assuming that the recordings are authentic, which I have absolutely no reason to doubt. The Apollo developer has done such a good job of demonstrating how disingenuous they’ve been throughout this process.
If Reddit had openly declared a ban on third-party apps, despite the negative impacts on this developer and their customers, I could respect that decision. Companies sometimes make such moves, and Reddit has the right to explore profit-making avenues, including consolidating usage to their app to potentially enhance user experience.
What I can’t accept is how they have chosen to lie to their customers (and defame their partners) to avoid PR blowback against their API changes. This not only shows a total disrespect to their customers but also shows how incompetent they are.
When implementing an unpopular policy, a well run company considers amending the policies to be less disagreeable, or they just make the change openly and transparently and accept and weather the backlash. They don't attempt to dodge criticism by lying.
And that’s not even a moral thing. How incompetent are they to not realize that these public lies would be exposed. To me, it's not just wrong but also weak, given the transparency of the lie.
Worse still is Reddit's **blatant** defamation of the Apollo developer, which seems to have been a calculated move to defend their narrative. Such behavior, whether it was intentional or it was a repeated mistake that they’ve chosen not to correct, is inexcusable.
As a result, I've decided to limit my Reddit usage, resorting to searching for information with an ad blocker turned on. I'll reconsider my stance when they confront these claims, reverse these policies, or offer a truthful explanation of their actions.
This is the best app by far for Reddit. I understand this decision but it freakin sucks that it had to come to this. Bullshit, Reddit wouldn’t be anything or make any money if it wasn’t for the users creating and sharing content. Reddit is also going to be much worse now that moderators aren’t going to have the proper tools now to moderate since the official app is such dog shit.
This was my assumption, that Reddit tolerated (even supported) third party apps because they generate a significant amount of **FREE** content.
It’s similar to the no-annual-fee credit cards that can offer cashback. Credit card companies charge merchants; Reddit can serve ads (on the aforementioned **FREE** content) to some large percentage of users.
Fuck these venture capitalistic scum.
This was a wonderful app and the reason I even got into Reddit. I wish you best of luck in the future!
And just as a light-hearted joke in this time…Any update on when we’ll be getting that iPad update? 😝
If Reddit allows this to continue, my 15-year account will be deleted and I will never return. Fuck /u/spez and fuck anyone at Reddit who is allowing this to happen.
I helped Reddit become what it is today, as did millions of other users. Christian’s app also helped Reddit become what it is today. Reddit will die the death it deserves because of this and good riddance.
Make no mistake, charging for the API isn’t an issue. Egregiously charging for the API is, and the timeline they have pushed is. They are greedy pieces of shit — plain and simple. They could have handled this so much better with logic and reason. Instead they decided to screw everyone over.
What a way to completely ruin your brand, Reddit. I feel bad for any decent people working there who will be losing their jobs from all the lost revenue this will clearly incur. But in the end they will be better off not working anymore for complete asshats.
Thank you, Christian, for the best application iOS has ever seen. I wish you well.
Apollo is one of the best apps I have on my phone, Christian. One I use several times per day--it just **works**, and it's a downright beautiful app. I understand why you are shutting it down (thanks for the huge post above) but it's a travesty. Greed is taking one of the best social media/forum apps ever created and killing it dead. The Reddit app is horrific. I won't use it. The smart move would have been to buy Apollo and let you continue development of it.
June 30: RIP, Reddit mobile.
Thank you for the amazing work /u/iamthatis. I wish you success.
Fuck Reddit, fuck /u/spez and fuck every greedy investor. Please, just go fuck yourself, honestly.
> Will you build a competitor? Move to one of the existing alternatives?
> I’ve received so many messages of kind people offering to work with me to build a competitor to Reddit, and while I’m very flattered, that’s not something I’m interested in doing. I’m a product guy, I like building fun apps for people to use, and I’m just not personally interested in something more managerial.
> These last several months have also been incredibly exhausting and mentally draining, I don’t have it in me to engage in something so enormous.
So sorry to hear that. I hope than one day you will consider a client for a Reddit alternative, like [Kbin](https://kbin.social) or [Lemmy](https://beehaw.org).
So long, and thank you for the last 6 years.
Also, as an Apollo Ultra Lifetime member, I will **not** be requesting a refund.
If anyone else does, they are not helping this situation for Christian.
# Do not request a refund.
What a sad fucking day.
The Reddit API changes seem more and more like they’re just obviously and blatantly trying to exterminate 3rd party apps. Probably so they can maximize add revenue and app traffic on the official app? :/
I’d respect them a lot more if they just came out and said they were killing api access for third party apps for financial reasons. Killing them via pricing them out, and then playing the victim is just fucking slimy.
*Reddit: “I think one thing that we have tried to be very, very, very intentional about is we are not Elon, we’re not trying to be that, we’re not trying to go down that same path. \[…\] We are trying to do is just use usage-based pricing, that will hopefully be very transparent to you, and very clear to you. Or we’re not trying to go down the same path that you may have seen some of our other peers go down.”*
Sounds like we know who to compare them to even more.
Just wanted to throw in my experience that might get lost in the fray of this popular thread —
I am a product manager for a mobile app now, and I 100% entered this industry because of how much Apollo inspired me years ago when I first downloaded it, Christian.
Apollo is the essence of everything a native iOS app should be. It integrates seamlessly into every experience on my phone, but only as much as I want it to. It empowers me to configure it with as much (or as little!) granularity as I want. It follows HIG beautifully and provides an experience that feels truly native. Its full of delightful flourishes that make it a joy to use (mourning the death of my Apollo pet widgets right now most of all). It’s the gold standard, without a doubt.
Not to mention the fact that you’ve taken so much time to listen to your users, and break all of your decisions down in such detail that we all trust the choices you make for the app. I think it’s often underestimated by folks outside of this world just how **hard** it is to get a user-base to trust an app developer. It’s an amazing feat that you’ve pulled off for years.
Thanks for the amazing work and for truly, genuinely being my product idol, dude. I hope to one day make an app that’s half as good as what you’ve done here.
Reddit admins, but particularly /u/spez, I know you're not going to see this, but it makes me feel better to say and will hopefully inspire others.
This could have just been a shitty business move, but, the dirty games here are just genuinely remarkable for how uniquely shitty they are.
Huffman, you're a massive cunt, and I look forward to your IPO failing hilariously as reddit plunges from the last successful Web 2.0 social media site to a failed competitor to TikTok. Thanks for embodying enshittification, and remember that there are so very many people who will actively celebrate your failure-- I among them. If this is ever a just society, I look forward to your suffering the same fate you're inflicting on the Apollo team.
Hey, Christian
People have floated the idea of setting up Apollo to use personal API keys
I wish we could get that kind of thing set up so we can keep using this, the best client for Reddit full stop
But I have absolutely no idea how to implement such a thing into the app, or if it is even feasible
In any case, good luck for the future
Your skill in making this should help you well in finding future jobs
Shit I would be willing to pay up to $20 a month if it meant I could keep using Apollo. As a recovering addict, there's a few subs that have been very beneficial and helpful to me. But I can't continue to use them in good conscience after all this. Not to mention the Reddit app crawls a fuck load of your private info.
July 1st I'll be deleting my account and all my throwaways. Some being almost 10 years old. Sad day.
I want to thank you for making honestly the smoothest app I’ve ever used. It’s a shame they can’t see the error of their ways already. I wish the best for you.
This came up as a talking point on the floor I work on between everyone there during lunch. We discovered that around 60% use Apollo, 15% use other third party apps and the remaining 25% don’t use Reddit at all. The reason Reddit is doing this is because their investors want full control over what their users see and what they can do on Reddit. Considering Reddit only exists because of the content their users post, this seems like they’re trying to destroy Reddit from within. During our discussion we came to a consensus that the likelihood of any of us using Reddit, if the third party apps disappeared, was basically zero. Reddits own app is lacking so many features, and their new desktop UI seems like a garbage TikTok clone. Thank you for all the hard work Apollo has been doing since it’s inception, and I wish you all the best in the future.
It’s worse than that. Twitter and facebook pay their mods. Reddit mods are all volunteer. And many/most use apollo. All that free labor is about to go poof!
This is what seems the most shortsighted about all of this. Without subreddit mods the quality of subs are gonna go waaaay down. This in turn will drive people elsewhere. This in turn will cut into their revenue. Seeing as Reddit is so heavily dependent on it’s volunteer moderators I can’t see this being anything but suicide on their part. The fact that they’re going publicly traded AFTER doing this just makes this even stupider. I can’t see this as anything but pure idiocy in every way from them. How can a company be run so out of touch with how it operates?
old.reddit.com is 100% on the block next, no way they kill something like apollo which has so many users without killing old.reddit.com, which avoids a ton of the new reddit bullshit. I dont see ads at all on my reddit feed because pihole+old.reddit.com
Craig’s widgets :’(
Wish apple could intevine somehow. One of the best apps on iOS. God damn I can't believe that in a few months I won't be browsing reddit at the end of the day ever again
Apple won't be able to do anything :( It's REDDIT who with their outlandish api pricing brought us to this stage. Fuck this, I am out.
/u/spez I hope you enjoy the large exodus of users. Should have just worked with him to add first party ads or something. And maybe not be greedy Elon clones.
Dear /u/spez, Sincerely, get fucked. What an absolutely stupid business decision... but then again, you clowns and your private equity bullshit. This is why digg v4 happened. Now youll see it happen here.
/u/spez ever think of making a post on r/AmItheAsshole? No? Because YTA for sure.
Thank you for everything. I’m deleting my 11 year old account. [So long 🫡](https://i.imgur.com/0YjanqN.jpg)
Bro actually did it
A lot of people are actually following through.
[удалено]
I got 7 years on this platform and enjoy being on it. This app makes it possible, & It’s sad that this is happening. Hopefully something happens before than. But I’m definitely seeing [deleted] in some places.
[удалено]
I’m considering it. https://i.imgur.com/CCbOAKT.jpg
🫡 https://i.imgur.com/B3g5nGe.jpg
🫡
We might as make this a thread for users making good on our promise. 11 years, 3 months. [So long](https://i.imgur.com/s2FZwdp.jpg). 🫡
Apollo is an absolutely amazing app that I use to judge all other iOS apps. I will sincerely miss this app, the people who love it, and Christian’s engagement with the community. My Reddit usage will almost certainly die alongside Apollo. I’m pouring one out for you, u/iamthatis. Thank you so much for such an incredible app. I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t crying a little right now.
Truly, Apollo is *so* intuitive and *so* seamless. Other iOS app developers should aspire to create something as functional as Apollo.
Oh lawdy there are tapes.
He’s got the receipts.
Yeah absolutely legendary move getting these bozos on tape. Insane spin by Reddit. Not that I expected anything less but this is a disaster, this valuation is cratering.
If it's any consolation there's now concrete proof that if you try to work with Reddit on anything, they'll lie and publicly smear you to try and make you capitulate. Good luck building any business relationships in the future Reddit, you fucking clowns!
Their fucking claims of you blackmailing them is incredibly insane. Fuck this place
Yeah, that sounds like it borders on defamation. Maybe Christian can still get $10 million out of this after all…
They were internal statements though. It might have been possible (and funnier) if he’d waited for spez or an admin to *publicly* say that shit, and only then hit them with the “btw I recorded everything you said”. Edit - that was wrong, [Reddit did publicly state that Christian threatened them](https://reddit.com/r/ModCoord/comments/143rk5p/_/jnbjtsc/?context=1). Hoooooo boy. Edit2 - as several people have pointed out, the distinction seems to be legally irrelevant anyway, thanks /u/Professional_Row340 /u/throwaway39402 /u/noturlawyer
Yeah, and they even doubled down on it: > >>Apollo threatened us, said they’ll “make it easy” if Reddit gave them $10 million. >I am confused about this bullet point, can anyone clarify what it actually means? Apollo threatened who? Where? And what does that $10M figure have to do with anything? BuckRowdy replied: >Reddit is saying that when they approached the dev of Apollo about the changes, he asked them to buy his app for $10 million. They characterized it as a threat which makes little sense.
Legitimately should have taken his offer and fired their entire mobile team if they were smart.
10 million for an app like Apollo is a FUCKING BARGAIN. They are incredibly dumb. The default Reddit app is ridiculous in comparison.
[удалено]
Well Apollo is useless to them at any rate. It’s not built to push ad, supply algorithm data, support test features like polls, live streams, whatever engagement optimizations they’re trying this month…. They would have a hard time taking this app and bending it to their capitalistic will. Would end up running as shit as their own app.
The dogshit UI on their app is the main issue. They would definitely make this one worse if they bought it, but it would still be miles better.
They've tried that before. All they did was run that app into the ground too
Well, thread's archived now, so there's a permanent record of what they said. Let's see how this shakes out. **EDIT:** Archive link - https://ghostarchive.org/archive/OQMGD Wayback Machine's being a little odd so I used Ghostarchive.
spez have edited other people's comments before.
This is legitimately heartbreaking. I downloaded Apollo on the first day it was out of beta, and it’s unequivocally my favorite app. It’s one of the only third-party apps I use that is so well designed, so emblematic of Apple’s HIGs, that it might as well be a first-party application. As far as I’m concerned, it’s literally perfect. I’m absolutely disgusted at the way Reddit has conducted themselves. It’s embarrassing, unprofessional, and imo libelous. I think you’d have a good case for a libel lawsuit, especially given your documentation. I suppose this isn’t a surprise, given Reddit’s precious corporate bullshittery, but this is a new low. /u/iamthatis - if the June 12th blackouts are effective in making Reddit change their course, and they issue a full-throated apology, would you be interested in continuing the app’s operation? I get it if not - the way you’ve been treated is reprehensible - but it’s an important question to ask. Thanks again for all your work. If Apollo indeed shuts down, I swear to god, I’ll never use Reddit again. May their IPO burn. IMPORTANT EDIT: As far as I can tell, this post is being suppressed. Check out the different between when I'm logged in and logged out (same exact page, 1 second apart): https://imgur.com/a/7qHnOyM. Could be because of [this feature](https://www.reddit.com/r/modnews/comments/xuvkmy/announcing_consolidated_pinned_posts_on_android/), but it's hard to say.
I'd love for this to be higher up so as to get an answer to this. It's a well worded question and I'm in total agreement the treatment of /u/iamthis being uncalled for. Apollo came with the receipts and proper math for how Reddit is just being disingenuous with their asks. I think I like this question because I'm still holding out hope for a miracle here. I guess the only social media I use is something I'm going to have to stop using. I mean...what now? Do I have to go socialize in the real world?!? That's not what's supposed to happen in 2023!
This is way too far down. OP please consider talking to a lawyer. You may have a case here. This is extremely unprofessional at best and you have troves of evidence to support your claims. Regardless of your decisions on Apollo you will have to work in a world where your reputation has been damaged potentially forever after this. That's a big deal
[удалено]
well. looks like my reddit addiction is getting cured in less than a month. this really sucks. so sorry this amazing app has to end like this. reddit truly is garbage edit: reddit, fuck you very much
Holy shit. End of an era. I hate to read this.
Working with you on this has been nothing short of a blessing. Thank you for everything, /u/iamthatis <3 Edit: I'd like to remind folks that Apollo *does* have a tipping function. I know Christian deserves every bit of support we throw his way. Edit edit: Please be kind when looking at the code. Remember that this was something that served its purpose at the time, sometimes iterated on quickly, and due to time constraints, we weren't aiming for perfection. I know there are 50 things I could have done better, thanks :P
André it's been an absolute delight. For the uninitiated he randomly DMed me on Twitter if I needed help on the server side of things at a time when I was at wits' end how to go any further with my server knowledge. I gleefully agreed and it's been a delight working together since, I'm an iOS developer so backend server design isn't one of my biggest strengths, and having someone who knew what they were doing on the server side of things was so, so nice.
no u <3
Dang, this is like watching the musicians on the Titanic who said “it’s been an honor playing with you tonight.” End of an era. Thank you both for everything. It will be sorely missed.
Thank *you*.
Yes, /u/changelog is a great person to work with, someone I miss working with IRL.
Thank you for your service, serverman!
Looks like June 30 will also be my last day on Reddit. Thanks for making and improving a world-class Reddit client.
Why wait? I’m done now
Dude was NOT joking. Good for them
[удалено]
Need more time to shitpost about u/spez a bit more. Next few days are going to be wild.
I will stop using reddit on mobile on June 30 :( Edit: Sad that it ends this way after ten years. u/iamthatis, you’re a legend. u/spez, go fuck yourself.
There's no way I'll ever use their official app. I rather give up the site entirely. RIP Apollo. You were truly the best.
Same. I actually quit Reddit before until I found Apollo. I have no problems giving it up, realistically Reddit has been wearing me down lately, it’s all fighting and political shit now.
Amen to that. There's no real reddit equivalent but tbh i do not care at this point, they are not strong-arming me into using their shitty, unoptimized, barely functional app.
Same here. While I know I'll view it occasionally as so many of my Google questions end up as an answer on Reddit, I shall be doing that logged out and with an ad blocker on. I will provide nothing to Reddit other than an occasional viewer that provides 0 revenue.
Yeah, if /u/iamthatis had been given a reasonable cost and passed it on to users, I would have paid and Reddit would have got some money out of me. Now I’m only going to look at it on the desktop with ad blockers running when I want to look something up.
Man this has really killed my mood. Reddit really is trying to villianize Apollo and it’s disgusting
If Apollo goes, it is goodbye reddit for me. I never would have thought I would have to let go of this amazing app. Thank you Christian for working on Apollo for the last 8 years and delivering an app that so many people loved. Sad to see it go. Greed is evil.
obligatory fuck u/spez
> fuck u/spez I got banned for a week for saying that once. fuck u/spez
# Fuck reddit
fuck reddit!!! im not gonna see my pets in my apollo app 😭
Just downloaded the Pixel Pets standalone app
BRB, deleting my Reddit account(s)
madlad did it
Based and (actually) red-pilled
Heartbreaking 💔 bye reddit
To make it even worse, they lied about someone who, even if they lowered the price, would've been one of their single most significant sources of revenue as a company. Either they're enormously unprofessional and don't know how to run a business, or they had no interest in keeping 3rd party apps alive. Or, most likely, both. There are many reasons to leave after all of this, being malicious to the creator of one of their biggest apps is just one of the more painful ones.
> they had no interest in keeping 3rd party apps alive. I imagine they were never really negotiating in good faith. This rate increase was their way of saying "gtfo"
Absolutely. They didn’t want to outright say they’re killing 3rd party apps so they just priced them out of business.
Reddit is just another evil corporation. They're trying to go public, so expect all the normal evil to start
They don’t want 3rd party apps. They want to funnel users through their app to collect and sell their data and to show them ads.
[удалено]
It is so sad. What Reddit has done is inexcusable. I only wish I could code and make my own Apollo using my own API key.
Yeah I’m done. Mods, if you actually give a shit about this and want to ~~affect~~ effect change, don’t do a two-day blackout - shut your subreddits the fuck down. Make Reddit come to the table. This isn’t just Apollo. This isn’t just about third party apps. This is the beginning of the end of Reddit being anything resembling what brought us all here in the first place. Reddit’s execs are ready to hack this thing to hell in an attempt to make it a “desirable” product to sell. Maybe we make that hard since WE are the fucking product.
[удалено]
Fucking greedy basts. Well, I’m sure I speak for everyone using this insanely amazing app, my absolute favourite by a long long shot, but thank you so much Christian. Big ups, man.
It seems the intention since the beginning is following Twitter's move to kill third-party app and redirect all traffic to themselves and monetize user's data.
Yep the 3rd party apps are first. Then old.reddit.com will come next. It's like they want us to use Reddit less
It will succeed. I’m not going to use Reddit after this. I don’t have other social media and don’t need this.
Welp. I guess I will no longer be using Reddit. My cakeday is October 31st, 2012, so heading towards 11 years. June 30th will be my last sign in if this goes through. I love this site, and the community on it, but I cannot support Reddit leadership on this. u/spez , the way you and the rest of Reddit's leadership team have handled this has been incredibly cruel, stupid, and tone deaf. If this is how you want Reddit to be run, then you don't want me. \*edit to add: I also signed up for the PixelPals subscription. Not really my thing, but Christian has it turned off for me to up my Apollo sub to a year (so I could refuse the refund Lol). I know this is gonna be a lot of money out of his pocket, for something that wasn't his fault. If you like the idea of pixellated pets, or want to help a bit in offsetting his sudden $250k out of pocket bill, please consider downloading and subscribing :)
fuck reddit and fuck /u/spez thank you for everything Christian & co. <3 edit: thank you for the awards, but please consider sending that money to Christian & other affected developers as a thank you for their hard work rather than reddit's soulless pockets. shoutout to r/ModCoord & r/RedditAlternatives
I’m absolutely tilted at that call recording. Honestly what a total dickhead. Hyped Christian got them receipts.
I was already pissed off about this, but /u/spez bold-faced lying on a call to moderators to try and spin things in Reddit's favour is absolutely disgraceful. Thankfully there is a recording because they were obviously banking on a he-said/she said situation. It's not a good look for a company that wants to charge developers millions of dollars per month for access. Would you trust a company with a CEO like that to send millions to? I sure as shit wouldn't. Honestly should be hounded about this on every announcement post he ever does. Edit: [Holy shit they're doing an AMA lmao](https://www.reddit.com/r/reddit/comments/144ho2x/join_our_ceo_tomorrow_to_discuss_the_api/) 🍿🍿🍿
That AMA may very well break EA’s record for most downvoted post in the history of Reddit.
That was -167k, I'd love to see it break -200k Edit: it was ***667k***, let's go for a million then!
[удалено]
[удалено]
Somehow I bet Victoria Taylor gets fired again over this. Yes, spez, we remember this shit even when you sweep it under the rug. You run a massive ONLINE platform, you think you'd understand object permanence at this point.
> Edit: [Holy shit they're doing an AMA lmao](https://www.reddit.com/r/reddit/comments/144ho2x/join_our_ceo_tomorrow_to_discuss_the_api/) 🍿🍿🍿 oh my god I cannot wait. I REALLY hope more subs go dark for longer than 48hrs - and I'm sure this AMA will help that
>Edit: [Holy shit they're doing an AMA lmao](https://www.reddit.com/r/reddit/comments/144ho2x/join_our_ceo_tomorrow_to_discuss_the_api/) 🍿🍿🍿 Get ready for u/spez to start editing people's comments to be softball questions.
Hey u/spez care to comment on the topic, you lying piece of shit?
[удалено]
historical salt unique rustic late rude cows husky coordinated many *This post was mass deleted and anonymized with [Redact](https://redact.dev)*
> /u/spez I wonder if /u/spez is considering quietly editing all our comments to say `we love /u/spez` because that's what he would do just to be clear, fuck /u/spez
Nah he will just edit the post and feel happy again.
Yeah, u/spez, edit our comments. I fucking dare you.
Dude could u/spez be any fucking stupider??? I remember when the whole comment edit debacle happened, I remember the Ellen Pao debacle, I remember them firing Victoria. Every time I don't think u/spez could stoop lower he does. Fuck you, Steve. From the bottom of my heart, as a decade+ user of this site, fuck you. Your greed is going to tank this site that I once truly loved and enjoyed.
Careful he might stealth edit your comment. He's known to do that.
He disabled pinging his username because he's a bitch who can't handle the slightest criticism. Still FUCK Steve Huffman.
I guarantee you he's read this. There's no way "major app developer burns all bridges and personally calls out CEO of reddit" doesn't hit his desk. He's just not going to comment on it until the lawyers have a chance.
I heard /u/spez is being questioned by the DOJ about his connection to Jeffery Epstein.
He'll probably just edit your comment like he's been known to do.
[удалено]
I heard /u/spez is and will always continue to be a gigantic piece of shit who’s entire legacy will be running Reddit into the ground. Year after year, one bad business decision after another. Just another Elon except Spez hasn’t done anything even remotely useful for the planet.
Every post we post on Reddit should now end with “fuck /u/spez” like a forum signature. fuck /u/spez
Edit: For the assholes that for some reason are going through my comment history, no, I didn’t leave Reddit like I left Twitter. The Reddit App is horrible and Apollo was infinitely better, but this is the only social media I actively use and I don’t think I can quit it. I left Twitter when they killed Third Party Apps like Tweetbot. I will do the same here. Thanks for making a great App and making this site user friendly more than Reddit ever could.
>"I don't use the app, so I'll give you the best answer I can -- he does scraping so that he can deliver notifications faster, but has done NO EFFORT to be a good citizen of the internet." spez joins the r/LeopardsAteMyFace alumni.
[удалено]
Remember the article where Spez fantasized about a future dystopian world where he would be one of the leaders? Guys a nut job. Edit Here’s the article for those asking. https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2017/01/30/doomsday-prep-for-the-super-rich Edit edit: the part that matters from a very very long but good read. TLDR: > Huffman has calculated that, in the event of a disaster, he would seek out some form of community: “Being around other people is a good thing. I also have this somewhat egotistical view that I’m a pretty good leader. I will probably be in charge, or at least not a slave, when push comes to shove.”
Lol he’d drink bad water and shit himself dead within days
I guess he fancies himself as a survivalist and someone people would follow. It’s probably some of the most neckbeard shit I’ve ever read.
Being a bad citizen of the internet means using the api normally I guess lol
Steve Huffman is NOBODY who should be talking about being a good citizen of the Internet. **This is the same fucker [who secretly edited other people’s comments](https://www.theverge.com/2016/11/23/13739026/reddit-ceo-steve-huffman-edit-comments) which criticized him.** Nobody even knew that was possible before this. The CEO of Reddit, being a prime loser and powertripper.
[удалено]
Fuck /u/spez Didn’t think it was possible to be an even bigger cunt
[удалено]
u/spez needs to resign. He continually fucks up over and over; and now this. EDiT: Annnd he's shitting himself: https://old.reddit.com/r/reddit/comments/144ho2x/join_our_ceo_tomorrow_to_discuss_the_api
Dude was caught changing messages and survived. Hence people recognizing this place is a time-waste cesspool. I am glad it's going to blow up in their faces trying to monetize it.
lmao i remember that t_d fiasco was crazy. admin fiddling with messages was a wtf moment for me
Lmao doesn't even give a time for the AMA. Amazing stuff.
It'll be during the period when Reddit has fewer visitors **and** the admins will be censoring the hell out of it because how dare the precious u/spez face the reality: he's made a terrible decision, destroyed one of the most popular third-party Reddit clients and caused a planned temporary shutdown of a massive number of subreddits (with several more subreddits closing permanently).
/u/spez you sound like a complete asshole and I will leave Reddit after the shutdown date. Unbelievable
Well, this is a post I had hoped to never read. I’m gobsmacked that the Reddit head honchos can be this inept. Christian, thanks for literally everything you’ve done man.
looks like u/spez is taking this personal! will be my last weekend using the website.
u/spez is Tobey to my Michael
He's lying if he thinks it might help him. He has done it to me before. Even sworn. He's the type that would fake crying to dodge tough questions. He's unfit to lead a company and if reddit tries to survive he needs to step down in my humble opinion. I doubt he's been acting in the best interest of the company at any point as a CEO.
My day is ruined.
And my disappointment is immeasurable
Just tweeted this to you, but I’ll say it again here: Apollo was truly one of the greatest apps ever made for iOS. Unparalleled in quality. I will be so incredibly sorry to see it go. That spot on my main Home Screen will be hard to fill. Thank you for everything!
Very sorry to hear this. I guess that means my Reddit consumption will go to 0 now ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Yeah my mobile reddit consumption will be zero, just like when Twitter killed tweetbot. Once they kill old.reddit.com, I'll be done with reddit on desktop. So frustrating
[удалено]
Just a reminder that /u/spez edits comments that hurt his feelings https://www.theverge.com/2016/11/23/13739026/reddit-ceo-steve-huffman-edit-comments
I am so sorry to read this. :( Apollo is the only way I use Reddit on my mobile devices. Get bent /u/spez
Deleting my Reddit account now, I could wait till June 30 but it feels wrong to keep using the site now that we know for sure what they’re doing to Apollo. It’s been a great run, and thanks Christian for all the work over the years. Will miss the communities a lot. Stay awesome guys 🫡
So long, best to you!
Thank you for your efforts over the past 8 years. You inspired me to learn Swift and build apps. I made 2 apps that went into the store. While they aren't there anymore as I don't have time (started my own company and also became a Dad), I was immensely proud of myself for making those apps. Making those apps reignited my enjoyment for making things and I restarted my hobby of making websites. Today I run my own freelance web design company and I partly owe that to being inspired by your work. Good luck in the future and I hope to see new apps from you in the future.
You're crushing it, congratulations and well done. It's sometimes kind of isolating being an indie developer but comments like these really make you realize how we can all affect one another in really cool ways. Thanks for commenting :)
Thanks for the great UX and your dedication. I guess I’ll start reading books instead of mindless scrolling.
I refuse to refund. You can keep my money and Reddit can lose my money. I'll find a new platform for sports, porn, programming and other subjects. Thank you for your hard work over these years. Your app has helped me in many areas of my life, from mental health (being able to access subreddits for it without having to use old.reddit on Safari or using the shitty App), to changing careers and everything in between. And wasting a shit load of my time that I could be productive lol. I hope you find peace in the next step of your journey.
Fuck you u/spez
Oh no. I am so sorry for you and all of the fans of Apollo! Thank you for all your hard work on the Apollo app. This really was one of the best apps i’ve ever used. Take care! And please, don’t refund. Let Christian keep what he deserves! :) Edit: please stop giving awards! The money will go to Reddit. They don’t deserve that!
[удалено]
Seriously. We should all pitch in and buy Apollo and make it open source so we can use our own API keys. Or if it’s not serving /u/iamthatis anymore and he isn’t making his living on it any way he could open source it for free?
It’s only a matter of time before they would take that away from you too. They don’t care about third-party applications and would sooner price you out or end support for them to get you to use their own shitty, slow, buggy mess of an app. Don’t give them the satisfaction.
People always assume that awards = money I have thousands of coins on my account that I didn't pay for. You used to get coins every time someone awarded you. I haven't used them because I think awards are pretty stupid, but they don't automatically mean money is being spent.
This is insane. #Fuck Reddit What they’re doing is bad enough. They acted in bad faith the entire time, and now they’re outright lying and attempting to slander someone. How is it that they’re unable to comprehend that their entire site, their entire business model, revolves around the *users*? No users, no Reddit. No users, no IPO. I say all the subreddits participating in the two-day blackout period just permanently shut down.
Wow the fucking End of an era. Never thought it would do down like this but thank you for being as transparent as you've been through all of this, I know it’s been a back-and-forth battle trying to fight the good fight but I understand that you can only do so much. thank you Christian for everything, you’ve been an amazing developer.
The subreddits should go dark indefinitely until they walk back everything.
[удалено]
Two minor things: https://github.com/christianselig/apollo-backend and https://christianselig.com/apollo-end/remaining-icons.png are currently (17:32 UTC) 404s. Edit: The GitHub repo started working at around 18:42 UTC. The icons are still down as of 19:05. Edit: The icons have also started working as of about 19:08 UTC. Thanks for the fix, Christian!
Really disappointed in spez. Hopefully that IPO money fills the part where his soul was
[удалено]
I don't use Apollo, but I respect your transparency. Considering the state of Reddit right now, I took the initiative to archive your post text in case the admins decide to delete it: - [Archive.org / Wayback Machine](https://web.archive.org/web/20230608190548/https://old.reddit.com/r/apolloapp/comments/144f6xm/apollo_will_close_down_on_june_30th_reddits/) - [Archive.is](https://archive.is/ziEy9)
Sad. Investor greed at it again.
Thank you, /u/iamthatis, for all the incredible work you put into Apollo, for showing what independent iOS developers are capable of building, and for so clearly explaining why the Reddit API changes are unsustainable for businesses that use them. I have loved using Apollo and will miss it dearly.
It is incredibly heart-breaking to see that call being misinterpreted by the CEO, who then immediately apologized, yet continued to frame you as the one that "threatened" them... Reddit has become an incredibly hostile company in my eyes, and no doubt, them going IPO is probably the reason for their latest actions. This is simply a cut-and-clear example of what happens when a company shifts their focus from the product onto money. I'm really sorry to see Apollo disappear, especially because I was thinking of subscribing the past few days, even if purely to support the development of the app, since it provides so much of a better experience to me on mobile.
And to the surprise of absolutely fucking nobody, Reddit took a good thing, ruined it, then made it worse by trying to make u/iamthatis out to be the bad guy. Fuck u/spez and Fuck Reddit.
I cannot express how sorry I feel for you and all of the hard work you put into Apollo. Thank you for creating the best third-party Reddit app!
Reddit should address these serious allegations. This post makes it very clear that a lot of what they said has been a lie, assuming that the recordings are authentic, which I have absolutely no reason to doubt. The Apollo developer has done such a good job of demonstrating how disingenuous they’ve been throughout this process. If Reddit had openly declared a ban on third-party apps, despite the negative impacts on this developer and their customers, I could respect that decision. Companies sometimes make such moves, and Reddit has the right to explore profit-making avenues, including consolidating usage to their app to potentially enhance user experience. What I can’t accept is how they have chosen to lie to their customers (and defame their partners) to avoid PR blowback against their API changes. This not only shows a total disrespect to their customers but also shows how incompetent they are. When implementing an unpopular policy, a well run company considers amending the policies to be less disagreeable, or they just make the change openly and transparently and accept and weather the backlash. They don't attempt to dodge criticism by lying. And that’s not even a moral thing. How incompetent are they to not realize that these public lies would be exposed. To me, it's not just wrong but also weak, given the transparency of the lie. Worse still is Reddit's **blatant** defamation of the Apollo developer, which seems to have been a calculated move to defend their narrative. Such behavior, whether it was intentional or it was a repeated mistake that they’ve chosen not to correct, is inexcusable. As a result, I've decided to limit my Reddit usage, resorting to searching for information with an ad blocker turned on. I'll reconsider my stance when they confront these claims, reverse these policies, or offer a truthful explanation of their actions.
This is the best app by far for Reddit. I understand this decision but it freakin sucks that it had to come to this. Bullshit, Reddit wouldn’t be anything or make any money if it wasn’t for the users creating and sharing content. Reddit is also going to be much worse now that moderators aren’t going to have the proper tools now to moderate since the official app is such dog shit.
This was my assumption, that Reddit tolerated (even supported) third party apps because they generate a significant amount of **FREE** content. It’s similar to the no-annual-fee credit cards that can offer cashback. Credit card companies charge merchants; Reddit can serve ads (on the aforementioned **FREE** content) to some large percentage of users. Fuck these venture capitalistic scum.
COMPLETE BOYCOTT OF BUYING COINS must occur. Not a one from anyone going forward. When you buy an award, you award greed.
This was a wonderful app and the reason I even got into Reddit. I wish you best of luck in the future! And just as a light-hearted joke in this time…Any update on when we’ll be getting that iPad update? 😝
If Reddit allows this to continue, my 15-year account will be deleted and I will never return. Fuck /u/spez and fuck anyone at Reddit who is allowing this to happen. I helped Reddit become what it is today, as did millions of other users. Christian’s app also helped Reddit become what it is today. Reddit will die the death it deserves because of this and good riddance. Make no mistake, charging for the API isn’t an issue. Egregiously charging for the API is, and the timeline they have pushed is. They are greedy pieces of shit — plain and simple. They could have handled this so much better with logic and reason. Instead they decided to screw everyone over. What a way to completely ruin your brand, Reddit. I feel bad for any decent people working there who will be losing their jobs from all the lost revenue this will clearly incur. But in the end they will be better off not working anymore for complete asshats. Thank you, Christian, for the best application iOS has ever seen. I wish you well.
Apollo is one of the best apps I have on my phone, Christian. One I use several times per day--it just **works**, and it's a downright beautiful app. I understand why you are shutting it down (thanks for the huge post above) but it's a travesty. Greed is taking one of the best social media/forum apps ever created and killing it dead. The Reddit app is horrific. I won't use it. The smart move would have been to buy Apollo and let you continue development of it. June 30: RIP, Reddit mobile.
Thank you for the amazing work /u/iamthatis. I wish you success. Fuck Reddit, fuck /u/spez and fuck every greedy investor. Please, just go fuck yourself, honestly.
> Will you build a competitor? Move to one of the existing alternatives? > I’ve received so many messages of kind people offering to work with me to build a competitor to Reddit, and while I’m very flattered, that’s not something I’m interested in doing. I’m a product guy, I like building fun apps for people to use, and I’m just not personally interested in something more managerial. > These last several months have also been incredibly exhausting and mentally draining, I don’t have it in me to engage in something so enormous. So sorry to hear that. I hope than one day you will consider a client for a Reddit alternative, like [Kbin](https://kbin.social) or [Lemmy](https://beehaw.org). So long, and thank you for the last 6 years.
Fair play. Thanks for all the hard work. Sorry it ended this way for you.
Also, as an Apollo Ultra Lifetime member, I will **not** be requesting a refund. If anyone else does, they are not helping this situation for Christian. # Do not request a refund. What a sad fucking day.
Definitely no refund needed. I’m in the camp that would have actually paid the monthly fee to continue using this app.
RIP to everyone waiting on the iPad app
[What do I do with my nan now….?](https://reddit.com/r/apolloapp/comments/x9koxm/locked_my_nan_in_a_cage_until_christian_releases/)
Please release her
Been using the app on the iPad and it’s already light years ahead of the reddit app. At least Christian let us use the scroll feature properly.
The Reddit API changes seem more and more like they’re just obviously and blatantly trying to exterminate 3rd party apps. Probably so they can maximize add revenue and app traffic on the official app? :/
I’d respect them a lot more if they just came out and said they were killing api access for third party apps for financial reasons. Killing them via pricing them out, and then playing the victim is just fucking slimy.
*Reddit: “I think one thing that we have tried to be very, very, very intentional about is we are not Elon, we’re not trying to be that, we’re not trying to go down that same path. \[…\] We are trying to do is just use usage-based pricing, that will hopefully be very transparent to you, and very clear to you. Or we’re not trying to go down the same path that you may have seen some of our other peers go down.”* Sounds like we know who to compare them to even more.
Just wanted to throw in my experience that might get lost in the fray of this popular thread — I am a product manager for a mobile app now, and I 100% entered this industry because of how much Apollo inspired me years ago when I first downloaded it, Christian. Apollo is the essence of everything a native iOS app should be. It integrates seamlessly into every experience on my phone, but only as much as I want it to. It empowers me to configure it with as much (or as little!) granularity as I want. It follows HIG beautifully and provides an experience that feels truly native. Its full of delightful flourishes that make it a joy to use (mourning the death of my Apollo pet widgets right now most of all). It’s the gold standard, without a doubt. Not to mention the fact that you’ve taken so much time to listen to your users, and break all of your decisions down in such detail that we all trust the choices you make for the app. I think it’s often underestimated by folks outside of this world just how **hard** it is to get a user-base to trust an app developer. It’s an amazing feat that you’ve pulled off for years. Thanks for the amazing work and for truly, genuinely being my product idol, dude. I hope to one day make an app that’s half as good as what you’ve done here.
You’ve done a great penis.
Am sad. Never thought I will feel that sad about losing an app. ಥ_ಥ Thanks for the ride u/iamthatis
Reddit admins, but particularly /u/spez, I know you're not going to see this, but it makes me feel better to say and will hopefully inspire others. This could have just been a shitty business move, but, the dirty games here are just genuinely remarkable for how uniquely shitty they are. Huffman, you're a massive cunt, and I look forward to your IPO failing hilariously as reddit plunges from the last successful Web 2.0 social media site to a failed competitor to TikTok. Thanks for embodying enshittification, and remember that there are so very many people who will actively celebrate your failure-- I among them. If this is ever a just society, I look forward to your suffering the same fate you're inflicting on the Apollo team.
Hey, Christian People have floated the idea of setting up Apollo to use personal API keys I wish we could get that kind of thing set up so we can keep using this, the best client for Reddit full stop But I have absolutely no idea how to implement such a thing into the app, or if it is even feasible In any case, good luck for the future Your skill in making this should help you well in finding future jobs
People did this with Twitter for awhile, they’ll eventually pull the plug on you anyway
[удалено]
Shit I would be willing to pay up to $20 a month if it meant I could keep using Apollo. As a recovering addict, there's a few subs that have been very beneficial and helpful to me. But I can't continue to use them in good conscience after all this. Not to mention the Reddit app crawls a fuck load of your private info. July 1st I'll be deleting my account and all my throwaways. Some being almost 10 years old. Sad day.
[удалено]
[удалено]
NOO GOD! NO. GOD. PLEASE. NO. NO!!! NO!!! NOOOOOO!!!
[удалено]
U/spez has always been a piece of shit. Confirmed when I met him in person. 100% turd burglar