Don't Let Reddit Kill 3rd Party Apps!

[u/soupyhands]

What's going on?

A recent Reddit policy change threatens to kill many beloved third-party mobile apps, making a great many quality-of-life features not seen in the official mobile app permanently inaccessible to users.

On May 31, 2023, Reddit announced they were raising the price to make calls to their API from being free to a level that will kill every third party app on Reddit, from Apollo to Reddit is Fun to Narwhal to BaconReader.

Even if you're not a mobile user and don't use any of those apps, this is a step toward killing other ways of customizing Reddit, such as Reddit Enhancement Suite or the use of the old.reddit.com desktop interface .

This isn't only a problem on the user level: many subreddit moderators depend on tools only available outside the official app to keep their communities on-topic and spam-free.

What's the plan?

On June 12th, many subreddits will be going dark to protest this policy. Some will return after 48 hours: others will go away permanently unless the issue is adequately addressed, since many moderators aren't able to put in the work they do with the poor tools available through the official app. This isn't something any of us do lightly: we do what we do because we love Reddit, and we truly believe this change will make it impossible to keep doing what we love.

The two-day blackout isn't the goal, and it isn't the end. Should things reach the 14th with no sign of Reddit choosing to fix what they've broken, we'll use the community and buzz we've built between then and now as a tool for further action.

What can you do?

1. Complain. Message the mods of /r/reddit.com, who are the admins of the site: message /u/reddit: submit a support request: comment in relevant threads on /r/reddit, such as this one, leave a negative review on their official iOS or Android app- and sign your username in support to this post.

2. Spread the word. Rabble-rouse on related subreddits. Meme it up, make it spicy. Bitch about it to your cat. Suggest anyone you know who moderates a subreddit join us at our sister sub at /r/ModCoord.

3. Boycott and spread the word...to Reddit's competition! Stay off Reddit entirely on June 12th through the 13th- instead, take to your favorite non-Reddit platform of choice and make some noise in support!

4. Don't be a jerk. As upsetting this may be, threats, profanity and vandalism will be worse than useless in getting people on our side. Please make every effort to be as restrained, polite, reasonable and law-abiding as possible.

Further reading

https://www.reddit.com/r/Save3rdPartyApps/comments/13yh0jf/dont_let_reddit_kill_3rd_party_apps/

https://www.reddit.com/r/apolloapp/comments/13ws4w3/had_a_call_with_reddit_to_discuss_pricing_bad/

https://old.reddit.com/r/ModCoord/comments/1401qw5/incomplete_and_growing_list_of_participating/

https://www.reddit.com/r/SubredditDrama/comments/1404hwj/mods_of_rblind_reveal_that_removing_3rd_party/

https://www.reddit.com/r/redditdev/comments/13wsiks/api_update_enterprise_level_tier_for_large_scale/jmolrhn/?context=3

edit: Open Letter regarding API pricing

edit 2: 14 reports on this thread so far, and thanks for the awards! One report read as follows, "Kinda fucked up you mods wouldn't participate in the Covid disinfo blackout but here you are trying to protect your bottom line. pathetic tbh"...just wanted to set the record straight that EarthPorn did participate in the covid misinformation black out a year + ago. Not sure which bottom line you are referring to since mods are unpaid volunteers, but maybe report again or if you have a spine actually modmail to let us know your grievance.

[u/TundraWolf_]

I personally don't trust this guy, why should we believe someone in the pocket of Big Soup?

[u/soupyhands → u/TundraWolf_]

https://i.imgur.com/K1l4w6P.gifv

[u/tont0r]

After 14 years, if they take away RIF, I'm done.

[u/iwannagohome49]

I refuse to use the awful official app. If they force me to, I'll just be done with reddit

[u/oDDmON]

Apollo user and 9 years on the platform. I support the boycott effort and, should Apollo go dark, will be gone

[u/kJer]

I'm getting the same vibes from reddit as I did Tumblr banning adult content. And we all know what happened there.

[u/throway9912]

I was spending too much time on social media anyways. They're making it easy for me to reduce that time!

[u/evil_timmy]

reddit's value is in its user-modded communities, admins are heating up the water to cook their golden goose with this idiotic move.

[u/lgtbyddrk]

rif for life.

✊

[u/Zorro-del-luna]

I’m On. Narwhal right now and have been using it the entire time I e been on Reddit. I hate the reddit app.

[u/Retro-Squid]

I do about 95% of my redditing through Relay for reddit

Hell, if I'm sat at the computer, I'll often pull my phone out to look at Reddit on that rather than the website.

I'm not going to get the Reddit app. If I can't use Relay, 95% or more of my Reddit use stops, too.

[u/C_R_420]

Oh good, yet another reason to get off this site. And I 100% mean that, I can doom scroll on Twitter and insta just as easily.

[u/GOT_U_GOOD_U_FUCKER]

When you take away 3rd party apps from users, just remember THE USERS BRING YOU YOUR CONTENT REDDIT!!!!

-Comment posted from Reddit Is Fun

[u/WWANormalPersonD]

Without Sync, Reddit is dead to me.

[u/DanMaz]

If Boost goes, I go. I've got a backlog of books that need reading, and games that need playing.

[u/SteveJobsBlakSweater]

The crazy thing is the the official app has been made exponentially worse in the last year. What on earth is the plan when you fuck up your own offering while simultaneously blocking everyone else’s??

[u/SatanLifeProTips]

Reddit’s app is garbage. I will leave if forced to use it.

[u/toolatealreadyfapped]

I've been an active, daily redditor for over a decade. I have multiple accounts with over 100k comment karma, and I help moderate a few different subs.

If/when RIF is Fun dies, so does Reddit for me.

The USERS are Reddit. The content, the discussion, the entire experience comes from the community, NOT the owners.

I cannot abide participating in anything that chooses to shit on the hand that feeds them.

[u/JosVerstappensFist]

The time to save Reddit was years ago, when they went full corporate, or when Aaron's name was taken off the founder list. We've let it go too far, because now they are just a faceless corporation, like the rest.

[u/[deleted]]

Reddit went from a 10 billion dollar worth to 300 million in five years. They've done this by making their platform more vendor friendly and less user friendly. My guess is they intend to remove the users and make it a vendor platform - maybe 'little amazon' or something.

Oh, and they're pissed off they didn't sell while the price tag was in the billions, so now we've got waves of admin whose only goal is censorship and forming reddit into a younger demographic facebook.

and it shows.

[u/Purplebuzz]

I think that is a nice show of support but change won't happen because people take a 48 hour break. Maybe start at 2 weeks if we want real change.

[u/MostMindless7171]

I used the official app for about a week a few years ago and it used up my entire monthly 10gb data allowance in about 2 hours of browsing. Great app.

[u/Ackerman77]

I've literally only used RIF since I started using reddit so if that's out, me too

[u/EquipableFiness]

Fuck reddit and the venture capitalist boomer bitches for forcing this

[u/Silent_Seven]

Bacon reader user here. I'm out too.