I have about 5 different apps installed right now, and while I plan to test them all out, curious what people’s conclusions are thus far.
The moment I tried Sync for Lemmy I have this feeling of closure, like I finally can make peace with the fact that I’m leaving Reddit behind for good after using it for 13 years (8 years of those on Sync). The only thing that top this is the first time I saw federation in action where people from various lemmy, kbin and mastodon instances talk to each other in the same thread and deciding to jump ship on the spot.
Yeah, man. I’m with you and I’m incredibly pleased. My old experience I’ve enjoyed on reddit for years is finally back and is functionally identical, at least for the basics I missed so much.
I found all of the prior Lemmy apps to either be missing something, clunky, or buggy. The one I liked most was Voyager/Wefwef, but even then it was missing stuff.
Now Sync is in beta and has bugs, but thanks to past development from Reddit it’s already so much more polished than all the others, my Lemmy usage has gone up considerably, I’ve barely touched Reddit today. It does have ads, but they aren’t visible when using DNS Adblocking.
What’s this DNS adblocking thing that everyone has been talking about lately?
Basically, whenever you make a request to access something from the internet (say, an ad image), it goes to a dedicated server that tells you “Where actually do I find www.website.com” (the answer is, you find it at address 128.129.130.1, this is the IP address). This is the DNS server.
If you tell your phone to use an ad-blocking DNS server - Instead of “normal” ones like e.g. those provided by Google - , whenever it receives such a request to find the address for you, and the address leads to a server that serves ads, it tells you, “Sorry, nothing found here” and the add is not displayed.
Phones, at least Android, have a setting where you can change the DNA server to an ad-blocking one (a different IP of that server).
Examples are nextdns (cloud hosted) or pihole (self hosted).
Sync has always been a superior UI/UX to anything else.
And I’m happy to pay $20 for the developers work. Ads would barely pay him anything anyway.
I feel like all you lemmings are getting way too hung up on the whole ads = spyware thing. It’s not the app that’s the issue, it’s the ad platforms - and those platforms are how he makes money. Don’t like it? Pay $20 for a lifetime without ads.
Sync is good because it’s a full time job for the Dev. That means the guy needs money to survive. I’m more than happy to help towards that, so I can have a better experience.
I used sync for Reddit for a loooong time, $20 is nothing compared to the value I’ve gotten out of it.
i wouldn’t have a problem to pay 20$ flat to support the dev … its a lot of time doing and maintaining an app
for now i dont see a reason to switch from voyager which shocks me bc i never thought a webapp could feel “that native”
the problem i see if i wanted to switch to sync ist, that without a google account i couldnt pay which basically kills it for me personally.
That’s an absolutely understandable point of view.
I’m just disappointed in the people who seem to think they deserve everything for free.
Of course you can use free apps, that’s fine! It’s great to have options.
Personally I enjoy the experience of using sync compared to the other apps on my phone (my own activity within Lemmy has spiked since it’s release!) And for that reason I’m happy to support its development.
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But that is 6$ a month. Not a flat ad free forever 20$ you are comparing apples to oranges.
Also Elon musk vs one dev lol
Thats because twitters business was advertisement and Musk fucked up one of the most important features for brands. Had they offered twitter premium in addition to verification that got you more features like youtube premium does that would have been fine.
If you can’t tell the difference between a small developer and god damn twitter, idk what to tell you other than I guess you do your job for free because paying people for their tallent is bad apparently.
Sync is the only reason i am on lemmy.
Been using sync for years now and it’s just a great app.
It runs so smooth, very clean looking, easy to read, highly customizable, tablet mode, dev is always updating and adding in requested features from the users.
Small features that make the app stand out like sharing a setting from the settings menu that will take you straight to it:
Settings shortcut: Comment options > Display navigation bar
Used connect and liftoff before and on Reddit RiF but for me sync is just the best.
I’m a Sync guy, it has the best scrolling performance on my shitty low end phone. I’ve tried other apps but all of them still have stutters during scroll but Sync still manages to keep smooth.
I’ve tried Connect, Liftoff, Thunder, Voyager, and Infinity. It’s just bugs galore. The back button will take you to the wrong activity, comments won’t post (due to the app not the instance), some instances or accounts won’t load, and a laundry list of UI or functionality bugs. Liftoff gave me the fewest issues of all of them, apart from using Lemmy in the browser.
But Sync really is polished, and the experience is night and day. I’m a big FOSS proponent, but I don’t think it’s wrong for a developer to want to make money when their income source suddenly disappears and they need to pay bills (and region-specific pricing is coming soon). The level of customizability, spit and polish in the other apps doesn’t even come close. I’m sure they’ll get there eventually, but I think it’s a mistake to drive away passionate developers who want to help Lemmy succeed.
I’ve given pretty much every app or browser front-end a fair shake at this point, and I’m gladly choosing Sync for now.
The amount of bitching I’ve seen on Lemmy over paying the developer for their hard work has been insane. I was happy to pay the measly fee for ultra. This isn’t in response to you, just the general vibe I’ve seen here. I thought we had a more tech-minded space where people might understand the need to monetize these things, but that doesn’t seem to be the case lol
measly fee for ultra
you have to take into consideration that not all people have your level of pay, your quality of life and so on. That ‘measly fee’ is two day’s pay for some and they can’t afford that. Yes, I understand that the dev has to make a living, but I think it’s a bit expensive. And I was paying for Sync (for reddit) since the beginning. I even got Pro for my wife, who didn’t use it at all, just to help LJ.
Okay, people who can’t afford two dollars per month to pay for something that they use every day are welcome to use another app, or deal with occasional ads. That’s the thing, there’s a variety of different app choices. The bitching comes off as “I love this app but I want to use it without paying for it or dealing with ads” more than anything else.
The other apps are not free to dev and maintain either. You got to give what you can.
I agree. I will donate to liftoff and summit. I feel better when I use open source software.
It’s not about paying the Developer. It’s about paying the developer that much. $20 just to remove ads is a lot and a price people are not willing to pay
They’re welcome to use whatever other app they want, or deal with ads. Options abound. I seriously doubt the sync for lemmy dev is swimming in cash. We’re not talking about shoveling money at a company like reddit, we’re talking about supporting a solitary, highly trusted dev who’s worked hard to create a great app.
you fail to realize that the dev barely did any work to the app, it’s literally a direct port from reddit to lemmy, yet he’s recharging people money at a very steep price too and he’s running ads on the app when the official lemmy site has NO ads nor does it’s official app Jerboa.
Lmfao recharging people money. Base sync for reddit was free and then you could pay like $5 for lifetime support. Sorry the dev is looking to be compensated for his work, I know $2 per month is a “very steep price.”
Use Jerboa.
I think I might have felt differently at a stage of my life where I didn’t have nearly as much disposable income as I do now.
Over the past few years, I’ve adopted the attitude of trying my hardest to pay for the things that I would be genuinely disappointed if they went away.
I have system-wide ad block, so the $20 or whatever for Sync actually bought me nothing other than the knowledge that if LJ decides to pack up Sync and go and work for a FAANG instead, I don’t need to feel guilty.
This attitude would be unrecognisable to my younger self.
I agree with you. I think it’s a lot of kids with summer jobs doing the complaining. I’ve got system wide ad block too, I paid for ultra purely to support LJ because he’s earned that trust, and then some, over the years.
It’s not just about Sync being the only app with ads or the fee to remove them (whether one thinks it’s steep or not is apparently up for debate – I find $20 steep for a mobile app, full stop).
It’s also about the fact that Lemmy is a FOSS system that requires independent instances to run. These instances incur costs. I hope that the people paying $20 to remove these ads are also donating to their home instances. If that isn’t happening, we need better messaging to users: paying to remove ads on an app does not support Lemmy itself or any individual instances, though the app and its popularity puts strain on those instances.
I get the idea of paying a dev for their work if you like it – though mandating it vs. relying on donations is a difference between Sync and pretty much everything else. However, it seems strange that the people pushing to support this single dev who happened to chose an ad model aren’t equally pushing for people to support their instances. Sync is useless if everyone just pays to remove the ads but doesn’t donate to help with the costs of running this platform, and I wonder how many people who came to Lemmy on the heels of the Sync release actually know that.
I agree with you that we need better messaging to users about instance donations. For the record, I’d also support instance admins who employ an “ads or pay a fee” model. I think it’s probably the best option for larger instances. I doubt purely donation based models will be sustainable over time.
If anything, I think LJ missed a trick by not having the option of doing a double subscription (so £3.99), and saying the extra £2 gets split between the instances, weighted by the time you spend time on them.
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Sync user here. It’s the reason that I found reddit usable. The effort that has gone into creating and refining the app is evident. I like it better than the the other apps, because it feels like home to me. I also enjoy the concept of u/spez unintentionally spotlighting lemmy, and literally tossing over the very best that reddit had to offer. Sync is just one of several excellent options already here, or on their way.
The free apps are anywhere from very good to very work in progress. I like Connect the best from what I’ve used. I expect that they will all improve over time, and have noticed improvements over a short length of time.
I actually enjoy the controversy/buzz over pricing, pricing models, privacy, and so on. This is mostly because I’m petty,and believe that all of this is hastening reddit’s demise.
Jerboa is open source and has been working perfectly fine for me.
I tried it, but doesn’t it feel a bit unpolished to you?
I’m using Voyager and even though it’s a web app, it feels so great.
Not at all… But it’s the only client I’ve tried. I honestly don’t trust closed source, so I guess I’m stuck here. Perfectly fine for me so far.
Voyager is open source :) you can find the source on GitHub
I tried it but it just wouldn’t load for me, it kept crashing.
Sync, I know there’s some people complaining about the prices. But I rooted my phone and use a system adblocker.
I’m using sync and I don’t see any ads. I have not rooted or anything.
I also did not see any ads, but today, I paid for ads removal nevertheless, just to support the development. I hope, Sync for Lemmy will go a long way similar to Sync for Reddit.
I’ve got an ad blocker built into my router, so in sync I only see the empty blocks where an ad would be. I’m still trying all the different apps, hopefully one if the open source ones become better. What I like a lot about sync is the gesture based up/down voting. Not sure if anyone else has that yet.
Which adblocker do you use?
Voyager.
I’ve just installed the native app, and it’s pretty snappy, definitely my favorite Lemmy app.
I fell in love with the webapp first and now I like the android native app!
Same here! Two things I like more on Sync as of now: So many useful options how things look and behave (seriously, the amount of options is insane!) and the list view (I hate the card view, always have, alway will!) is smaller and uses the available space slightly better imo. But I have a good feeling Voyager will improve immensely considering how good it got in the past months.
Voyager already has an option to have a list instead of cards :)
Settings > Appearance > Post size.
Yeah, I know! It’s just that the list view in Sync is even more smaller. Not by a lot but noticeable to me.
Infinity, because it’s the best FOSS option in my opinion
I’m using Sync, while waiting for Boost.
Same here.
Sync is far superior to the other apps so far, even with some features missing in the beta. I was using Liftoff, which is good, but not even close to the polish of sync.
Sync. It was the exclusive way I browsed Reddit. Having foldable support day 1 was a big push. I have no issues with supporting the developer for an app I’ve been using for well more than a half decade now.
