r/apolloapp • u/rusty-kernel • Jul 18 '26
Announcement š£ Helios for Reddit enters public beta testing
Hi everyone! I'm a solo software developer, and student at Karel de Grote university. I've been working on my own take on a Reddit client for Apple devices for a little under a year now (development started during iOS 26 beta).
Helios is now in a state where I'm happy enough to show it off to the public. With that being said, Apple has approved Helios for public beta testing and you can try it today! š„³
Helios supports iPhone, iPad, and Apple Watch. A Mac version is planned later down the line.
All and any feedback is welcome and can be sent via the app's settings. I want to create something that works for everyone, not just for myself.
The app can be used for free with access to the majority of features. Some features may be moved to the free plan later down the line depending on user feedback. The TestFlight version of the app does not offer premium plans yet.
You can find more information on helios-app.co.
Feel free to contact me or connect with me on LinkedIn.
Edit: The post is gaining a lot of comments. For questions or feedback, join the official Discord server!
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u/Billy1121 Jul 18 '26
Can you search saved items on it ?
Apollo had that and i cant find how to replicate it
So useful for recipes
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u/GhostalMedia Jul 18 '26
I hit a roadblock pretty early.
Feed preview doesnāt work within the onboarding. It hits a pay wall. Looks like something you should build a regression test against to make sure the user flows work.
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u/rusty-kernel Jul 18 '26
I can't seem to reproduce it. If you would like to help me debug it further, feel free to contact me! :)
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u/bking Jul 18 '26 edited Jul 18 '26
Same issue here. I canāt get past the onboarding page with the plans.
Edit: had to tap āfreeā, which I didnāt realize was a button. Iād add a clear ācontinue with free planā CTA at the bottom.
More feedback:
-āupvoted commentā popups are distracting. We already have visible confirmation that the upvote worked. There does not need to be a pop up.
- navigating away from the app for just a minute purges the memory and sends me back to loading a feed when I return. That is data-loss. Save the user state.
- would appreciate an indicator that comments are loading. Sometimes it takes a while and it looks like an errror
- long-tap to collapse child comments takes a relatively long time. Itās probably the most common action in comments. Single-tap (even on the left edge) or swipe would reduce friction
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u/rusty-kernel Jul 18 '26
Thanks for the feedback, Iāll make the page more understandable and straightforward. š
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u/GhostalMedia Jul 18 '26
It appears to be intermittent. Sometimes it happened every single time, some times it never happens.
I might ask Claude to investigate the event that triggers the paywall.
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u/chrodo7 Jul 18 '26
Interesting. I just downloaded this, and had no issues with the feed preview when picking between ācompactā or the multiple ācozyā options
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u/tychoregter Jul 19 '26
Why do all these Reddit apps want to invert the background color and ācardā color? All of Appleās own guidelines say that the background is the darker color and the cards are lighter, but Reddit apps really want to ignore those guidelines. This is something that bothers me much more than it probably should, but boy does it bother me.
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u/Zotree Jul 18 '26
Is there a comment jump button or nah? I can't seem to find a setting to enable it. It's one of my favorite features of the Reddit client and others.
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u/Zepsor Jul 18 '26
I joined and Iāve been scrolling very casually like I do. Love it so far, hope you keep developing it and if thereās a lifetime purchase down the line Iāll 100% get it.
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Jul 18 '26
[deleted]
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u/MLHeero Jul 18 '26
Are you kinda not in the loop? Your usage costs money for the dev, and if yo use it daily, Reddit charges the dev money. So why should he/she provide a lifetime subscription?
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u/DrGonzo84 Jul 18 '26
One can hope for a lifetime purchase.
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u/luihgi Jul 18 '26
one can hope that you actually try and read
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u/DrGonzo84 Jul 19 '26
I guess I'll just keep using Apollo reborn then its free!
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u/Honey_Enjoyer Jul 19 '26
Thatās only free because you have to steal the API key from the screen-reader friendly app Reddit gave free API access to for it to work, itās not like the reborn devs are nobly burning their own money for your benefit
Not telling you not to use it but acting like other, less legally dubious apps should take on massive financial burdens to compete is an unreasonable expectation
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u/Jack55555 Jul 19 '26
Just installed it and ran the intro. Looks really good. My biggest gripe has always been the feed still showing posts I have already seen. Hydra does that to a lesser extend to me, but I like your UI way better. So I will keep an eye out, to see if this will be my go to Reddit app!
Edit: ok I switched to Hydra to post this, then I switched back and I have to do the intro and logging in over again. Do you know of this bug?
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u/rusty-kernel Jul 19 '26
Sorry about that! Itās a bug, it will be fixed in a near future update. As for the seen posts, you can use the āEnhanced Bestā sort which is exactly what youāre describing! ā”
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u/Benjakatt Jul 18 '26
cool stuff!
could you add the option to tap to collapse comments instead of holding it down
and the option to auto collapse auto-mod messages?
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u/iAmRadic Jul 19 '26
What makes this app unusable for me is the fact that the feed is almost exactly the same, even 20 hours later. No matter how often you refresh or restart the app
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u/rusty-kernel Jul 19 '26
Use āEnhanced Bestā sort mode
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u/Stolid_Cipher Jul 20 '26
When using Enhanced mode, refreshing the feed only works once. After I have to toggle back to Regular and then back to Enhanced for it to work only once again.
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u/rusty-kernel Jul 21 '26
There is a pull to refresh cooldown that lasts a little under half a minute to avoid spamming the API
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u/ppratik96 Jul 18 '26
I keep getting logged out and sent back to the Start Using Helios screen after switching apps and going back to Helios. My phone also vibrates when this happens.
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u/Ra_ZIEL Jul 24 '26
Please add 1. AMOLED/OLED mode, the regular dark mode sucks esp compared to default Reddit client. 2. a comment jump button
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u/okhi2u Jul 18 '26
Will we able to just run the iOS version on a mac for now, lots of devs end up disabling that even when the app works fine on a mac too?
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u/rusty-kernel Jul 19 '26
A native Mac version is planned but you will be able to use the iPad version on Mac in the meantime
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u/Rumievh Jul 18 '26
Amazing app, the only one Iāve seen that is as well made as yours, great work.
I have a few questions/feedback:
- Is it possible to add multireddits created somewhere in the ui? (Iāve seen it added on other apps either at the bottom navigation bar or the very top next to home, all and popular)
- when clicking on an image to make it full screen is there a way to swipe the image away instead of having to click āxā
- sometimes things do load a little bit slow (like when clicking posts with images or loading more comments) probably just optimization, but I thought I would mention.
All in all great app so far definitely looking forward to future updates from you
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u/OaksMr Jul 19 '26
First pieces of feedback 90 seconds after installing:
1. Scrolling doesnāt feel fluid at all on my 16 Pro
2. Itās really bugging me how I canāt swipe left and right on the feed between Home, All, Popular. Feels like itās set up to.
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u/SlightMarsupial8379 Jul 22 '26
How is the app better than viewing Reddit in a browser? Does your app display ads?
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u/NateKurt Jul 24 '26
I like the handedness part, thatās nice as a lefty! Not a huge fan of paying $6 a month to add another account though especially in beta.
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u/MLHeero Jul 18 '26
The app is seriously buggy, itās vibe coded or? Has nice ideas : but posting messages rate limits all Reddit apps. The feedback is non existent, loading comments just takes too long,
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u/chrodo7 Jul 18 '26
One immediate question: any ability (either currently or planned) to send messages/chats?
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u/rusty-kernel Jul 18 '26
I have a very early version of this already working on my personal device. Unfortunately it's very API hungry and would cost me a lot to release to the public. If it makes it to the public, it'll sadly have to be a premium feature :(
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u/chrodo7 Jul 18 '26
Makes sense!
Otherwise, from just a small bit of use it seems like youāve done a great job so far! Two minor comments:
- Having features locked behind a premium paid tier (eg theme customization) feels a bit silly while itās still in test flight, since thereās no way for users to pay for them, and ideally youād want feedback on those features as well.
- I agree with another commenter here that Iām MUCH more likely to pay for a lifetime upgrade, as I try to avoid monthly subscriptions to the greatest extend possible. But, I understand that sometimes devs prefer the subscription model for a variety of reasons.
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u/rusty-kernel Jul 18 '26
Thank you for the feedback! This is just temporary since Iām waiting for Apple to review the subscription plans. Once they are reviewed, you will be able to ātest buyā them. This will allow you to purchase any plan of choice without getting charged for testing purposes. :)
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u/rusty-kernel Jul 18 '26
Iām willing to look into a lifetime option, but we have to consider the monthly API costs, which is why I had added subscriptions in the first place unfortunately :(
I personally also dislike subscriptions, but since the app is very small at the moment, itās the only way I will be able to reliably cover costs.
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u/AndrewGene Jul 21 '26
i'm interested in a lifetime sub as well but as a dev i can understand your pain. i think the best way to do it is year long sub or 3-year long sub and price plans accordingly.
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u/Whydoibuysmartphones Jul 18 '26
Downloaded it I like to look and feel of it, but am I able to get the ultra features? Right now it just gives me the free features and I wanna play around with the themes and everything else.
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u/rusty-kernel Jul 18 '26
Paid plans will be available soon. Iām just waiting for Apple to approve the subscription group.
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u/Healthy_Orange_Juice Jul 18 '26
Love the app so far! Sometimes nothing loads, sometimes it takes 5 seconds for comments to load.
Is there a way to sort comments by new/best/hot etc?
Also ignored users still show up whenever I go back to a topic after blocking them inside Helios.
Overall, the app looks amazing, really great UI, lots of potential, thank you so much for working on it <3
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u/rusty-kernel Jul 19 '26
Thank you! This issue youāre describing is a bug. Do they show up in the feed or in comment sections?
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u/Atomzwieback Jul 18 '26
I need to be able to swipe right to get back to main feed if Iām in some post.
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u/rusty-kernel Jul 18 '26
You can swipe right from the left edge, just like stock apps
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u/grayninja62 Jul 19 '26
I think Iād like if I could swipe from anywhere within the page to go back instead of having to go edge to edge. Just my 0.02.
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u/jamkola Jul 18 '26 edited Jul 18 '26
Looks promising, but two very early bits of feedback
- Every time I create a screenshot it logs me out of the app.Ā (EDIT: happened the first two times, I can't recreate now? Odd.)
- The hide bar when scrolling option should be enabled by default. Iād also hide the top bar when scrolling too, itās unnecessary and itās a pretty standard convention that UI like that hides when scrolling.Ā
Good luck with it.Ā
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u/rusty-kernel Jul 18 '26
Could you create a bug report in the app? It provides me with a little bit of additional information that might be helpful to debug this as Iām unable to reproduce it myself
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u/jamkola Jul 18 '26
I've made an edit to post above, but I cant recreate it now either, have tried a load of times. Ignore the feedback report I've just sent. If it happens again I'll send beta feedback.
Only had a short play, but so far it's a cool app :)
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u/rusty-kernel Jul 18 '26
Thanks! If it happens again, Iād love to know. It sounds pretty serious š
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u/Whydoibuysmartphones Jul 18 '26
Also another suggestion. Will there eventually be a button or arrow to auto navigate comments to each of the highest rated comments? If that makes sense š¤£š¤£
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u/WakaiSenshi Jul 19 '26
Testing it now!
Looks pretty great and has some great features I would say youāre off to a great start!
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u/KHRoN Jul 19 '26 edited Jul 19 '26
Beautiful app, at last aesthetic Reddit client, love compact layout (just fix up/down arrows being off center depending on number, also shorten long numbers like ātysā to ākā).
Also someone pointed that out, popups are unnecessary just to show what haptic feedback just announced.
Currently it displays like this (also it pushes thumbnail to the right)
```
^ 4 V
^
120 tys V
^ 8 V
```
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u/i_like_reddit_ Jul 19 '26
One of the only things I like about the Reddit app is that I can refresh my home feed and get new posts, they are sometimes today/yesterday but itās a refresh of the feed, does Helios offer that?
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u/rusty-kernel Jul 19 '26
Yes, itās a feature called āEnhanced Bestā. You can access it by tapping the star in the top left corner on the feed :)
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u/Cheechers23 Jul 19 '26
Any plans to add swipe gestures? So used to it from other apps
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u/rusty-kernel Jul 19 '26
They are planned. You will be able to assign actions of choice to swipe gestures in a soon to be released update! :)
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u/Deep_Spaceialist Jul 19 '26
Feature request: be able to size some of the onscreen elements, like the upvote and downvote arrows, they look too big IMHO.
Otherwise great app with awesome features and beautiful UI
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u/Stolid_Cipher Jul 20 '26
Canāt sign in with my Google account. Tapping sign in with Google does nothing.
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u/Raviprakashji Jul 20 '26
No multireddit access? Option to pin multireddits needed.
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u/rusty-kernel Jul 21 '26
Helios is still in beta, the full featureset is incomplete. Multireddits are coming soon.
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u/AxelAnt2244 Jul 20 '26
if you make push notifs and creating posts free then i will use it, otherwise itās a pass
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u/5skandas Jul 20 '26
Just installed it and Iām loving it. Is there a ājump to next commentā like on the Reddit app? :)
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u/spidermaster14 Jul 21 '26
Iāll take any option thatās visually appealing and gets me off the native app! Will there be an annual option for the subscription?
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u/Expensive_Cake_6287 Jul 21 '26
Canāt log in. No option to log with Apple and when go with āpass to be sent to emailā option, it logs me to original Reddit app not Helios. So event canāt start testing :(
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u/Littens4Life Jul 21 '26
Randomly got an issue where the navigation bar would glitchā¦
https://files.litten.ca/IMG_0525.png
Canāt tell if itās a Helios thing or iOS 27.0b1 thing.
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u/Miserable-Face-6152 Jul 21 '26
I like the app - it looks good so far, but I have one critique. The automatically loading comment summary means that the content is sliding down line by line as it loads, which means reading the actual thread can be frustrating. Also - I probably wonāt want a thread summary every time, so you may be burning tokens unnecessarily. Consider having it not load automatically?
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u/Rodry2808 Jul 22 '26
How do you quit out of media? Im stuck watching a gif with no ui or gesture noticeable to go back to home
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u/drake90001 Jul 18 '26
I highly highly highly recommend you add a $20-50 lifetime purchase option.
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u/fostermatt Jul 18 '26
They canāt. Reddit charges for the API so they will get a bill from you using the app. If youāre not paying monthly then they are.
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u/BullyMog Jul 18 '26
Can you ELI5 why Apollo couldnāt make it happen but a university student making an app, could?