Popular Reddit App Apollo Shutting Down After Today, Pixel Pals Migration Feature Added

[MysticCow]

Reddit getting some additional marginal revenue for adds

It's a free to use site, just like MacRumors. Ad revenue is likely a big chunk of revenue. This is why targeted ads exist. You know the ones that know where you've been and tailor ads for you.

And so what if the userbase complains about ads? You simply offer "premium" membership that scrubs ads and you can price it however.

More than likely, the premium membership cost is a good percentage (85% sounds nice, doesn't it? LOL I know I'm making up numbers but I don't have their spreadsheets, sooooo) of what their yearly targeted ad revenue would have been. You trade in the trickle of their targeted ad revenue over the year for an instant cash injection, based on a percentage of their assumed targeted ad income for the year.

Let's assume the MacRumors $50 USD/year is not 100% of their targeted ad revenue per user per year. Again, I simply don't know. I don't have their spreadsheets and neither do 99.999999999999% of you. Let's also assume it represents around 85% of the assumed targeted ad income for any user for one year. So, per user, the targeted ad income is estimated to be $58.83 per year and I tend to always round up when dealing with currency issues. Other times, I do regular rounding rules.

There are 1,103,734 users as of this moment. So, fridge math gives $64,932,671.20 USD. This number is likely lower, as some users don't come here a lot. Some never come here anymore. Take that number as pure fridge math as the real world number is likely quite lower, maybe not even half of this number. Probably not even one tenth of this number. I personally feel the actual number is around one tenth, so $6,493,267.12 USD. So bear that in mind and don't start screaming.

Now before people jump and scream about any number, you now have to subract: server operating and mainenance costs (no matter if MR is privately hosted or hosted via third party), fully backed up servers if they host locally in case of disaster, staff salary (there has to be a staff member there somewhere to run the dang thing and I don't think it's just one ), employee perks (healthcare, retirement pension, etc), the utility bills which includes electricity through the roof if hosted locally, building maintenance (offices don't fix themselves) and/or rent and/or mortgage, having a lawyer on retainer in case of lawsuit (salary or contracted service), AND have an emergency fund for when times are tough.

That is not an exhaustive list. All of that adds up to what are likely equally unbelievable numbers. Reddit would work just like MacRumors, only on a larger scale.

 

[WarmWinterHat]

Meh, it's for the best. Reddit is like lead paint; a little bit won't hurt, but consuming it regularly will lower your IQ.

 

[TheYayAreaLiving 🎗️]

Final message. RIP 🪦 👋

 

[msackey]

Good. Apollo should stop freeloading off of Reddit's work.

And for those wanting to donate to Christian, just know he's using tear emojis in his tweets while laughing at the numbers of digits in his bank account.

You speak like Apollo does not also enhance Reddit by bringing more users into that forum space. You can't see it as just only Apollo benefitting off of Reddit. There's some exchange going on there, whether monetary or not. It's a bit naive to see it that way.

 

[AppleWatchGuy]

You speak like Apollo does not also enhance Reddit by bringing more users into that forum space. You can't see it as just only Apollo benefitting off of Reddit. There's some exchange going on there, whether monetary or not. It's a bit naive to see it that way.

I think it’s fair to say there is an exchange of value. It’s also very fair to say that either side of the party can stop the exchange at any point in time with 0 notice.

 

[shawnforever]

Reddit users turned to 3rd party apps because reddit's own app is shockingly appalling

Can you please inform me, heavy reddit user and someone who actually pays for premium, what exactly I'm missing?

Make it good.

I want to be shocked.
I want to be appalled.

Edit: 2.7 million ratings and the vast, vast majority are 5-stars. A couple reviews saying there are bugs, but I've never found the app buggy. At any rate, I think you guys are exaggerating things just a tad and your feelings aren't at all representative of the vast majority of users.

 

[njn007]

Edit: 2.7 million ratings and the vast, vast majority are 5-stars. A couple reviews saying there are bugs, but I've never found the app buggy. At any rate, I think you guys are exaggerating things just a tad and your feelings aren't at all representative of the vast majority of users.

I wouldn’t trust the reviews at all; they’ve never been moderated well, and many of the recent 5 star reviews are incoherent gibberish.

 

[tripsync]

You speak like Apollo does not also enhance Reddit by bringing more users into that forum space. You can't see it as just only Apollo benefitting off of Reddit. There's some exchange going on there, whether monetary or not. It's a bit naive to see it that way.

There's no evidence to show Apollo brought many users to Reddit. And even if there was, how do you know those users wouldn't have discovered and used Reddit even if Apollo didn't exist?

 

[tripsync]

Yes reddit provides the platform to allow people to post

Well yes, that's the core service reddit provides. All other commentary seems to diminish this point to suit their argument.

It's like whenever Twitter does something for money and users don't like it, users suddenly ask for monetary compensation for their tweets. Well no, you posted under the assumption you wouldn't get paid. If you don't like this change, simply leave. No drama needed.

 

[seek3r]

Good. Apollo should stop freeloading off of Reddit's work.

And for those wanting to donate to Christian, just know he's using tear emojis in his tweets while laughing at the numbers of digits in his bank account.

Freeloading? What, exactly, do you think a public API is *for*? Reddit benefitted massively from third party apps using the API - especially before they had their own reasonably decent apps, and the problem here isnt Sellig being unwilling to pay reasonable rates for API access, it’s that reddit’s announced rates are both absurd and were announced with little time for developers to adapt.

 

[wheezus]

Good. Apollo should stop freeloading off of Reddit's work.

And for those wanting to donate to Christian, just know he's using tear emojis in his tweets while laughing at the numbers of digits in his bank account.

How is it freeloading if it was a public API that Reddit allowed third-party apps to use? lol.

Also gloss over the fact that Reddit promised API rates will be reasonable and they won't go the Twitter route...which they lied about. Or that Reddit claimed Christian blackmailed them...but Christian had the foresight to record their conversation and again Reddit was caught w their pants down. That's just a few off the top of my head. Could care less about what they do with their API. But how they handled themselves in this debacle showed me they're a company that I can't trust.

 

[shawnforever]

Reddit benefitted massively from third party apps

“Massively.”

 

[seek3r]

“Massively.”

Legit question: can you tell me what you think an API is in your own words, and why a company publishes one? I suspect you don’t understand why this existed

 

[msackey]

There's no evidence to show Apollo brought many users to Reddit. And even if there was, how do you know those users wouldn't have discovered and used Reddit even if Apollo didn't exist?

I haven’t done a study as I also doubt that you did too. No evidence doesn’t disprove. One could surmise through deduction that it is likely that Apollo brought more users to Reddit by making the forum more accessible.

 

[jlc1978]

It's a free to use site, just like MacRumors. Ad revenue is likely a big chunk of revenue. This is why targeted ads exist. You know the ones that know where you've been and tailor ads for you.

Which is why I called it marginal revenue, i.e. some incremental revenue beyond the current. Unless 3rd party apps are a significant part of the user base used 3rd party apps, is likely to be a small amount relative to total revenue.

 

[tripsync]

How is it freeloading if it was a public API that Reddit allowed third-party apps to use? lol.

freeloading means: take advantage of other people's generosity without giving anything in return.

what did apollo give? there's no proof apollo brought more users to reddit or made reddit more popular as it's possible reddit would be practically the same today had apollo not existed at all.

lol

 

[tripsync]

I haven’t done a study as I also doubt that you did too. No evidence doesn’t disprove. One could surmise through deduction that it is likely that Apollo brought more users to Reddit by making the forum more accessible.

🤣🤣🤣🤣 That's not how the argument works. It's not my job to prove what doesn't exist. You're the one suggesting Apollo brought something meaningful for Reddit when it's entirely possible Reddit would be relatively the same today had Apollo not existed.

"You speak like Apollo does not also enhance Reddit by bringing more users into that forum space"

You need to prove that without Apollo, reddit wouldn't relatively have had the same amount of users into that forum space. How do you know the majority of Apollo users would have simply used mobile web or the official app had it not existed as a possibility? Fact is, you don't. So you can't make that assertion.

 

[msackey]

🤣🤣🤣🤣 That's not how the argument works. It's not my job to prove what doesn't exist. You're the one suggesting Apollo brought something meaningful for Reddit when it's entirely possible Reddit would be relatively the same today had Apollo not existed.

"You speak like Apollo does not also enhance Reddit by bringing more users into that forum space"

You need to prove that without Apollo, reddit wouldn't relatively have had the same amount of users into that forum space. How do you know the majority of Apollo users would have simply used mobile web or the official app had it not existed as a possibility? Fact is, you don't. So you can't make that assertion.

Sorry, I don't need to prove anything to you. It's logic through deduction from observation of both how forum users on Reddit have responded and how others in other social media spaces respond. While it's not proof, it's deductive logic. You began by indicating that Apollo is freeloading, suggesting that it brings no value to Reddit's space. I'm stating that it does bring value. Both, Apollo and Reddit benefit from each other.

If you think this form of argument -- deductive logic -- requires a certain kind of proof, then the burden would also be on you to prove that Apollo is freeloading on Reddit. By definition, "freeloading" means taking advantage of without giving anything in return. I contest that Apollo doesn't bring any value to Reddit's space. Per your logic, you'd have to prove that Apollo brings no value.

 

[bgillander]

freeloading means: take advantage of other people's generosity without giving anything in return.

what did apollo give? there's no proof apollo brought more users to reddit or made reddit more popular as it's possible reddit would be practically the same today had apollo not existed at all.

lol

Believing that using a free API is freeloading is such an interesting paradox.

 

[Abazigal]

There's no evidence to show Apollo brought many users to Reddit. And even if there was, how do you know those users wouldn't have discovered and used Reddit even if Apollo didn't exist?

I am one of those who discovered Reddit via the Apollo app (can’t recall if it was being promoted by Macstories or TheVerge), though I am just one sample size. I don’t know if it’s just me, but Reddit is an absolute slog to use on my Mac, with the webpage being extremely slow to load. I used the stock app for a short while, and it was very bland and unappealing for me.

I don’t know if these are core functionalities in the Reddit app, but I appreciated the little touches in Apollo, like the ability to easily quote replies, or upload photos to Imgur, or even the fancy widgets that made it extremely easy for me to jump into my Reddit of choice from my homescreen. This shows a level of care for the end user experience that you simple don’t see in the stock corporate apps.

I can speak from personal experience that I probably wouldn’t have used Reddit if not for the Apollo app, and I have since stopped using it.

It was a similar experience with Tweetbot. I created a Twitter account early on, but was never a fan of the website or their app which was extremely slow to support the latest iOS features. Tweetbot was what made the Twitter experience tolerable for me, so I was sad to see it go as well.

In a sense, this embodies why I am an Apple product user. Many people like to knock on Apple devices for being overpriced and how a cheaper alternative fulfils the same purpose as well. What they don’t seem to understand is that it’s very often not just what my Apple devices let me do, but also how I perform those tasks that make all the difference, and why I don’t see myself going back to windows or android anytime soon.

Consider this my final tribute. 🫡

 

[DaveCPA]

I’m here because of the Apollo shutdown. I left Twitter because of the third party shutdown. Im leaving Reddit and the five communities I moderate for the same reason.

 

[tripsync]

Sorry, I don't need to prove anything to you.

Sounds like we're done. There is no point in me continuing this with you. Have a good one. 👋

 

[tripsync]

I am one of those

Great, however "I am one" one does not make the majority (like you said, one sample) but let's continue.

who discovered Reddit via the Apollo app

Are you certain that you would have never discovered Reddit had Apollo never existed? Impossible to say but IMO very unlikely.

I can speak from personal experience that I probably wouldn’t have used Reddit if not for the Apollo app

"Probably" well it's hard to say if that's genuine now that Reddit left a bad taste to everyone that liked Apollo.

I've probably seen at least a hundred tweets saying they would leave if Elon bought Twitter. Now that Elon bought Twitter, those people are still on the platform. So forgive me if I don't believe what you're saying.

Here are few big twitter accounts that are still active on Twitter:

https://twitter.com/x/status/1583750952389029888

https://twitter.com/x/status/1593442760748683265

https://twitter.com/x/status/1604654113916039173

 

[shawnforever]

Legit question: can you tell me what you think an API is in your own words, and why a company publishes one? I suspect you don’t understand why this existed

Nope!

Can you tell me how Apollo was a "massive" part of Reddit's business? I suspect you cannot.

 

[bgillander]

Nope!

Can you tell me how Apollo was a "massive" part of Reddit's business? I suspect you cannot.

You can argue that they were or were not a benefit to their business, but if they weren’t a massive part of their business, this would not even be in the news, and certainly wouldn’t have multiple threads with people taking sides arguing.