I like the interface, and have been a user of the reddit version for years...

I would pay for a good native iOS App. Memmy is nice but apps using web frameworks always have more limitations than any native one.

A lot of Lemmy consists of FOSS enthusiasts, so something that's paid and proprietary wouldn't look as good in their eyes.

There's also the fact that the free version of Sync uses (Google?) ad tracking to show you ads, so those people would also be upset.

I would happily pay for any FOSS app that I use, even for higher price than proprietary ones. I personally would prefer to use a FOSS app, if the UX is somewhat on par with the proprietary ones.

That being said, no judgement to people who prefer proprietary app. We all have different priorities, hence have to make different tradeoffs.

Many of us happily pay add removal fees on apps, but few of us pay $20. It stands out as excessive, especially in a very competitive arena like Lemmy apps where lots of good options have emerged.

I agree. I paid for a better Apollo experience back in the day, and the developer well deserved it.

Oh yeah? What Mastodon client? I've just been using the 1st party client and I feel like it's pretty decent. Kinda curious how much better a client might be.

Nothing wrong at all with charging for the main version to support development as long as it's not gouging. I don't think this is gouging in the slightest.

I still get put on blast on mastodon when I tell someone I use Ivory. Why the hell do they care?

I don’t understand the hate for charging for a product

I think the hate is mainly for the $100 lifetime payment. That's a lot for some people.

Many Americans (I'm one) cling to a variety of purity tests, and they struggle to grasp the bigger picture which could result in better outcomes for everyone.

Black or white. Win or lose. It's a tiring cultural characteristic.

It's not the charge money part. It's that it charges money and then still grabs and sells toms of your data. That's something the Lemmy crowd is super opposed to even in free products, but a subscription to have your data sold when the service itself (Lemmy) is hosted on a donation basis and does not cost the devs a cent to use is too much.

Most of that opposition is directed at the Sync devs of course, not against some user who has made the decision that the proposal is good and decided to use Sync.

I don't think most people worry about lawnmowing company. They worry about Google.

What google essentially sale is manipulation: they make money by changine your behavior, which is a extermely dangerous business in a democratic society. What makes it even more dangerous are

1. It is a for-profit company, which means people with more money have more power to manipulate the general public
2. It caters to U.S. government (since it is based in the U.S.), which is one of the most imperialistic governments today, with a terrible record of over-surveillance.
3. Everything can be hacked, all the information that is stored will be leaked sooner or later. And these data can easily fall into the wrong hand; in fact, they tends to fall into the wrong hand.

There are companies that aggregate all the data from Google and other services to match your anonymous data to your actual person so they can match your address name and all personal information to what you do online

This is a great post - I agree with your take.

The ads are what supports the developer. $20 to remove them is just a better bulk upfront deal than waiting for fractions of pennies to come together over time. The $100 version is a straight up grift though. I cannot overstate this, the ads are what supports the dev. There is nobody here not getting paid for their work.

Where/when exactly do the ads pop up? I've been using for a few days now and I haven't paid anything yet I see no ads. Is it a Beta thing?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Free_and_open-source_software?wprov=sfla1

Had to look it up

Almost thought it was an app 🤣

I used many Lemmy Android clients and after trying out Sync it is so good. It is not FOSS but it is high quality. Other FOSS apps are not mature enough yet and are unestable. I hope one day a FOSS one can compete and have high quality and I will switch

"I don't use it myself" LIAR, BURN THE HERETIC

/s

Perfect response. I not usually one who is made fun of for being bougie, but why not pay for an app that I've used for nearly a decade and can easily afford?

Agreed. Get your grubby FOSSy hands off my amazing app.

If affording a cheap app is rich in your eyes...I have bad news for you.

But... This analogy doesn't work at all. Sync isn't a community, it's a client. So you're interacting with the same people.

I found out about Lemmy BECAUSE of Sync

I had heard of lemmy in the days before the reddit blackout, but only when ljdawson said he was considering building sync for lemmy, did I actually join up.

I tried other clients before sync was actually out, and voyager is pretty good - but sync feels like home.

It's cool to hate it, for a lot of people who moved to fediverse early, it's a matter of FOSS software and an ideology. Everyone has a flexing point in their ideology, early adopters of fediverse can't be flexible at closed source products. I personally draw my flexing boundary at large capitalist companies. Sync is developed by one guy and tbh with a way pretty UI than any of the FOSS software has (my personal opinion) so I like it. And I use it. But I understand the ideological point of FOSS everything, but I don't understand people who want FOSS everything but they contribute nothing.

I don't hate it. What rubs me the wrong way is the $20 ask to remove ads, when alternative apps exists that don't charge or even have ads yet. It feels far too steep for what it's designed to handle, compared to Reddit. $5 would have been reasonable as an early bird deal, then $10 afterwards would have made more sense. Then add a tip jar for those who feel generous.

Yeah, op, don't feel shamed about using sync, it's a great app that's worth using. I use it. Lots of us use it. The hate is a knee-jerk reflex to the sudden influx of excited reddit sync users who have migrated to lemmy and talked a lot about sync. I think FOSS users were expecting a FOSS-type option and were shocked when that wasn't the case. Then you also had users who were just mad that it would cost more to be used here than it was on reddit.

No one hates you for using sync.

Sync was a great app for Reddit. I used it as my main for a while before I got my first iPhone. I honestly don't understand all the hate for it here. There are several FOSS choices for Lemmy apps if anyone doesn't like it.

Sync was Apollo but on Android.

Not precisely, they weren’t 1-for-1 clones. But when I moved from Android to iOS I was easily able to adapt to Apollo from Sync. Very similar visuals, very similar gestures, similar developer devotion.

Sync was not only my favorite app for reddit, but IMO the best UI/UX of any app I've ever used. I enjoyed Connect until Sync came out, but now that it has I feel like I can finally enjoy Lemmy as much as reddit. Everyone will have their preferences and prices they're willing to pay, but $20 absolutely seems reasonable to me for how much I use it lol.

Memmy is so fucking good.

Jerboa is a cute lil app

I'm on Jerboa too, what's the problem with it? I like the rat

I installed it a while ago and I'm loving it ngl. (I never used sync tho. Was a Infinity and Boost user)

I can't use apps that lag during simple scrolling so I never liked Jerboa. Quickly switched to Liftoff and now will switch to Sync I guess.

Also Jerboa has too few settings and that annoying post button that I rarely use stuck on screen.

Also using Sync. The thing is, I'm sick and tired of being told how I should need to interact with something. This isn't an argument against FOSS at all btw. I also pay a non-FOSS one-man-shop for my RSS reader.

My main thing is I want to bend the web to my preferences instead of the other way around. If devs like this are going out of their way to do that I'm going to make it worth their while.

Shit, I even pay the guy who keeps the Chumby servers alive. Just so I can have a flash-baswd Star Trek themed clock face active on my nightstand.

is it confirmed it won't? sync is okay, but RiF was simply better

༼ つ ◕_◕ ༽つ

For how much time I spent using Apollo, I really got a massive bargain for just $5.00. I’m not surprised that people would pay $20 if the app is good and they use Lemmy often.

It's now bootlicking to be okay paying for something. Okay.

I was pissed about the yearly subscription, but $20 for life for an app that I will likely use for nearly a thousand hours per year really isn't too bad.

I think «lemmings» is more common.

https://lemmy.ml/post/59721

I agree with this comment.

Not enough people know about alexandrite. It's definitely my favorite web interface.

Or get this. Pay to remove them. Should people not be compensated for their hard work?

I'm a long time Sync supporter and paid for ad-free Sync for Lemmy, but I can agree that Infinity is definitely a good competitor. I'm juggling them both right now, and they're both fantastic.

Infinity actually has the combo of features (settings) I want. I couldn't replicate my Joey (reddit app) in Sync so I tried Infinity and it's exactly what I was looking for

I was using both jerboa, liftoff before sync came along. But my problem with both was effectively less dense information. And hard to navigate comments. The more I have to scroll the more I dislike it. Sync is good at packing information densely if you wish to do so. But also good at spacing it out if you like that layout.

Jerboa wouldn't let me save any posts or comments. Other than that it worked great. I'm using sync now as I had the sync for Reddit back in the day and love it.

I rolled my own Infinity for Reddit after the Great API block. It's so inferior to Sync.

not OP, but the main selling point of Sync is an absolutely top notch buttery smooth and good-looking UI, adhering to Google's Material Design.

it looks and feels like a Google-made app, only it's made for nerds, so it's more configurable and maybe a bit bolder in terms of innovation.

in geneal this means: no loose ends, no jarring or lazy design, no janky transitions, and focus on ease of use (configurable gestures, bottom screen nav, presets, clever set-up tour, well thought out settings...).

of course you'll always find this one niche feature that someone Absolutely Needs which it doesn't have... and that's ok. can't have them all. but it covers 90 % of the bases and in terms of polish, you'd be hard pressed to find better. incl. Apollo, in my opinion (though it was some years ago that i used it).

Sync is the only 3rd party app I have ever used that actually has fantastic material you design. I have a pixel phone and quite like material you look. I prefer all my apps support this superior look, other apps try but none get anywhere close to that amount of polish Sync has.

TLDR: Sync is fucking gorgeous and no alternatives come close to being as sexy

And when they act sour, they're called lemons!

Have you heard about our Lord and Savior "Sync"?