Diverse popular third-party apps for Reddit, such as Apollo for Reddit, are no longer functional due to the new – and much protested – Website API rules. Some of these apps have opted to charge users for access, while others have shut down altogether.
Apollo for Reddit and other 3rd party apps are shutting down
Christian Selig, the founder of Apollo, criticized Reddit for shutting down the app’s access to website content abruptly. He explained that it would cost him too much to keep Apollo running under the new rules. Selig had previously estimated that it would take $20 million a year to maintain the app. An unsustainable figure for the app.
Another popular app from Reddit, BaconReader, is no longer operational due to Reddit API changes. The same situation occurs with Sync for Reddit, who sent a closure notification to their users. Some third-party clients will still exist, but will start to charge users for accessing the API.
Relay for Redditfor example, has announced that it will switch to a subscription model in the coming weeks, trying to keep prices affordable for subscriptions. Reddit itself has announced that it will introduce subscriptions to cover the cost of accessing the API, though it hasn’t specified a launch date.
In April, Reddit announced that it would charge companies for API access starting July 1. This change has also affected third-party apps, leading communities to stage protests by making their subreddits private in mid-June.
While most subreddits have restored public access, some of the more popular ones have temporarily allowed explicit content to be posted as a form of protest. In fact, they hurt Reddit’s advertising revenue, since advertisers can’t target NSFW communities. Others protested by posting off-topic content – like the one about John Oliver. Reddit threatened to fire moderators who still reopened subreddits.