I paid for ad free because I want to help support this app and the developer.
However, I feel it's going to be very hard for me to convince others to use Sync. I am a long time user and so I have loyalty and I understand the benefit and so the money is worth it to me. It's also a nice way for me to give back after a decade of Sync for Reddit.
But I'm not sure I can convince newer folks with this price point.
That said, the app is great and I love it. Keep it up!
I try Sync since it got released, so for the past 48 h, on and off without paying any money. I haven't had a single ad since then. I don't use any VPN or ad blocker on my phone. Don't know why that's the case. Maybe because I have the appearance set to list?
Anyway, I really like the app! It really feels the most polished app by a mile to me. Yet, Voyager (as of now "only" a web app) feels also pretty polished, it just has a lot less things in the settings I can tweak.
As a former RIF user (and I really never used anything else on my phone for Reddit) it still feels a bit weird to hop apps but at the end of the day that's the beauty of the Fediverse: there is just so much choice and if you like Sync enough you have plenty of ways to give money to the dev, just as there are ways to donate to devs of the other apps you like!
What is the typical per-user income that the dev gets from ads -- say in a year? Take that, multiply by 5 or 10, and it seems like that would be a reasonable one-time payment.
Pennies. People think you're making a ton because some YouTubers make millions, but the reality is you get paid $0.006 per ad click.
I think what makes the $20 is it's to remove ads that the app itself puts forth. And like you said, $20 is pretty high compared to ad removal in other apps.