Technology @beehaw.org grizzogor @lemmy.world 1y ago

Infinity for Reddit plans to go subscription-only July 1st in hopes of sustainability, price undecided for now

Hey, I am sure you guys are aware of the upcoming Reddit API change, If you haven't had a chance to look into it yet, I recommend doing a quick...

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Infinity, a lesser known open-source third-party Reddit app for Android, has announced that it will be switching to a subscription-only model. This would mean that the F-Droid version of the app will be delisted and the API key currently in the source code of the app will be removed. As of this post, the developer is currently not interested in converting Infinity into a Lemmy client, but encourages others to look into doing it themselves because of the app's open source nature.

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Still, most if not all of that subscription fee is just going back to Reddit in API calls. Not interested in supporting them at all, whether through a first or third party app.
Props to the dev for trying to keep the app going, but Reddit isn't worth the price they ask nowadays, and when 3PA get killed for good, without the moderation those allowed, Reddit would be even more of cesspool of spambots etc. so absolutely not going to pay for a spam service lol
Infinity was a good replacement when Sync did its redesign, which I didn't care for. Ah well. I don't blame them of course, but reddit isn't something I'm going to pay a subscription to access on a 3rd party app on my phone.
- Same here. No offense to the developer of Infinity, but I don't see too much value in accessing Reddit on mobile enough to pay for a subscription. Now that I have Lemmy, I'll probably only use Reddit while trying to search for a solution for something.
  
  Probably the solution you will find will be deleted or edited to „fuck u/spez“ hopefully.
- I see maybe 3 people on the whole planet subscribing to a 3PA for reddit
  
  I feel like this is largely a culture thing on Android. Apollo has made the subscription model work with tons of success on iOS, where paid apps are normalized. For me, I'd happily fund an open source app, but not Reddit itself.
@grizz Relay's doing the same. I think some of the less popular apps like these can feasibly give the new API pricing a go.

I think the proposition has changed significantly for me though. I liked and supported these apps for a long time, but I'm not using them as vehicle through which to effectively subscribe to reddit.
- Same. It's not about the app anymore. It's about reddit itself.
  
  Same here. At that point, I'd be supporting spez and his IPO, not the app developer.
Ouch, I've been using it a lot lately, I would have preferred their app converted to Lemmy's network
- It's open source so someone might do it
Just give in to Reddit's ridiculous demands indeed.

This is just a start for them to charge even more down the line "cuz profits".

It will not be sustainable as an 3rd party app one way or the other.
They can also just revoke the access without blinking just because they would feel like it.
- They're not doing this to make money on their API, they're just trying to make 3rd party apps unfeasible so users have to use their app. More control basically, more ad power.
no more fdroid?
eww
I'll try to look into making infinity compatible with Lemmy withan reddit API proxy, that client is soooo good I need it :(. And I really don't want to pay reddit through their API.
Farewell, Infinity. :(
I've been using infinity for a while now and it's fantastic. I would happily pay for it, if it weren't for the fact that most of the money would go straight to Reddit.
Eww
Thanks for the heads up. Just forked the project and hopefully it should be relatively simple to change the API key and rebuild the app. That being said, keeping up to date with the upstream changes might prove more difficult
Being an Infinity user, I loved the app. I wish I could use it again for Lemmy. But since I don't plan on going back to Reddit, I guess it's time to say goodbye...
How is a FOSS project gonna enforce this? By providing only binaries on GPlay with the dev's API key, and then a free version for entering your own API?
- It needs an API key to function so they’ll disable the old key and generate a new one which they’ll keep private.
  
  But couldn't someone hack the binary to extract the key and enter it into the free version? Sounds kinda risky.
- Reddit won't allow the dev to create an app where users can enter their own keys. So it will still be FOSS but you'd have to build it yourself with your own keys, if you can somehow obtain them. Thus there's no point in putting the app on F-Droid.
Personally I use the infinity for Reddit app and this is disappointing as it’s my favorite app but I wouldn’t pay a subscription for it. Although I do understand why he/she is doing it I am still disappointed.
This is so sad. Infinity is such a good app.It was a lot of fun.
Farewall my friend...
Damn. I loved using Infinity. But if it's gone, no reddit on mobile for me anymore...(And hopefully desktop too)
If Reddit were to back down from their API gamesmanship, I'd probably stick with Infinity, as it's a great app and easily my favorite 3P Reddit app.

I don't expect Reddit will back down, so in all likelihood I will miss both this service and this app. Damn shame.
Loving Infinity and I would pay for a premium version without beating an eye, but subscription is out of the question (moreso since it would go to reddit, forcing this on 3rd party apps in the first place, with this API change). The moment Infinity becomes subscription based is the moment I uninstall it, sadly.
Most of the closed-source apps are shutting down, and the open-source one goes to a subscription model. What a time to be alive.

45 comments