And just like that, all the other lemmy clients mean nothing to me. Just the handling of media posts is next level compared to the other guys.
That’s what I thought, but not keen on it having ads/subscription model. I’d be happy to pay one off but that isn’t available (at least yet). I understand the guy needs to eat, but right now I for me personally there isn’t a value add vs. the FOSS clients.
Remove ads option, not Ultra(subscription). $20 is a bit steep at first glance but… I used the reddit version for years. Gonna be gladly paying it once my Google Rewards account gets a bit closer.
It was something like $3.89 for the pro back in the days.
Sync Pro for Reddit cost $4.99 and had 100,000+ downloads. Total active Lemmy users is probably less than 100,000 users right now, and only a small fraction of them might consider buying a Lemmy app, so the price hike is understandable.
4.99 was when he raised the price. It was cheaper.
I understand the fact Lemmy has a smaller user basse. The new price is a bit too much. With a small user base, the competition is greater.
I paid $2 in 2013.
And at the beginning, it was like 1$. When you have the full history, it looks like another raise of the price.
I can’t stand ads or subscriptions. However sync has a one time purchase ad removal. To me it was worth it to support the development and make my lemmy experience more enjoyable.
As soon as I think of it as helping a dev out vs simply purchasing an app, it makes the price on things like that much easier to swallow (especially knowing it’s going to a person and not into some corporate bank account). I use Memmy for iOS myself and there isn’t a paid version of any sort yet, so I made sure to donate $20 to the dev as a thank you.
Yeah, I mean LJdawson needs to eat too. And $20 to support a small software dev (it’s literally just him) in return for… how many hours of scrolling? Seems fair to me.
Plus, IIRC he’s said he won’t be turning on the trackers anyway.
Not sure if it got updated, but at least I have one lff lifetime subscription possibility in the settings
It’s pretty expensive though
I, too, love intrusive tracking permissions and ads.
Oh, wait… no I don’t.
Just pay to remove the ads then, this disables all of that
Definitely worth the 20 USD
You want free. You want no ads. You want sustainable. You want a fairy tale.
… They said, on the ad free, FOSS free, free as in beer free, constantly updated and sustained platform.
Posted from my free, ad free, constantly updated, ‘fairy tale’ Android App.
But actually not free as in free beer. Someone is paying to sustain these instances.
Edit: this is the 2nd time I’ve seen the phrase “free as in free beer” today and decided to look it up because I hadn’t really taken notice of it before. I retract my statement and apologize. You used it perfectly and TIL, so thank you.
Upvoted not because you’re right, but because you realized you were wrong and will hopefully inspire others to look up the meanings behind phrases they read on the internet.
I also needed a refresher.
You can’t grow if you can’t admit to yourself that you’re wrong some of the time.
(งツ)ว
Don’t get ahead of yourself about sustainability. Let’s see how long free ad-free at scale lasts.
To be fair, the platform is not free, the instance admins pay for it. Also to be fair my instance currently only costs $7 a month, but that’s more than nothing.I hadn’t heard free as in beer free before, apologies, I was just being a pedantic ass.
Pedantic Ass is my middle name, so no worries!
I can’t hold it against a developer for wanting to be compensated for their time. It’s totally fair to want to get paid for your work. But there are already a number of growing apps that support the FOSS ideals of Lemmy so everything I’ve been seeing with Sync has just left a bad taste in my mouth.
Funded by an Open Source grant by NLNet
Just because you think something is free doesn’t mean it is.
Just because something receives funding doesn’t mean it isn’t free. I understand development has costs. Hosting has costs. But nobody is extorting payment for hosting or developing lemmy. As an end user, the service is free to use. That’s obviously what I’m referring to.
Until the grant runs out and new funding needs to be found. And when socialised funding become untenable they will turn to the users or the corporations. Nothing is free.
Asking for donations is, again, different than extortion. There’s a stark difference between a splash screen asking for funding to continue providing a free service and forcing ads and tracking in exchange for cash to operate on said FOSS platform.
Use a different app, nobody’s forcing you to use Sync.
Where was that implied at all?
Half my feed is filled with posts about Sync so I decided to finally respond to one. It was a popular app on Reddit for a reason, I’m sure, and I’m simply expressing my opinion on inviting ads and intrusive tracking to this platform.
I’m happily using Connect after using Jerboa for a month. Both work fine and Connect isn’t perfect but it’s been developed quicky with a lot of changes for user feedback, collects 0 data, has no ads, and offers the most important feature for me - the ability to filter keywords and block instances.
Where was that implied at all?
Reading all these threads about Sync makes me think about fanboys. The critics aren’t welcome.
It was a snarky comment and I replied in kind. Criticism is fine but I like Sync and don’t go around putting down other apps. I just use the one I like and support the developer.
Absolutely agree. Connect has come a long way since I left reddit when RIF died.
Wait what?
What has been added vs sync pro for reddit?
I was ready to drop a bunch of money to support the dev, but not if the app is loaded with tracking bullshit
The tracking is done by the ad SDK, not the app itself. The dev said the ad SDK will not be initialized if you purchase the one time ad removal option or subscription, so there will be no tracking at all. I actually confirmed this myself from my Adguard logs. No requests to ads and analytics domains after purchasing the subscription.
Nothing, same model as sync for reddit except no separate app available for pro or dev
I mean, it’s not like Threads but for me anything more than 0 data collection is too much. I saw it linked in another post so I can’t say exactly but you should be able to see specifically by finding it on your app store.
To be fair, the comments and posts you leave are technically being collected for display across the lemmyverse. In that sense, there’s never going to be a zero data collection Lemmy client. Still, Liftoff currently has my vote. A decent little FOSS fork of Lemur, I believe.
Indeed, for better or worse nothing here is private. My instance database has all user activity stored even from other instances, such is the nature of ActivityPub.
Sync for Lemmy doesn’t have trackers
KNOWN TO COLLECT
It doesn’t mean it’s collecting, DDgo is the worse app to do this, use the Exodus web
You said there are NO trackers and I see 146 tracking attempts. It doesn’t matter how much data they collect, what you said is not right. Even the dev said that trackers are disabled when you get the ad free version which implies that trackers do exist otherwise. I have no horse in this race but it’s hard to have a discussion when people use such definitive and inaccurate statements.
There’s no trackers
I used Sync Pro for years but I’ve found the connect app to be pretty close.
So yeah I’d probably have used sync for lemmy if it was priced similarly to the Reddit one but I’ve no interest in paying 10 times more to remove ads or any type of subscription.
The prices are super harsh. >€20 just to remove ads. €19/year for the subscription.
I get that they have much less potential users to spread their costs on, but that’s too much for the added benefit over e.g. connect.
Subscription for sync ultra. Extra features. To remove ads one time payment is coming afaik. And currently I don’t see a single ad with dns ad blocker. Not even the ad space.
That €20 is for remove ads. Update the app and check the sidebar
I got enough use out of Sync for Reddit that I figure I owe the guy $20.
Not a fan of the lifetime price for Ultra, but it is what it is.
I am on the free version and it looks and feels exactly the same as my sync pro for reddit.
I’m not seeing any ads on the free version lol where are they
I’m not seeing any either, but that’s because I have an ad blocker. But still, €20 for removing ads is a massive amount.
I’m not using a DNS ad-blocker and I’ve only seen two or three ads over hours on the service. I personally find that tolerable, but to each their own.
Yeah exactly. Sync pro doesn’t have any.
The prices are super harsh. >€20 just to remove ads. €19/year for the subscription.
114€ for lifetime ultra subscription
That’s more than I’d pay for an operating system.
I use a mobile browser and don’t see ads on Lemmy. Why plaster it with ads? What’s the benefit this app gives me?
This is just beta. The developer is bringing one time payment for removing ads.
Cool, that’s what I was looking around for
Everyone keeps talking like there isn’t a free version. I didnt pay anything to down load thus app. Did I get hidden charged or something?
It’s free but has ads unless you pay to remove them
The free version includes ads and trackers. Some people don’t want that.
The Connect app is awesome! Using it right now. Super happy with it!
Does the connect app have comment navigation to jump to parent comments? I couldn’t find it for weeks and I’m now using sync because it’s so polished.
Connect dev here and there is comment navigation between parent comments!
Now I feel home.
Absolutely. Lemmy had a very different feel than reddit up until Sync was released. Now I can barely tell the difference.
Yes. We are home!
So happy with Sync.
Me too! The mojo is back!
Take my money, dammit!
I like Sync, but honestly, I think I still prefer Connect.
Connect for me was just a placeholder until Sync got released. So happy it’s back
It has an amazing amount of customization. I have sync configured in a way that reminds me a lot of boost. The developer has left nearly all options available.
Boost is coming though, I’m holding out for it.
deleted by creator
Me either. Connect is good enough.
They’re both good. I can’t get into other apps like Infinity though. I just tried it and now I’m too used to the sleek look of Sync. Connect is very close in the race, and without ads it may as well be neck and neck.
That’s why we love options! 3rd party apps ftw
I’m alright with connect for now, Boost is the only one I’d pay for
Boost is the one I’m looking forward to with by far the most excitement. It was my favorite Reddit client. While I’d be happy enough with Sync, it was always 2nd to Boost for me and this launch and the extremely premium pricing haven’t left me with the best first expression.
I also have the feeling that ljdawson will be the first to cut their losses if the client doesn’t perform as expected on this platform, which makes me extra hesitant to dish out for 22€ or 115€ lifetime payments.
The pricing definitely seems steep to me for an ad free version of a phone app. I’m also holding our for boost although Sync seems like a pretty solid alternative for the moment. I haven’t been fully satisfied with many of the other apps except maybe Voyager
Connect is a decent client, but if dbrady ever releases Relay for Lemmy, I’ll jump on it.
dbrady is like the only Reddit dev that is staying with Reddit so I highly doubt it. Relay was also my app of choice, but Sync was #2 so it’s good enough.
Yeah, I know, but a guy can dream can’t he?
Boost gives me so much joy to use.
Is one of these free (license-wise) and open source?
A bunch of them are. The ones I know of: Jerboa, Thunder and Voyager. I am currently mainly using Voyager, its pretty nice
Edit: Removed Connect, as it is not Open-Source
I don’t think Connect is open-source. To my knowledge, it’s similar to Sync and Boost, a single developer working on the app as a passion project.
Oh sorry you are absolutely correct, for some reason I thought I also installed it through F-Droid. Too many Clients 😄
Also using voyager at the moment but it doesn’t feel quite right on Android as it was mostly based on Apollo for ios. Even with the slight android theming it’s still ios-like.
Thara true, but I really like its compactness and fluididity. Actually contributed a bit to Jerboa in the beginning, but its just a bit rougher around the edges than the newer clients that are now emerging.
I learned about Infinity today, will trial it out : https://codeberg.org/Bazsalanszky/Infinity-For-Lemmy
Yeah, installed it too, as it is not also available on F-Droid 😄
Boost won’t be, it was a buy once type deal with the reddit client he made
Can’t wait to launch the rocket! (ㆁωㆁ)
wut
Beetlejuicing
This is the 3rd app I have installed for Lemmy. I’m going to have to consider uninstalling one! (Connect, Voyager, and now Sync)
Connect has been my primary app so far. I do really like that Sync allows me to customize how posts look. I am a former RIF and old reddit user, and dislike large image previews. I am really happy I can have a larger headline and smaller preview image.
Connect was definitely my main before this. It is actually not terrible. It is aggressively okay even. Lots of nice features. But it just doesn’t feel as smooth as sync for some reason. Maybe it’s the language that it was coded in? I’m not sure why but sync just feels buttery.
Good thing. Liftoff would be an adfree and free alternative. But for those that loved sync, probably the only correct solution
I’m really digging Liftoff! It can use some customisation features, but it is pretty good as is. I think I will keep using it since the adfree price of sync is a bit too high for me.
Connect is much like Sync. In fact, I uninstalled Sync and went back to Connect.
I love Sync and will be using it going forward. But it’s really great that there are so many options for everyone.
I was disappointed it wasn’t on iOS, but once I saw that privacy policy I was kinda glad. Good on the dev for making a living, but jeeeeez
Care to elaborate?
Basically Google Ads.
So, nothing to be afraid of or be angry at
Pretty much, yeah. I see why many people are unhappy about it, but it’s nothing special.
For me the bigger issue is the price. Compared with the FOSS alternatives, Sync doesn’t offer a lot to justify it’s astonishing price point.
I understand that they have to recoup the development cost with a much smaller audience, but the high price point compared to the many great free options is just not worth it.
This, in the span of 30mins or less. It’s a major turnoff. I’ve considered getting the lifetime ad-free version but I’m not paying USD170 just for an app. Got to give credit where credit’s due though, Sync is hands down the best Lemmy app I’ve used so far.
What app did you use to monitor this?
It’s the App Tracking Protection function in Duckduckgo’s browser.
Removing ads is just 20$
The 170$ is to support the dev and for more extensive features
Where do I find the $20 option? That’s all I see on the android app.
It’s under your profile on the top left “remove ads”. Sync ultra removes ads too but is more expensive because it has extra features.
Ahhh ok thanks for that! I was looking in the wrong place all along. Wonder why dev didn’t just place this option in or at least next to Sync Ultra. I’ll probably hold out till I see what Boost has to offer first.
Sync was my go to reddit client, I’m beyond excited this is out already for Lemmy!!
I’ve been grinning like a kid on Christmas for the past half an hour
Now do Apollo for Lemmy!
Memmy has been a great fill-in, as has Lemmios. Memmy is probably a little further along, but both are definitely “Apollo-inspired” and both have been nice to use. Still some features missing that I have to come to the site for.
Voyager is basically that. It’s on test flight or as a PWA on Lemmy.world
It’s good but Apollo has a level of polish that won’t be replicated for a while. It looks like Apollo, but it doesn’t 100% feel like it. Apollo for Lemmy would still be better than all of our current options imo.
Hopefully the native version, coming soon, will be a bit smoother than the pwa and have better integration with the OS.
It’s probably the best pwa I’ve ever used, but it’s still a pwa. And the native version will still just be a wrapper on the pwa, but it has the potential to be better.
Still, Apollo was around for a while which means it’s had more time for polish, and it had a lot more users, which meant more support, motivation, and money for development, as well as more people to submit feature requests and bug reports.
Indeed. It was a native app and it was such a polished gem. Christian’s vision from the beginning was to make the perfect Reddit IOS app for Reddit and he made it happen.
Memmy is aiming to be Apollo for Lemmy.
Open-source and ad-free.
If only, perhaps the Apollo developer will do a Lemmy client in time, I think for now he’s taking a moment to himself. Memmy is a pretty good iOS client.
Relay for lemmy when
Probably never. The dev seems intent on keep drinking the reddit kool-aid and push subscription to users. It’s too bad, there is a gap for an app with the same polish for lemmy (although I have yet to try Sync)
sync is almost as polished as relay but it doesn’t have the look and feel of relay
(I’m a former relay pro user)
Awesome! Loving the app ecosystem on Lemmy. Choices for all!
This is the 20th post I’ve seen of this posted so far. And I shall uplemmy them all.
Is it libre and available on fdroid?
no and no.
