Reddit Migration @kbin.social alba70r @lemmy.ca 2y ago

As Apollo and other apps close down, Narwhal seemingly agrees to one-off deal with Reddit to stay in business

9to5mac.com As Apollo and other apps close down, Narwhal seemingly agrees to one-off deal with Reddit to stay in business

The public deadline for the Reddit API changes is July 1. Popular third-party client Apollo is one of the casualties,...

61 comments

What a fucking cuck
smells like scab
Do they hope to pick up all other 3rd party apps users? Not that it matters much to me since my reason for quitting reddit is the way they mistreated the entire userbase (I don't use apps), but I'm curious nonetheless to see how this ends.
I don't really understand reddit's angle here... Why would they provide zero cost API access to an app, as long as the developer of the app isn't making a profit? Are they trying to act like that was the issue they had with these third party apps? That they e profitable?

How does it make sense for them to allow an app for that reason?
- That's what Narwhal dev had publicly offered previously, there's no firm confirmation that's actually the deal and I'd be a little surprised if it was.
  
  I think Reddit chose to give them a sweetheart deal because they're the worst competitor app, the dev had been least publicly critical of the API changes, and Reddit wants the PR value of an example case "proving" their API changes weren't maliciously anticompetitive towards third-party apps.
  
  The fact that Narwhal has struck a deal now allows Reddit Inc to say "see! we do work with third party apps; it's not that we're bad, it's that RIF and Apollo are big meanies who won't cooperate!"
  
  If "cooperating" means getting bent over and shafted with a footlong dildo covered in rusty razor blades than I don't blame them one bit.
  
  Which raises another question: are analysts and investors so stupid that they can't read between the lines? Because this looks like using a bucket to douse a five-alarm fire.
- From the infamous AMA: We’ll continue to be profit-driven until profits arrive. Unlike some of the 3P apps, we are not profitable.
  
  To me it sounds that he is envious that 3rd party apps were profitable and Reddit isn't.
  
  Maybe they shouldve tried to make their app better.
  
  They could easily be profitable if they weren’t spending cash doing stupid shit to try and pump up their ‘value’.
- They've been trying this entire time to reframe the argument into the app developers being the bad apples.
  
  By getting one scab to exist, they can work at that angle now better than they could before.
- Sounds like breaking a lot of laws by limiting api access to specific companies
  
  It is not a public service. Deals are made between companies all the time, so I don't see how this would break the law.
So it's basically you pay to Reddit yet without the perks of Reddit premium. You pay just to use 3rd party app.
- Don't forget that the API won't provide access to any NSFW sub. (There's a lot of reasons a sub might have NSFW posts besides just pr0n.) So Reddit literally expects people to pay for less content. It's absolutely bananas...
  
  Good lord I don't think I've seen "pr0n" in like a decade.
  
  yeah. the vaping subs were NSFW. as were some of the tattoo subs.
- It's still a more pleasant experience than using the Reddit app though.
I noticed Narwhal was being enshitified last month with obtrusive ads, so long fucker
Jesus.....why would he even bother adjusting the business model if part of the agreement was he makes zero money??....Am I missing understanding something? Seems like a waste of time on developers part...
- IIUC Narwhal 1 will be free but will drop its ads in return for being free (so a non-commercial app). Rather than a special deal I figure that this passed under the same rule that other noncommercial apps like RedReader did.
  
  Narwhal 2 will charge a subscription to cover the API fees, including top up fees if you go over some limit, suggesting this is the normal reddit API pricing. I think developers of like Apollo couldn't do this because they had preexisting annual subscriptions. I guess Narwhal didn't have anything like this.
  
  I guess I thought the whole issue was even if the app was not commercial, in order for users to actually make it work they need to use reddit API and that's unsustainable since it cost money regardless. Maybe that's where my misunderstanding stems from. I'm not the most tech savvy with all this API stuff.
  
  including top up fees if you go over some limit
  
  top up fees for some forum? lol
- Yeah it seems crazy, I'm pretty interested to see how many people will pay for it.
  
  Agreed. Damn sure I won't be one of them lol. Never going back.
I still have Narwhal installed on my phone. This makes me want to delete it.
Thus, in the end, the narwhal did indeed bacon at midnight.
Marketing dollars! Only reason they did this is so they can say “hey look! We still have 3rd party apps!”
Hold up. So he’s allowed to keep a 3rd party app if only Reddit can profit from it? That can’t be right. Why would anyone agree to do that.
Is this a PR damage control by the Snoo Platform, Inc?

So they can say "Look, we still care about 3PA"
Once upon a time (a little over a month ago? Pretty wild to think about) I might have paid to continue to use my 3rd party app of choice (Relay). But now? Not a chance.
- realizing I hadn't yet, I actually paid for the third party app that I was using - RIF -after I found out that they were closing the doors.
He really does have a punchable face
I'm deeply grateful to this man, with this move he just lowered the average global intelligence enough for me to finally be considered above average.
I don't plan on going back since I just can't condone how Reddit management handled the whole issue, but there is one thing I wonder why it is not a possible solution for 3rd party apps:

Wouldn't it be possible to ask the userbase to just get the API key themselves?
If every user of a 3rd party app has their own API key, they won't have to pay anything won't they, since it will be hard to reach the free tier limit.
And even if a user does reach the limit he can get a couple thousands API calls for just a small number of cents.

Reddit will be still getting the same number of API calls, but it won't be the responsibility of the 3rdparty dev but on each user if the limit is reached
- That would be against the terms of service for using the API and a surefire way to get your app removed from whatever storefront you have it listed on as soon as Reddit complains.
  
  Those on Android can sideload. It would definitely kill the quantity of users, though.
- API access has an approval process, and reddit has already been clear they will not just allow users to get their own API keys.

61 comments