r/redditisfun • u/talklittle RIF Dev • May 31 '23

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

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.

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u/Ghawblin May 31 '23

I have been using RIF for nearly a decade. It has been THE ONLY way I use Reddit, aside from the occasional old.reddit on desktop.

Thank you for the last decade of support on this. I, along with many long-time users, will probably quit Reddit due to this change.

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u/futuramalamadingdong May 31 '23

Yup. Exact same boat here. If RIF is dead, I'm done with reddit.

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u/quantummidget Jun 01 '23

People often say this when big change occurs, but in this case it may actually be true, at least for me. I'll probably still occasionally browse reddit on PC, but that makes up a small percentage of my reddit time.

It's not as if the change to my mobile app is just some new release that we'll all get used to. I imagine that all of us have tried the official app, found it lacking, and moved to the better alternatives. Unless there are some major changes to the official app, I can see this change causing a notable downtick in users.

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u/zaminDDH Jun 01 '23

People often say this when big change occurs, but in this case it may actually be true, at least for me. I'll probably still occasionally browse reddit on PC, but that makes up a small percentage of my reddit time.

I could see intentionally getting on for a specific discussion, it is very good at cultivating very niche communities, but my days of just casually scrolling could very well be over. All the other app experiences I've tried have been awful.