Reddit Client 'Apollo' Updated With Quick Switch Account Feature, Enhanced Subreddit Options, and More

Hey! I'm the nerd behind Apollo. Appreciate the kind words everyone and thank you so much MacRumors for covering it, seriously.

I’m confused about pricing. I paid the $2.99 back when it first came out. Are there now features I don’t have? And there’s an option to pay monthly? Who in their right mind would do that?

Sorry to confuse. Really appreciate the initial contribution. Long story short, there's a few features like push notifications that require a separate server with ongoing costs for me in order to provide (it's what the notifications are "pushed" from), which meant I unfortunately couldn't just bundle it in with Pro, as well there's ongoing monthly costs associated with servers. What you paid for (Pro) is still alive and well with more features coming, there's just a separate option now to help out with server costs.

Apollo is a decent reddit client, but Narwhal still holds for my preferred reddit client right now.

Apollo is just too expensive and I'm not yet convinced I should spend more money on it. I picked up Pro when it launched as I was interested in seeing where the app goes overall and I frequently ping pong between it and Narwhal to keep a good feel for it. I was hoping once Notifications were added I would get pulled into it the majority of the time, but Notifications came with Ultra and I don't like subscriptions (especially for a Reddit app), but $25 for Ultra Lifetime + $3 for Pro and you're at almost $30 for a Reddit app. Narwhal was $3 total and already has notifications.

$30 just feels like a lot for a Reddit app when compared to the rest which don't have a subscription model.

Narwhal is a fantastic app, I legitimately completely understand why you'd use it, Apollo's just another option I wanted to offer.

On the pricing front I wanted to clarity your points a bit. Narwhal offers fetch-based notifications based on iOS' Background App Refresh (Apollo will offer these as a free option as well soon). These aren't "true" push notifications, as instead of having a server send out notifications when they arrive, iOS instead periodically wakes the app up to check for notifications (a system called Background App Refresh), and then puts up an alert if there's anything new (Local Notifications). This on-device solution has the downside of affecting battery life (rather than push notifications that are completely on the server) and iOS disables them during Low Power Mode, and other downsides like how sometimes iOS will only wake up the app every few hours, so the notifications will be delayed, and a lot of those fetches and wake ups won't even result in a new notification being found if you're not super active on Reddit, so they're wasted network requests/battery usage.

So long story short those kind of notifications are great in that they have no associated costs as it's done completely on device, but there's a lot of downsides as well. I plan to offer both in Apollo but I wanted to offer "true" push notifications at first, but there's a small fee to cover associated monthly server costs that are required for it to work. And it's not really $25, it's $1/mo but if you want to unlock it for a lifetime it's $25, because you're basically paying for a ton of months of ongoing service up front. It's kinda like how Netflix isn't $6000, it's $10/mo they just don't have a lifetime option that would cost $6000 if they did. :P

Hope that clears it up a bit, I really try to be as reasonable with Apollo as I possibly can.

That’s what many of the early adopters including myself thought. It was a bait and switch. I deleted the app.

Bait and switch implies that one thing was advertised and you ended up getting something else. When you paid for pro you received the pro features. When ultra came out did your pro features go away?

Bait and switch implies that one thing was advertised and you ended up getting something else. When you paid for pro you received the pro features. When ultra came out did your pro features go away?

I'm surprised at how many people try to twist "bait and switch" to include anytime they FEEL they were wronged, even if they weren't actually wronged in any way. Pro Features are there, as they were from the beginning. This new push service is going to have a constant recurring cost for the developer, your $3 ($2.09 after Apple's cut) isn't going to help maintain that server.

Since this app is literally a reddit app, how have the complainers not seen all of the conversations at /r/apolloapp/? Christian literally involved the community at every point along the way, sought advice, and explained the walls and limitations he was hitting on bringing push notifications to the app. He involved the community when Apple pulled the app over notifications, when he was having issues with the number of polls the app was making for images, etc. I could understand this frustration if it was a big company with deep pockets, but this is only one man.

That’s what many of the early adopters including myself thought. It was a bait and switch. I deleted the app.

It's not a bait and switch. The free version will have notifications that don't use the (not-free-to-run) server; the feature just got bumped to the next version (1.5, maybe?) because some other bugs cropped up that needed fixing sooner. The developer has stated repeatedly that they are coming and yet people like you continue to whine.

Not everything is out to get you and not everything is a scam. You're just acting offended without basis.

I’m confused about pricing. I paid the $2.99 back when it first came out. Are there now features I don’t have? And there’s an option to pay monthly? Who in their right mind would do that?

That was back before there were notification support. He is running his own server for notifications which has an ongoing cost associated with it. I paid for the lifetime subscription, its more than worth it to me given the amount of time I'm on reddit. Also unlike the other poster, I don't think it's bait and switch.

This is hands down the best mobile Reddit experience.

I encountered a bug and reported it to the developer. The guy personally responded to be within 24 hours and said it would be fixed in the next update, which it was. If there’s one app I never regretted paying for, its this one.

I’m confused about pricing. I paid the $2.99 back when it first came out. Are there now features I don’t have? And there’s an option to pay monthly? Who in their right mind would do that?

I guess someone who gets a ton of value from the app and/or has enough money and goodwill to reward developers for their hard work with $. I understand what’s you’re saying, but there are people who spend hours a day, every day in Reddit. Some will pay for the best possible experience. $1/month is like $0.03 an hour if you use the app a mere an hour a day (and I’m sure many Reddit users do). Now imagine how many people spend $4 on a coffee which lasts 30 minutes.

I understand that. But I’m not seeing what everyone else is seeing in the app. I just wish at least one person that uses it would explain why they like it so much.

Personally I think the app is a great native experience, it’s simple and well made, which is why it’s popular. The Official Reddit app may be nice, but the connection that the Apollo Dev has with the community makes a big difference too. To me, it’s like buying from a small family business versus Walmart. Sure, I could get it cheaper at Walmart, but I could also pay a little more and get a well made product from the small business down the road, and sometimes that’s just what I’m looking for.

I’m begging - someone PLEASE explain to me why this app is so praised. I’ve tried it and I just don’t get it. I get all reddit features for free on the official app and I think the design is better and makes more sense. Why would I pay for an app that I can’t see having any benefits over any other app? I’ve posted this on numerous reddit threads and no one can ever explain to me why they like it over any other reddit app.

It's a preference thing, if you don't like it no one will be able to make you

Apollo is a decent reddit client, but Narwhal still holds for my preferred reddit client right now.

Apollo is just too expensive and I'm not yet convinced I should spend more money on it. I picked up Pro when it launched as I was interested in seeing where the app goes overall and I frequently ping pong between it and Narwhal to keep a good feel for it. I was hoping once Notifications were added I would get pulled into it the majority of the time, but Notifications came with Ultra and I don't like subscriptions (especially for a Reddit app), but $25 for Ultra Lifetime + $3 for Pro and you're at almost $30 for a Reddit app. Narwhal was $3 total and already has notifications.

$30 just feels like a lot for a Reddit app when compared to the rest which don't have a subscription model.