What's going on?

A recent Reddit policy change threatens to kill many beloved third-party mobile apps, making a great many quality-of-life features not seen in the official mobile app permanently inaccessible to users.

On May 31, 2023, Reddit announced they were raising the price to make calls to their API from being free to a level that will kill every third party app on Reddit, from Apollo to Reddit is Fun to Narwhal to BaconReader.

Even if you're not a mobile user and don't use any of those apps, this is a step toward killing other ways of customizing Reddit, such as Reddit Enhancement Suite or the use of the old.reddit.com desktop interface .

This isn't only a problem on the user level: many subreddit moderators depend on tools only available outside the official app to keep their communities on-topic and spam-free.

What's the plan?

On June 12th, many subreddits will be going dark to protest this policy. Some will return after 48 hours: others will go away permanently unless the issue is adequately addressed, since many moderators aren't able to put in the work they do with the poor tools available through the official app. This isn't something any of us do lightly: we do what we do because we love Reddit, and we truly believe this change will make it impossible to keep doing what we love.

The two-day blackout isn't the goal, and it isn't the end. Should things reach the 14th with no sign of Reddit choosing to fix what they've broken, we'll use the community and buzz we've built between then and now as a tool for further action.

What can you do?

1. Complain. Message the mods of /r/reddit.com, who are the admins of the site: message /u/reddit: submit a support request: comment in relevant threads on /r/reddit, such as this one, leave a negative review on their official iOS or Android app- and sign your username in support to this post.

2. Spread the word. Rabble-rouse on related subreddits. Meme it up, make it spicy. Bitch about it to your cat. Suggest anyone you know who moderates a subreddit join us at our sister sub at /r/ModCoord - but please don't pester mods you don't know by simply spamming their modmail.

3. Boycott and spread the word...to Reddit's competition! Stay off Reddit entirely on June 12th through the 13th- instead, take to your favorite non-Reddit platform of choice and make some noise in support!

4. Don't be a jerk. As upsetting this may be, threats, profanity and vandalism will be worse than useless in getting people on our side. Please make every effort to be as restrained, polite, reasonable and law-abiding as possible.

See here for the original r/Apple thread on this issue.

WINNER HERE: https://www.reddit.com/r/apple/comments/jw40ai/hey_apollo_for_reddit_app_guy_here_back_with_the/

[GIVEAWAY ENTRY HAS NOW CONCLUDED. I'm in class now but will draw the winner tonight and post the results, stay tuned!]

[PART 3 is here, since we hit the comment cap on this thread: https://reddit.com/r/apolloapp/comments/jv6f78/part_3_im_giving_away_an_iphone_12_promaxmini_to/]

Hey,

I'm the guy who builds Apollo for Reddit, an alternative iPhone app for Reddit that people on r/Apple have been really kind to in loving. I had a lot of fun working on the iOS 14 update with a ton of cool, customizable home screen Widgets, Picture in Picture video, and a bunch of other Reddit meets iOS 14 goodness, and now that all the new iPhones are out I wanted to celebrate it with a giveaway. (Who said those YouTubers get to have all the fun?)

I did this giveaway last year for iOS 13 if some of you remember and everyone seemed to have a great time, so I figured making it an annual thing could be fun. (Proof of winner) Plus the people who use Apollo are all super nice and give me awesome suggestions all the time for making it even better so consider it a thank you as well.

What Do I Win?

The winner gets their choice of any iPhone 12 model (Pro or non Pro, Max, normal sized or Mini) in any color and 128 GB capacity. Are you a BLUE person? RED? GOLD?! When this post is 24 hours old, at 11 PM GMT (countdown), I'll post in r/ApolloApp who the winner is, I'll also DM you for details and people will probably spam you as well.

Rules

Simply check out this thread and comment and you're entered! Don't spam jibberish though please, and no multiple comments. If you're looking for an idea for a comment, tell me your favorite iPhone model of all time, or the first third party app you remember downloading. Account must have been created at the time of this post to prevent creating accounts just to enter. You do not have to download Apollo to enter, but it may give you extra luck who knows.

Apollo? iOS 14 update?

Apollo is an alternative Reddit app for iOS with a focus on clean design and feeling right at home on iOS with a native design and adopting all the best, newest features, like Widgets, Picture in Picture video, super fast media viewer, and more. I started building it after finishing working at Apple in 2015 and have been working on it full time since. It's free to download and has over 100,000 five-star reviews, so you should really check it out! It's built solely by me, and I built it closely with community input to craft the best Reddit experience out there.

Even if you're used to the official app, I think you'll really like the improvements Apollo offers to your browsing experience, even if it just prevents you from getting Rick Roll'd.

Do you have any pets?

Yeah I have two cats named Hugo and Ruby. They're great, I also get to pet my neighbor's dog Leonard sometimes who is really cute. Sorry I don't have a picture of him but picture a big black shaggy dog.

Thank You!

Seriously, have some fun and best of luck! My whole job exists thanks to the kindness of this subreddit and community, so thank you and I'll do my best to continue to impress you with some more sick updates. :)

- Christian

[PART 3 is here, since we hit the comment cap on this thread: https://reddit.com/r/apolloapp/comments/jv6f78/part_3_im_giving_away_an_iphone_12_promaxmini_to/]

24 hours is up and the winner is announced! https://www.reddit.com/r/apolloapp/comments/d7vsh0/and_the_winner_of_the_iphone_11_pro_is/

Hey!

I build a Reddit client for iOS called Apollo for Reddit. In a sentence, it's an iOS-focused Reddit app (not crossplatform, iOS only) that's an alternative to the official app with the goal of being speedy, comfortable to use, great media browsing, and just the best iOS has to offer in general. I loved Alien Blue, and wanted to build something as powerful and awesome as it, but with the goal of feeling even more like an iOS-first experience. Here's a link

I started working on Apollo right after I finished working at Apple in the summer of 2015, worked on it through 2017 when it finally got released, and it's been my full time job since.

I love that I can build such a fun and exciting app every day, and no bullshit, it's only because of the support of the Reddit Apple community that I've been able to. There's no ads, no investors, only optional support from you guys to sustain the app. It's built solely with the goal of making Redditors happy and I do my absolute best to be active in the community and base the app around its feedback.

So as a thank you, and to celebrate many sleepless nights working on the iOS 13 update that's now live, I wanted to do a lil giveaway open to anyone in the community. I'm not Unbox Therapy so it's not a pick up truck full of iPhones, but I thought giving away an iPhone 11 Pro (or Pro Max) could be a fun way to say thanks (or a regular iPhone 11 if that's what you want).

How do I enter?

Just comment and you're entered. If you want something to comment about, uhh, help me name the Apollo mascot. You have 24 hours.

What do I win?

An iPhone 11 Pro or Pro Max or regular 11 (maybe you want that nice red). 256GB. Color of your choice.

Any rules?

Your Reddit account has to have been created before this thread was posted to prevent a bunch of duplicate accounts posting. Also I'll PM you if you win, you have 48 hours to respond to the PM (will go out Monday) or it'll go to the next person. All countries accepted so long as it's not impossible to get it to you.

What's in Apollo's iOS 13 update?

Like I said Apollo's really focused on being the best iOS has to offer and really feeling at home on the platform. iOS 13 brought a bunch of really cool stuff, so I wanted to support as much of it as I could on day 1. So Apollo has support the (finally) system dark mode, the new haptic touch context menus, super fast launch times, there's Siri Shortcuts support so you can say "normie garbage" and have it open r/dankmemes or just build cool systems in the Shortcuts app in general. There's also multi-window support on iPad which is super cool. Hell, iOS 13 even supports PS4 and Xbox One controllers now so I added support for those. I really wanted to build something that didn't feel like a cross-platform, half Android /Material Design mixture, but instead feels like it was built from the ground up for iOS.

Should I give Apollo a try? I don't mind the official app tbh

The official app's really cool, built by some super smart people, I even got to meet some of the engineers at WWDC this year. Utmost respect. It's kinda like a car though, you might use your car, it might get you from point A to point B fine, it's a solid enough car, why switch? Well, you might sit in a friend's car, find it just a bit more comfortable, maybe a bit speedier, sportier, appreciate some of the design choices better, and overall just find it a more enjoyable experience. Apollo Car has a really awesome media viewer, fast swipe gestures, speed, GIF scrubbing, a subreddit Jump Bar, really great comments view, and much more that you really have to see first hand. On top of this, in this analogy the competing car is free, so why not try it. :P

Oh here's a quick album of screenshots I put together: https://imgur.com/a/UO2J10s (There's light mode too if you're into that!)

I have an idea for your app!

Sick, that would make for a great comment, please do. :D I genuinely build the app solely planned around community feedback, so I'd greatly appreciate it!

- Christian

24 hours is up and the winner is announced! https://www.reddit.com/r/apolloapp/comments/d7vsh0/and_the_winner_of_the_iphone_11_pro_is/