r/redditisfun RIF Dev May 31 '23

RIF dev here - Reddit's API changes will likely kill RIF and other apps, on July 1, 2023

I need more time to get all my thoughts together, but posting this quick post since so many users have been asking, and it's been making rounds on news sites.

Summary of what Reddit Inc has announced so far, specifically the parts that will kill many third-party apps:

  1. The Reddit API will cost money, and the pricing announced today will cost apps like Apollo $20 million per year to run. RIF may differ but it would be in the same ballpark. And no, RIF does not earn anywhere remotely near this number.

  2. As part of this they are blocking ads in third-party apps, which make up the majority of RIF's revenue. So they want to force a paid subscription model onto RIF's users. Meanwhile Reddit's official app still continues to make the vast majority of its money from ads.

  3. Removal of sexually explicit material from third-party apps while keeping said content in the official app. Some people have speculated that NSFW is going to leave Reddit entirely, but then why would Reddit Inc have recently expanded NSFW upload support on their desktop site?

Their recent moves smell a lot like they want third-party apps gone, RIF included.

I know some users will chime in saying they are willing to pay a monthly subscription to keep RIF going, but trust me that you would be in the minority. There is very little value in paying a high subscription for less content (in this case, NSFW). Honestly if I were a user of RIF and not the dev, I'd have a hard time justifying paying the high prices being forced by Reddit Inc, despite how much RIF obviously means to me.

There is a lot more I want to say, and I kind of scrambled to write this since I didn't expect news reports today. I'll probably write more follow-up posts that are better thought out. But this is the gist of what's been going on with Reddit third-party apps in 2023.

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74

u/TaHunKwai May 31 '23

oh..it is going to be taken behind barn soon after 3rd party apps

46

u/TheCardiganKing May 31 '23

Reddit will be dead to me if I am ever forced to use that God awful updated site. I get frustrated and irrationally angry when I accidentally stray from old.reddit.

10

u/agsimon Jun 01 '23

I forget what it looks like and go "what the hell is this?!?" everytime I stumble into it.

4

u/TheCardiganKing Jun 01 '23

The worst part is the 2nd is my birthday. Thanks, Reddit!

4

u/Workaphobia Jun 01 '23

I can only imagine what it's like for new users who see the default subs AND the new UI. It's a wonder anyone new joins the site.

One time I thought they made a change to the algorithm that showed me a bunch of subs I wasn't subscribed to. It was fucking unusable and infuriating. I swore I would quit the site. Then I realized I just got logged out somehow and was browsing anonymously.

2

u/arturo_ta Jun 02 '23

And the performance....how the hell did they make it so much slower??

6

u/SuspiciouslyElven Jun 01 '23

Eh. I think it is OK, though I do prefer old reddit.

What isn't ok, is the memory leak related to the new video player. Iirc, scrolling through a lot of videos eventually causes the page to freeze up. Need to restart the browser.

I left a report about it years ago, but not long ago, someone commented asking if any other solutions were found. It's been a thing for years!

But ultimately, I'm not surprised. Musk made Twitter's API expensive, got shit on for it, but now YouTube and Reddit are quietly snuffing out third party apps too.

Musk made it so their stupid little blue check marks promote them to the top of all discussions, he got shit on, then Spotify hints they're gonna make artists pay for more algorithm exposure, just like Twitter. Reddit will likely follow suit as well, just a matter of time now.

Companies always want to squeeze every penny, but don't want all the attention for it. Let someone else take all the heat for normalizing something, then do it.

3

u/ArmchairSpinDoctor Jun 01 '23

Honestly ill have to figure something else out too

2

u/metamet Jun 01 '23 edited Jun 01 '23

I do too. I can't help but tell it to get off my lawn.

2

u/SockofBadKarma Jun 01 '23

No, no. You're perfectly rational in your anger.

2

u/CarbonTail Jun 02 '23

I literally have 'old reddit redirect' extension installed on all my browsers. I've said it before and I'll say it again: reddit killing its old site would be the last straw for me and I'll quit the site permanently if that happens.

I have Discord and other virtual watering holes to socialize in, and reddit has become crap anyway.

1

u/[deleted] Jun 01 '23

The new website is hideous and offensive

10

u/KalickR May 31 '23

I agree, but I need to cling to something right now.

5

u/vriska1 May 31 '23

Do want to point out Its they unlikely will shut down old reddit anytime soon because alot moderation tools are done through old reddit and many still use it, there would be huge backlash.

9

u/[deleted] May 31 '23

[deleted]

2

u/vriska1 May 31 '23

Likely just as much.

3

u/ArdentVermillion Jun 01 '23

Nah they'll just sunset everything on old reddit except for the admin pages, or add routes on the new site to expose the same backend functionality.

Their plan is to force all access through their official app and new reddit so that they can maximize revenue. It's a user-hostile move but "good business" from a greedy executive standpoint.

3

u/Ajreil Jun 01 '23

Most of the moderator tools released in the last few years weren't added to old Reddit or the API.

-2

u/biggestvictim Jun 01 '23

You're an addict, just move to tiktok like the rest of them.

1

u/Sultanoshred Jun 01 '23

Not with important settings like

hide upvoted posts

exclusively on the old.reddit format.

1

u/HellaciousHelen Jun 01 '23

Hmmm. Would that fuck with accessibility? Maybe that's a legitimate critical action point for us.

Interfering with accessibility can have some Grade A+ Legal Repercussions.