zlacker

>>robbie+(OP)
Everyone saying their pricing is absurd had better get ready for the new wave of API pricing.

Like every other industry, there's a growth period where things are new and prices are reasonable, and then there's the "squeeze" where bean counters come in, make charts that are likely bs, and explain how much easier it'd be if we charged 4x as much for half the customer base.

Twitter was one of the first to give access to cheap mass data, and now they're one of the first to charge through the nose for that. The move is going to be that if you're not enterprise level you're not getting this data anymore, and I doubt it stops with reddit.

>>Eji170+HR
I don't disagree that it's one point of view, but I hardly believe both examples do not have a simpler explanation: both companies no longer want APIs for third-party clients.

Elon wanted to turn it completely off and was probably convinced to ban the accounts of all the third-party clients and to try and harass the world's many weather services to pay 42,000$ a month.

Reddit has one credible third-party client: Apollo. He's always been fairly transparent about his money flow, so it's exceedingly easy for Reddit to price him out and put the fear of god into any developer interested in a Reddit client.

>>philis+391
> Reddit has one credible third-party client: Apollo.

Ooof. I mean, if you're only an iOS user, maybe?

>>JustSo+cw1
On iOS Apollo and Narwhal were both good options last I tried them. Android has a lot more going on. All of Infinity, Joey, Sync (my choice), RiF, Boost and Now are pretty solid. Pretty reductive indeed to say Apollo is the only serious contenter...

>>folkra+9z1
Here's the difference. Apollo has arguably more user value than Reddit itself. I wish Apollo worked as a client for HN, for example. It could easily be plugged into any similar platform and still be one of the best mobile apps ever built.

The others are just a-dime-a-dozen Reddit clients.

>>pb7+S02
Speak for yourself. I would pay for RiF to add HN support, while I couldn't care less about other clients, including Apollo.

>>spaceh+J82
Understandable, given you’re probably on Android.

I took another look at RIF just in case my memory of it was out of date and the difference in quality between it and Apollo is massive. I’m doubling down on my original comment: Apollo is a truly special app and RIF (and likely others) are very generic clients.

>>pb7+Fd2
I am an Android user so I don't know Apollo but I too am a huge RIF fan -- it's the only way I consume Reddit. I also agree with GP statement, I wish I could use the RIF app as a HN reader.

What makes Apollo a "truly special app?" in your opinion?

>>benja8+Cl3
The TL;DR is that it's so good, it increased my time on Reddit by 10x or more versus using the website. I had to delete it because it was such a joy to use, it's all I wanted to spend my free time on.

More specifically, just a few things: 1) lovely UI design with proper adherence to iOS human interface guidelines, 2) useful customization, 3) flawless performance throughout, 4) gesture support which translates into being able to sift through a lot of content and conversations, 5) complex native (performant!) in-app support for many media types hosted on all types of 3rd party sites, 6) and just all around thoughtful and thorough support for the entire Reddit platform and its features.

All of this executed extremely well by just one person. Frankly, an inspiration and should be championed here.

>>pb7+8M3
Not to dunk on Apollo since it is excellent on iOS, but Boost on Android has all those things. It also has a tablet UI, moderator support, and a "gallery" masonry view that is a joy to use. Last I checked, Apollo has neither an iPad UI nor a masonry post view.

(I have also deleted Boost many times to control my usage.)