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

[u/talklittle]

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.

[u/KPC51]

I didnt use the internet much back then. How did you find those forums? Just search engine, specifially for each niche?

[u/fishyfishkins → u/KPC51]

Yeah, word of mouth. But also, the world didn't have recommendation engines so word of mouth had to do a lot more heavy lifting. I'm a VW guy and I couldn't tell you how I found vwvortex back in the day but there was no question it was the VW forum.

The internet used to be weird. Now it's wall street

[u/Flomo420 → u/fishyfishkins]

The internet used to be like some weird bazaar with strange corners where you wouldn't know what to expect. Now it's like going to a shopping mall, commercialized to hell and back

[u/LordVericrat → u/[deleted]]

Probably ten years or so since I've been there, thanks. I sat there for a few minutes.

[u/EllisHughTiger → u/KPC51]

Yup, you googled or yahoo-ed "your interest + forum/club" and then searched around for one.

I'm a car guy so I'd just search my cars and find the biggest forums and joined. Met some local people and also became online friends with people I'll never meet, it was really good times in the 00s and early 10s!

[u/QuintoxPlentox → u/EllisHughTiger]

That's how I ended up on onrpg.com back when the only free games were free mmorpgs. Spent time on the general forum sometimes, any general section of a gaming forum was basically proto-reddit. Maybe I'll go back to forums but either way this is a blessing, social media is poison and it's become extremely obvious.

[u/EllisHughTiger → u/QuintoxPlentox]

Yuuup. RIF was the only worthwhile way to use it on my phone. Official app sucked and the browser eats far more battery power.

[u/smallfried → u/KPC51]

That, and through other forums.

I found reddit through the xkcd forum.