[It is LIVE!] Sync for Lemmy - Apps on Google Play

Sync is back in its rightful place on my device home screen, only now it points me at Beehaw. Things are looking up.

Yeah, this feels like coming home. I tried the other options, but none felt as smooth or as customisable as this.
Dreams do come true

It's so good to be home T_T

Truly

I have mixed feelings.

On one hand, it's nice to have something familiar.

On the other hand, Sync was basically reddit for me, and I'm having something of knee-jerk reaction where I feel like I should be using something "fresh" that doesn't remind me of my time on reddit.

Like, I don't actually want Lemmy to feel like a straight up drop-in replacement for reddit. I want it to feel unique.

I like some of the other apps, but none feel "there" yet. Might just stick with the web app for now.

(Also, not open source. I trust the dev, but I just want to be able to install shit from F-Droid or Izzyondroid or whatever instead of relying on the Play Store. I understand the decision and don't hold it against him at all, but it's something I've always disagreed with.)

I used to equate Sync with Reddit too, but now I have a different perspective.

Reddit is nothing but a glorified link aggregator. Sync was my preferred way of viewing said list of links. Now that I have the exact same experience on Lemmy I've realized that Sync wasn't Reddit, it was link aggregation and where those links come from doesn't really matter.

It's kind of poetic because that's the promise of Lemmy. It doesn't matter where the links are hosted.
Even if you don't end up using it, if it enables more users to find their way to Lemmy, we all benefit.

I never really clicked with Sync for reddit, and trying it for Lemmy, all the acknowledgements and agreeing with privacy policy really rubs me the wrong way for a Fediverse client. But if it works for others I'm all for it.
Use sync but switch up your theme!

It's nice to see sync back but going to wait until they introduce one time payment to remove ads before I start using it. Will stick with browser and Foss options until then.

Heads up he just added that to beta 25 which is now available on the play store.

Or it's going to be available soon? I'm actually not sure the status as I've updated but still only see the two options, but his recent comments indicate he's added that.

Ah, found it. If you're not subscribed to ultra there's a separate "remove ads" option that you pay separately for.
- How much is it?
Speaking of which, is/will there be a way of transferring your sync for reddit payment over to the lemmy app? I bought it like half a year ago. Understandable if I have to re-buy it, but figured asking won't hurt.
- Nope, never heard any plan to support transferring purchase on sync community.
- When I just installed it, the second or third option that came up was "Restore purchases: Restore your previous in-app purchases made in Sync".
  
  This is my first time using sync so I don't have anything to test it with.
The one time IAP is now live $19.99 plus tax

The amount of time I'd spend in Sync for Reddit daily, this was a no brain purchase for me.

I have never been happier to download an app in my life. Connect was great for the time but the polish and ux of sync is unmatched

Unsurprisingly the same issues as the Reddit app. The fonts are all over the place, the layout is kinda weird and the thumbnails are tiny.

I really didn't like sync before, but gave it another try and really customized the UI and like it a lot now. The default font is so tiny
- I still don't like it, doesn't look like there's any new options either. Luckily I just found out that someone forked Infinity over, which was my second favorite Reddit app, and it is FOSS.
  
  https://codeberg.org/Bazsalanszky/Infinity-For-Lemmy/releases
- Yeah once I tweaked list view to use large fonts, I was much happier. I don't really have any major issues with it yet, except that I can't assign a shortcut to go to the comments from a gesture. It's just a habit from a previous Reddit app that's tough to break.
- Sync is so customizable. If you are willing to go through all the settings it's worth it.

I'm not sure if this was how it worked for reddit but it makes you set it up when first opening, then again when adding an account, then again for each new account. There don't seem to be any global settings so you have to manually copy settings for each account. This makes it kind of a pain to set up how I want.

Yeah, it was the same with reddit. Common complaint.

Quickest way to deal with this is Settings > Backup > Backup now. Log out/sign in into new account, Settings > Backup > Restore from backup.

Since all the backup does is save local user settings, it won't affect any accounts or anything like that.
That can actually be a good thing. In reddit, I'd set the accounts up slightly different so I knew what account I was logged into. Basically, my main was amoled and alt account was dark gray. Easy way to distinguish what account you're using.

Ooh, nice. I hope this means Boost for Lemmy's release isn't that far behind!

This is the one I'm excited about. I switched from Sync to Boost and never went back as a redditor.

Submitting new posts seems to be "coming soon". No issues commenting. I just dropped into chrome to submit, I'm sure he will button it up soon

I've already gotten an update to the app since I installed it this morning. A promising development pace. I paid for the year license cus you gotta spread the love on the Fedi.
Using it since this morning, works great, has the hide read post I so wanted. Very intuitive UI and all. But I had not realized it yet, as I seldom post myself, that it was not done. It feels complete and yet it's missing one very important part for the community to keep growing lol.
- There's a lot to it if you want to do it right. I'm hopeful for crossposting like the webui

This is so huge

It feels like if I was on that other site.

I'm back baby!

Yay!!! It looks like I have to rebuy pro but I'm ok with that

Same. Fastest app purchase I've ever made
- it's just so worth it lol — I'm not a big app person but Sync has consistently offered such a wonderful polished experience (far far outshining most other sites native apps)

Do any of the apps work with kbin yet? I couldn't get sync to. 😕

There isn't an API for it to connect to yet.
Not yet. Artemis is seems to be in closed beta for now (?).
- Just a few more days for public beta!
  
  But hopefully/kbin gets more app options overall. Especially with more features than lemmy, like following domains and profiles🤞

So... Admob tracking it is... This, or using voyager and having no tracking.

Adguard Private DNS. The public servers are free and will do wonders for your general experience on Android. Admob is included in the blocklist, as far as I can tell.

Can anyone compare to Jerboa? Been using it and it's pretty solid, but heard sync is great.

Sync is by far my favorite app, it was "reddit" for me. Now that it points at Beehaw it's even better. It has very good customization and fits right into Android's themeing and standards very well. It's basically the quality of Apollo, but for Android.
I've never used Sync before, but something worth noting is that it isn't open source, and there are ads and in app purchases according to the google store page
- As long as the IAP is to remove the ads, we're good lol. I don't mind paying for that, esp for something I'll use a lot.

I have Connect now, why would I need Sync?

Best reason would be if you were a reddit sync user in the past Lemmy sync would feel familiar.

It analogous to Apollo users feeling voyager similar (to an extent).
- Very much this. It feels like being back on Reddit. Without Reddit...
I've been using Connect until now. Connect worked but, for me, it was like wearing work boots in and around the home. Sync is like wearing slippers again.

I can't figure out how to get sync to actually log into my Lemmy account, where is the log in button?

- I was so blind, thank you so much!
Profile/Lemmy icon in the top left corner -> add account.
- Thank you!

Will test it. Upvoting from Liftoff.

Holy shit, it looks awesome! It could potentially give Boost a run for its money.

Noice

Currently I'm on iOS, but I took this news to whip out my S10. Sync was always my preferred reddit client. Great to see it working on Lemmy now as well. Works great! Unfortunately it's not on iOS so won't be using it much