Holy shit y’all. Developers need to eat too. It’s totally fine to charge for an app or serve ads. LjDawson is a fantastic developer and really listens to his user base. Yes there are plenty of open source apps to use, but sometimes closed source is way more polished because the developer makes it their job to create the app. Living isn’t free. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Free as in freedom. Not free beer.
You lost this fight decades ago
Holy shit y’all. Developers need to eat too. It’s totally fine to charge for an app or serve ads.
You might be forgetting that these same developers refused to simply put in a subscription to their reddit apps to continue them, instead closing their apps and telling everyone to move to lemmy because that’s where their app will be…and now adding huge subscription fees and one-off fees on a platform that doesn’t charge them to use their API lol.
Maybe I’m just cynical but this really seems like the dollar signs lit up in the reddit app devs eyes the second reddits API changes got announced.
Okay let’s do the math. According to here there is expected to be about 55.79 million folks using reddit daily. Let’s say a good 5 million folks use Sync. Now, reddit said it would charge $0.24 per 1000 API calls. You can find that here. Now 1000 calls isn’t much at all really. Let’s say those 5 million folks just 1000 API calls a day ( they wont’ actually use ONLY 1000 ). So we have 1000 * 5,000,000 * 0.24 = $1,200,000,000. That’s per day. Does that seem sustainable to you? Like if folks were using MUCH MUCH less I could see your point. But the fact is…they weren’t and reddit were being assholes about it. Now compare that to what he’s charging. $17 bucks for a year. Let’s break that down and compare it to what he’d be paying per day. Say all 5 million users were paying for Ultra. That’s 5,000,000 * 17 = $85,000,000. Divide that by 12 to get per month. 85,000,000/12 = $7,083,333 per month. Divide by 30 for average revenue per day. $7,083,333/30 = $236,111. Now tell me that even comes close to $1,200,000,000. Your logic is flawed. This doesn’t even account for fees and possible server costs.
Let’s say those 5 million folks just 1000 API calls a day ( they wont’ actually use ONLY 1000 ).
Correct - 99% of those people will use nowhere near 1000 API calls a day. Each persons subscription only has to cover the costs of their API usage.
A $5/month subscription, at $0.24/1000 api calls, gives each user just under 21,000 API calls per month. Most people aren’t going to be doing anywhere close to that.
This doesn’t even account for fees and possible server costs.
Sync doesn’t need any server costs. It’s not hosting an instance of Lemmy.
Also your maths is off by 1000x lol. The cost would be 1.2mil a day, not 1.2bil a day. You’re multiplying by 1000 for some reason, when the $0.24 already gets you 1000 api calls. So if all 5 million used 1000 calls per day, that’s 5 million x $0.24, which is $1.2mil.
They would actually use much more. See [here] ( https://www.reddit.com/r/redditdev/comments/141mjij/lets_talk_about_those_api_calls/). Basically almost everything is an API request. Just loading a post and doing very little you have close to 33 requests. Even if my math was wrong it’s still way too much to pay for per day. Especially if folks are using much more that 1000 API calls per day.
Just loading a post and doing very little you have close to 33 requests.
No you don’t. You can open Reddit and open a post with ~3:
1 for getting the posts on your front page
1 for checking your messages.
1 for getting the comments on a post.
Where are you getting “close to 33 requests from”? That post that says they’ve done “very little” and used 33 calls? Ah yes, because everyone “checks who the mods are +1” every time they log in to reddit. Every single user is a mod who checks their modmail (+1).
BTW I know how API’s work, I’m a web developer. Most people will not go anywhere close to using 1000 API calls a day.
Okay so say I believe you. Why do you think a large majority of third party devs shuttered their projects they worked on for so long if it was just as easy as adding a subscription fee? Why didn’t more of them do it? I know of one that actually implemented a subscription. If folks were actually doing much less than 1000 API calls daily then you’d think most devs would have gone that way right?
And it’s a one-time fee.
I used Sync for Reddit for 11 years.
Jesus, the absolute entitlement in this thread. Can everyone just chill until the app is out of the beta version? Some of us are fine with seeing ads until the lifetime fee is available, and some of us are fine paying a subscription until the lifetime fee is available. If you’d rather not use the app until then don’t, but trashing the dev for getting paid while he works endlessly to create the sync experience for us is so ignorant and childish.
Sync is by far the best user experience app for lemmy that’s available for Android, just as it was for reddit, and it’s worth the wait and the price until the pro version is available.
I hope the dev ignores the whiners and focuses on those of us that get it. How demotivating to see people run their mouths when they dint know what they’re talking about.
I’m sorry. I get a developper needs to eat but 100+ dollars for the lifetime is absolutely outrageous. That is more than some AAA games on release.
Yeah, fuck him. Long time paying and vocal supporter here. I’ll get the cracked version on Mobilism when it’s released
For some people, that’s the price they paid for their entire low/mid-range Android phone.
Contains ads
ಠ_ಠ
We lose some we gain some.
That was the case with the original Sync, no surprise here.
Although there was the option to purchase Pro as a one-time fee. This one unfortunately only has a subscription option (which I’m not too keen on).
Edit: ljdawson has confirmed there will be an one-time payment options for both Ultra and ad removal!
Screw subscriptions. They’re invariably a rip off and I’m not made of money.
Same… I rarely buy apps. I’m definitely not subscribing to something.
And not to an app to browse a social network, when there’s free alternatives without ads
It’ll probably have a one time fee option. The dev must know that not everyone will want to pay a subscription. I paid for removing ads on Sync for Reddit and I’ll happily do it again, so hopefully there will be an option of just removing ads. I don’t use either Lemmy or Reddit enough to justify paying a subscription, even though I really respect the dev.
Afaik a one-time-purchase to get rid of the ads is planned.
I haven’t seen any… Yet
I’ve only noticed it on the ‘slide’ view mode so far.
I just switched and saw it immediately. What a disappointment :(
Not interested in something that supports ads or subscriptions. It definitely doesn’t fit the ethos or average desires of most lemmy users from what I understand.
The free and open source applications for lemmy are working out for me, so I really have no need for something like this that goes against what I believe lemmy stands for
Sometimes you have to pay for keeping things free, if that makes any sense.
FOSS can’t exist in a vacuum. The developers spend a lot of time on things and they need to be paid for their efforts, otherwise we won’t get great products like Sync.
If you want things that are well maintained and supported, then there has to be income for those owners to provide those services.
Sync for lemmy is a top tier client. I’m willing to pay to get and support that model. It’s not like the 17 dollars a year is a big deal. I spend more than that on a single sushi roll sometimes.
You can donate to keep the quality. I agree the ads based system is against the spirit and philosophy of Lemmy. Lemmy isn’t a reddit and this is where the dev of sync did a mistake.
Donating isn’t the only possibility. The dev could make the app a one time payment (I know he said it will come) without free version. If people want to use Sync, they have to pay for it. It’s for the job and hours behind it.
That’s true. But does not change my opinion or preferences. But the choices I have at the moment I suppose, is remain with the current application I am using (which is adequate and serving me well), try out an ad based application, and choose to pay to get rid of the ads. I am at a point where my choice of remaining where I am is the most appealing.
You do you. People who have used Sync in the past know what you’re missing out on.
Ads or it tracking us ?
Ads or subscription.
Yeah, I’ll stick with Thunder. Having used Lemmy and Mastodon, I realised how much I hate ads.
Yup that is a real rough pill to swallow when the default is free AND no ads. If I’m going to drop money on lemmy I’d rather just donate to whoever is hosting my instance.
Storing data usage, personal ads, 21.99€ just to remove ads or a subscription model.
I’m a dev myself and I get that everyone needs to be compensated, but right now I have only one thought:
“You either die a hero or live long enough to become the villain.”
$170 AUD for a lifetime “ultra” license.
Absolute farce of a price
I honestly can’t believe what I’m seeing on Lemmy RE: Sync. Lemmy itself doesn’t have ads, neither do the iOS apps that I’ve been using - Memmy (which is AMAZING) and Liftoff, yet here comes Sync injecting ads in and having absurd subscriptions or one time fees…and I’m seeing comments about people “crying because I’m so happy” and “can’t stop smiling” lol.
Seems the reddit app devs who made their millions off the back of reddits free content are now coming here and just going straight to reddit 2.0 money making mode lol. They’re now charging people to use their app that is using a free API. These are the same devs that chose to close their reddit apps completely instead of offering a subscription model that would pay for the api access. Make it make sense.
It’s worth noting they did already have a subscription model in place with Sync for Reddit. The difference would’ve been in losing the ad-supported free version of the app due to the API changes.
And instead of just making it subscription only he decided to kill the entire app…to then come here and milk the Lemmy crowd and show them ads lol.
Reddit was the one who killed the app by implementing the API changes (it actually killed a number of apps earlier than expected that day).
No, what killed the app were the devs choosing not to switch to a subscription-only model.
Loving the Foss spirit of Lemmy so far reading the comments
Yeah proud of my fellow users
https://lemmy.world/comment/1975537
Looks like the Dev is looking to add a lifetime option and an option to remove ads in the future.
Beta update released within the last hour adds the option for lifetime ad removal.
Where? I can’t see it in the Ultra section??
Update
Found it.
£12.99
The option is available by clicking your profile icon and selecting ‘remove ads’.
I was wondering what was up with the ads consent things. The reason I switched to Sync in the first place was to get rid of ads on Reddit…
I am testing it out now. It seems really good.
it has ads.
and you can’t post.
but otherwise I agree.
I did post.
weird, I haven’t seen any ads yet
Interesting! Here’s what it looks like for me:
I can’t post?
i couldn’t post.
if it’s your first time using sync…open new window is a great feature for muti tasking subbed list…look at your subscriber list, press the 3 dots and open in new window will appear, you can open a subbed community entirely in a new window
Lol! The choice is ads or a SUBSCRIPTION!?
My friend, we know other 3rd party Reddit app developers are working as fast as they can to make lemmy apps. One of them is bound to have a one-time pro version upgrade. I’ll hold out for that.
LMAO … Subscriptions. Why on earth do you think we left Reddit?!
I left Reddit because Spez is an asshole and he killed third-party API access (which, btw, impacted more than just clients - many useful bots/scripts died too as a result of this change).
For many of us, Sync was Reddit, and killing Sync basically killed Reddit for us, but now that Sync is back (for Lemmy), many of us are more than happy to pay a subscription to support the dev, instead of supporting Reddit. ljdawson is an awesome developer who actually listens to his users and updates his apps regularly. If you don’t want to support him and/or use a different app, that’s your call of course, but for fans of Sync, it’s like coming back home after a long time and getting that feeling of “there’s no place like home”.
What?? Ads is the first thing I see… My dude have you seen your competition? Thunder’s latest update is amazing zero ads. Why would I change?
I installed it, used it for 5 mins and uninstalled it to go back to Thunder.
I’ve always loved sync, but just checked thunder. Almost immediately uninstalled as on default settings the ui is way too cramped and lacks contrast with all posts blending to each other. Very hard to read for me. I guess you could make it better by fiddling with the settings, but I just went back to go sync where it’s already very good on default settings and I was able to make it perfect for me just by changing a couple of settings.
Edit: downvote as much as you want lol, it’s just my opinion. Good to know that Lemmy is just like reddit with opinions ;)
Already very good on default? The text size on default is tiny so straight away I was in the settings looking to enlarge font size for posts and comments
You do you! To me, yes this is the perfect font size.
It’s full of personalized profiling too. Hard pass from me.
The competition is nowhere near as good tho
I disagree, I prefer the ux of thunder. Sync is good, I found the spacing between posts to be very awkward on the smaller list like options though.
Long time Sync user and Ultra (lifetime).
Now I am really disappointed the lifetime membership isn’t transferable to Lemmy. Nothing. Not even a discount, a note, nothing.
My God, I missed Sync so much. Devs , thanks.
Yes it contains ads. I’d rather have a single purchase.
But, DNS adblocking does remove the ads, just leave a grey box. It’s also definitely far more polished than any of the other Lemmy apps right now.
Oh I thought it wasn’t implemented. I forgot I have dns ad blocking :) :)
But this app is worth paying for if you like it. It’s also very cheap, something like 3 dollars or less per month.
