Exploring Reddit’s third-party app environment 7 months after the APIcalypse

The issue was never to get access to Reddit without paying a monthly fee. It was about the experience as an user. However, what really made me drop Reddit was the way Reddit management acted in all of this. They showed no signs of being someone to trust.
So I don't care if there are 3rd party Reddit apps since Reddit is irrelevant to me.
- Reddit is an open sewer of emotive dribble and bot pasta. The IPO will be fun to watch.

RedReader gets a barely-glance in a single sentence. A single dev (and with users providing PRs) has one of the best, and most unknown, apps for over a decade now. Really? QuantumBadger also put up quite a fight in favor of other developers, was openly critical about the changes and the handling of the situation, and was smart enough to record calls to prove that what reddit was saying was 180 from what they were doing. And all this could be gleaned from 15 minutes on their subreddit. Cmon, if you're going to do 'investigative journalism', investigate each equally, fucks sake.
- I guess Ars writers can't be too critical to Reddit. They're owned by the same parent company (condé nast) afterall. The fact that they're even allowed to cover this topic by their corporate overlord is already a miracle.
  
  There was this piece on Youtube I watched a while back, where a news company was investigating itself (think it was cnbc or something). They reached out to themselves for a comment, got no response, and included that in the video 🙃
  I hope that reporter is still employed there lol
  
  S'all good, Capitalism subsumes criticism of itself and sells it back to us.
- RedReader by QuantumBadger was my main Reddit app, which I used for 6 years, so much so that my old phone had the back, sort and refresh icons burned into the screen. Reddit's official app was hot garbage six years ago and still is today.
  If Reddit management hadn't acted with such hostility, there's a chance I would have stayed on RedReader... I'd known for a while change was coming to the site and it would continue to be for the worse. I'm so happy to have a nice place like Lemmy to go to instead.
  
  Do note! RR is supposed to get lemmy support, as they are expecting their api access to end at some point, and lots of users migrated here. It hasn't happened yet but try to check either the sub or the Github from time to time (or just get notified by watching the gh releases tbh).
  I was using RR (am, it's still on my device) since basically launch, and I was the one who suggested that qb open an avenue for donations. I've been a patreon for the last... 2 years? Basically my first 'I'm never giving this one up, this is a permanent install'. 11 years later, still going.
- RedReader gets a barely-glance in a single sentence. A single dev (and with users providing PRs) has one of the best, and most unknown, apps for over a decade now.
  RedReader is definitely a gem. Incredible app that still works despite the Reddit appocalypse.
  
  How does it even work? I thought the api changes made 3rd party apps effectively impossible?

The real TL;DR
Most third party apps are pay, somewhere around 1 to 3 bucks per month.
A couple are still in free because they're negotiations with Reddit
At least one is free because it's delivering the web version of the site with minor changes.
At least one of the apps that was paid before is now slightly more profitable as the playing field is leveled.

I'm more amazed that it's already been 7 months, time sure flies.
- I switched to Lemmy around the time when the discussion around the APIcalypse was intensifying. After the blackout, I still visited about once a week, but within a month or two my Reddit usage had gone down to zero. Can’t say I really miss that place. Pretty soon, it’s going to be a year after the 3rd party apps died, and I won’t even notice. I’ve moved on already.

I never used the official Reddit app in my 11 years on there. Only used the Reddit is Fun app paid version. I left to come here and although I do miss it, F SPEZ!
- I searched a question the other day and reddit popped up with a niche subreddit with the same question I had. I tried to go to it but I was unable to view it without logging in.
  
  If it was an NSFW question or sub, just change your phone browser to desktop and you can bypass the login. At least that's how it used to be

I left and didn't come back. Lemmy is scratching that itch just great.

I loved redreader, but nuked my account and content in protest and use Thunder for lemmy exclusively now. Before I used Mastodon and Reddit was the only corporate social media I used and now I use no corporate social media at all.

I avoid the site when I can, but I use Revance-modded Infinity. You generate an API key on reddit.com and mod the APK with that via Revanced Manager. Unless I'm missing something: that gets you an ad-free Infinity experience for free. Fuck Reddit and fuck Spez. Hopefully the Fediverse will get more niche communities and I can abandon that site for good.
- Has someone written this up as a how to? Same as you want to abandon, but still a few niches.
  
  Download and install the Revanced Manager APK from https://revanced.app/download
  Now you want to download the Infinity APK from https://www.apkmirror.com/apk/docile-alligator/infinity-for-reddit/
  Now you open the Revanced app, go to the Patcher screen and "Select an application." Tap storage and navigate to the Infinity APK you downloaded. Tap "Selected Packages" and tap the gear next to "Spoof client." Enter your ClientID, which you get from:
  https://www.reddit.com/prefs/app
  After you enter that, tap Patch and wait patiently for your modded APK to be built. Now install that new APK and you should be set!
  Obviously you should test any APK on VirusTotal (or similar) to make sure they are not malicious, but yeah. Please downvote me to hell if any links I posted are bullshit.

I use Lemmy Sync
I only browse Reddit at work with uBlock, but will never contribute again

Literally the only thing I still "use" Reddit for is [insert niche issue here]
Google: Reddit [what the fuck is happening??]
Usually get a decent starting line.
- I’ve given up and started asking Bing’s “chat” direct questions. It sorts through the bullshit search results and explains the answer to me in direct words.

This is the best summary I could come up with:
Last year, Reddit sparked massive controversy when it dramatically changed the prices and rules associated with accessing its API.
The changes were so drastic and polarizing that they led to an epic protest from Reddit users and moderators that saw thousands of subreddits going private and engaging in other forms of inconvenience for weeks.
"Unfortunately, due to Reddit now charging for access to their API, Narwhal has been forced to add a subscription in order to use the app.
I asked again for this story, and Harrison said he couldn't provide full details but noted, "Reddit was willing to work with me so that I could transition the app to subscriptions in a reasonable timeframe, especially considering it's not my full-time job."
Keeping both apps open means people who bought Infinity for Reddit+ before July 1 are able to easily continue using it (after paying a subscription fee), Ning explained.
(Infinity for Reddit is still listed as a free install on Google's Play Store, but users are required to buy a subscription in the app.)
The original article contains 693 words, the summary contains 173 words. Saved 75%. I'm a bot and I'm open source!

I used to be a mix user of the chans and reddit, now it's Lemmy and the chans...