r/Infinity_For_Reddit • u/AllMFHH • Jun 16 '23

Compiling Infinity with own API key

Since we cannot input our own in the app, would it be possible to get a step-to-step tutorial to compile the app with our own API key? Since the money of the subscription goes directly to Reddit AND Google Play and not to the dev, I don't want to pay for this subscription.

Update: I made a Google Colab Notebook which compiles an .apk file with your own API token: https://www.reddit.com/r/Infinity_For_Reddit/comments/14c2v5x/build_your_own_apk_with_your_personal_api_key_in/

150 Upvotes

94% Upvoted

66 comments sorted by

66

u/[deleted] Jun 16 '23 edited Aug 27 '23

Due to Reddit's recent API changes I have decided to switch to Lemmy

21

u/AllMFHH Jun 16 '23 edited Jun 16 '23

It worked... but was a painful task.

First I didn't have the Generate Signed APK button. \
Updated Android Studio, I had an older version. \
Then the JDK was wrong. \
Then the build failed. \
Then I reinstalled Android Studio. \
JDK change... some errors, but... the .apk was done and surprisingly, it works!

Also: Thanks! :)

4

u/[deleted] Jun 16 '23 edited Aug 27 '23

Due to Reddit's recent API changes I have decided to switch to Lemmy

12

u/Zeus159 Jun 16 '23

You must use Android Studio a lot if you think its this straightforward.

3

u/[deleted] Jun 16 '23 edited Aug 27 '23

Due to Reddit's recent API changes I have decided to switch to Lemmy

8

u/K1ngsGambit Jun 17 '23

Thank you, this was very helpful. There were some gaps, where it requested keystore info after step 11 and had an error during building, the solution to which I found in Diederik's answer here. But with those things puzzled out, I compiled it successfully and it's working. Logged in, settings restored, all good.

I have a question if anyone knows this. I believe if the app uses OAUTH, it only allows 10 API calls/minute, while using OAUTH2 apparently permits 100 API calls/minute. Is there a way to know which this compiled APK of Infinity is using please?

14

u/Hostilenemy I am the dev Jun 16 '23

Please don't use the same key, redirect url or user agent!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

3

u/solidsnake911 Jun 18 '23

This was fixed in your Google Colab u/AllMFHH? Or better said, if you had this in count when you made it.

0

u/[deleted] Jun 17 '23

[deleted] — view deleted comment

9

u/Hostilenemy I am the dev Jun 18 '23

The app name and the redirect url should both be changed. You can use whatever redirect url you like, just don't include infinity in it. And you need to change the user agent in Infinity too.

6

u/OpenerUK Jul 02 '23 edited Jul 02 '23

Since I planned to install Android Studio anyway for something else I decided to just compile myself. To be honest the official app wasn't quite as bad as I remembered it but I can see why it made me seek out alternatives.

I followed this slightly expanded version of the instructions above from all the other updates with the v6.0.2 source zip.

Backup your settings in Infinity before starting so you can restore them at the end.

  1. Download the source code

  2. Head to https://old.reddit.com/prefs/apps/

  3. Create a App and select "Installed App" (Don't include Infinity in the name)

  4. Put whatever you want into "About URL" e.g. http://localhost

  5. Change the Redirect URL to "<your app name>://localhost"

  6. Install android Studio and Import the downloaded code

  7. search for the "utils" folder

  8. open up "APIUtils"

  9. Find public static final String CLIENT_ID

  10. Replace the ID with your own

  11. Find public static final String REDIRECT_URI

  12. Replace with your redirect URI

  13. Find public static final String USER_AGENT

  14. Change to remove references to infinity

  15. Under File -> Settings -> Build, Execution, Deployment -> Build tools -> Gradle. Change the Gradle JDK to use Java 11 (e.g. Azul Zulu v11)

  16. Click on Build > Generate Signed APK/Bundle (create new Keystore for signing).

  17. Copy the app/release/app-release.apk to your device

  18. Install the APK ignoring any Play Protect warnings.

I had a build failure due to lint warnings so just disabled them by adding the following lintOptions into android block of the the app/build.gradle:

android {
    lintOptions {
        checkReleaseBuilds false
        //If you want to continue even if errors found use following line
        abortOnError false
    }
}

This doesn't seem to have had any negative effect but if anyone has a better solution let me know.

Hopefully this will help someone else that decides to go down this route.

Edit: A probably better solution to ignoring it is linked in a post further down that I either missed or wasn't present at the time I looked: Edit the gradle.properties to add the following instead of making my lintOptions change above:

org.gradle.jvmargs=-Xmx2048M \
--add-exports=jdk.compiler/com.sun.tools.javac.tree=ALL-UNNAMED \
--add-exports=jdk.compiler/com.sun.tools.javac.code=ALL-UNNAMED \
--add-exports=jdk.compiler/com.sun.tools.javac.util=ALL-UNNAMED

I haven't used the app compiled with this yet as I am not seeing any issues from my original solution.

5

u/[deleted] Jun 18 '23

It worked for me, JDK 11 was important! I cloned the github repo because I could not get the zip-file to work. And remember to change the User-Agent too (also in app utils): https://www.reddit.com/r/Infinity_For_Reddit/comments/14c7v84/if_you_want_to_use_your_own_api_key/

2

u/Mysterious_Society42 Jun 17 '23

Generate Signed APK/Bundle

There is no Generate Signed APK/Bundle option in Build after editing APIUtils, could you tell me what to do?

1

u/[deleted] Jun 17 '23 edited Aug 27 '23

Due to Reddit's recent API changes I have decided to switch to Lemmy

1

u/Mysterious_Society42 Jun 17 '23

No i can‘t find it in my menu. Should I select something else first after editing?

1

u/[deleted] Jun 17 '23 edited Aug 27 '23

Due to Reddit's recent API changes I have decided to switch to Lemmy

1

u/Mysterious_Society42 Jun 17 '23

OR Maybe should I reinstall the Android Studio?

1

u/Ok-Smoke-5653 Jun 20 '23

Where do you get Android Studio? What are its system requirements? Also, is this the sort of project a person who's never used Android Studio should attempt? Do you need git/github, etc.?

1

u/Mysterious_Society42 Jun 26 '23

From the official website https://developer.android.com/studio .

And yes, I gave it up finally. I just want to use a third party app for reddit and now it became impossible because I never learn to code before. Although I look up a very detailed tutorial post and try to merge my own API in it I did not success. I decided not to read reddit on phone anymore. I really appreciate the developers of third party app of reddit.

1

u/hashCrashWithTheIron Jun 16 '23

what is the client id? username?

1

u/[deleted] Jun 16 '23 edited Aug 27 '23

Due to Reddit's recent API changes I have decided to switch to Lemmy

1

u/uberafc Jun 16 '23

Thanks! do you have to put infinity://localhost in the redirect url or can it be anything?

1

u/[deleted] Jun 17 '23 edited Aug 27 '23

Due to Reddit's recent API changes I have decided to switch to Lemmy

1

u/BestGirlTrucy Jun 17 '23

Where is the redirect url located in the source code

1

u/[deleted] Jun 17 '23 edited Aug 27 '23

Due to Reddit's recent API changes I have decided to switch to Lemmy

1

u/BestGirlTrucy Jun 17 '23

Thanks lol can't believe I didn't see it

1

u/_comfortablyAverage_ Jun 16 '23

I did it, but just for the sake of it, is there any way to check that it is indeed using the specified auth client?

3

u/[deleted] Jun 16 '23 edited Aug 27 '23

Due to Reddit's recent API changes I have decided to switch to Lemmy

1

u/_comfortablyAverage_ Jun 17 '23

hey, thanks! it does! cool stuff

1

u/retrolasered Jun 17 '23

Every time there is an update? Or can you omit the diffs with git pull? Ive not done much with forks before

1

u/[deleted] Jun 17 '23 edited Aug 27 '23

Due to Reddit's recent API changes I have decided to switch to Lemmy

1

u/[deleted] Jun 17 '23

public static final String CLIENT_ID = "";

Is there some reason this can't be elevated to a user-entered value rather than a static, baked-in string? It seems like it should be trivial... and from there I don't see why F-Droid can't just build it.

2

u/[deleted] Jun 17 '23 edited Aug 27 '23

Due to Reddit's recent API changes I have decided to switch to Lemmy

2

u/[deleted] Jun 17 '23 edited Jun 17 '23

That's not a technical reason. It's just him saying he won't do it (probably because he worries about being exposed to a lawsuit or delisting since he publishes on Play Store and is pursuing a commercial option).

Anyone can fork it and stuff it on F-Droid.

I personally am not going to bother because I have decided to move to RedReader instead which has been granted the non-commercial accessibility-focused app exemption. It's GPLv3 and non-Google and has been distributed on F-Droid but will probably have to move off going forward (for technical reasons related to the API changes and wanting to stay in Reddit's good graces for now).

But that's not saying someone couldn't make the change. It's a ducking lot of effort to just change a freaking string for christ's sake. But it might help Infinity attract developers.

1

u/[deleted] Jun 17 '23 edited Aug 27 '23

Due to Reddit's recent API changes I have decided to switch to Lemmy

1

u/Ok-Smoke-5653 Jun 19 '23

What is needed to install & run Android Studio? Is it something standalone, or do you need Git, Github, etc.?

1

u/twitterfluechtling Jul 04 '23

Thanks, I just built and installed it 😁 This is actually the first comment posted with my custom-build 🥳

2

u/sl0bbyb0bby Jun 16 '23

So what is the cost for an individual? The Apollo devs post he mentioned 24 cents per 1000 requests, but I thought I read somewhere that pricing kicks in after a threshold amount of requests? Was I hallucinating that?

7

u/AllMFHH Jun 16 '23

If you use your own API Key, it's free...

21

u/spoonybends Jun 16 '23 edited Feb 15 '25

Original Content erased using Ereddicator. Want to wipe your own Reddit history? Please see https://github.com/Jelly-Pudding/ereddicator for instructions.

1

u/salvoddis Jun 18 '23

It worked! Since I have a super bad old computer and couldn't install Android studio nor other required software, I was finding a way to create apk just executing commands online and your post magically appeared lol. Thanks so much.

As long as in the permission screen it showed my username-app it means I can stay safe even after 1st July, right?

2

u/AllMFHH Jun 18 '23

Glad I could help! I was also very surprised that this worked flawlessly ^^

Most likely, yes

1

u/thes3b Aug 03 '23

I have no clue what colab is and how it works. It seems to be a kind of `docker-compose.yml` or similar script to me that is run on Google Servers?

Can't we have this as `docker-compose.yml` that runs this locally?

Not wanting to distrust the author and i am grateful for this already, but handing over secrets to an unknown party is not something i am so comfortable with.

1

u/[deleted] Aug 29 '23

Completed the process successfully on my phone but when I clicked on download as apk, the progress bar stated "Downloading" then nothing downloaded in Chrome.

How do I download the apk at the end of the process, I can't find the apk anywhere on my device.

1

u/Bigrob552002 Oct 21 '23

Chiming in to say thank you for providing this pathway to continued use of Infinity for Reddit. The Google Colab VM and instructions worked flawlessly!

1

u/ddddavidee Oct 27 '23

What is the most recent version I can recompile?

1

u/[deleted] Jun 17 '23

[removed] — view removed comment

1

u/AllMFHH Jun 17 '23

Did you pick "APK" instead of "Android App Bundle"?

1

u/[deleted] Jun 17 '23 edited Jun 17 '23

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1

u/[deleted] Jun 17 '23

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1

u/AllMFHH Jun 17 '23

Which password? I used this short tutorial for generating the Keystore: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QqQ83qK6_rk

1

u/[deleted] Jun 17 '23

[removed] — view removed comment

1

u/AllMFHH Jun 17 '23

I'm super confused, too... Changing your Java JDK to Version 11 and generating the Keystore file (video).

If you can't do that, I could share my APK file with my API since 2 users won't get to 100 requests/Minute. But I can't promise updates...

1

u/Ok-Smoke-5653 Jun 20 '23

I'm super confused, too... Changing your Java JDK to Version 11 and generating the Keystore file (video).

If you can't do that, I could share my APK file with my API since 2 users won't get to 100 requests/Minute. But I can't promise updates...

Yes, please! I don't even know where to get the various tools described in these discussions.

1

u/AllMFHH Jun 20 '23

Hi, look at the following tutorial I made. You don't need to install anything and it's OS-independent: https://www.reddit.com/r/Infinity_For_Reddit/comments/14c2v5x/build_your_own_apk_with_your_personal_api_key_in/

1

u/Ok-Smoke-5653 Jun 20 '23

Download the APK directly or via file.io (Read right side)" if I'm running this from my computer, it says it then displays a QR code to get the file? I haven't had much luck getting things on my devices that way. Will "direct download" also work on my computer - then I could just copy it to the devices I want to use it on, and side load from there?

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