[VERGE] The creator of Apollo for Reddit has moved onto smaller and weirder things

This is the best summary I could come up with:

Since shutting down Apollo because of the potential costs of Reddit’s usage-based API pricing, Selig has poured his energy into Pixel Pals, a widget-focused app that takes advantage of many iOS features in some surprising and delightful ways.

Selig launched Pixel Pals in September 2022 as a feature in Apollo to have some fun with the then-new Dynamic Island feature let little pixelated animals hang out on your Dynamic Island while you were browsing Reddit in the app.

He released a big 2.0 update on September 21st that added things like a widget spinner and full-fledged games.

You can care for the cute pixel animals as part of a Tamagotchi-like virtual pet game.

Pixel Pals is free, and you don’t have to pay a dime to be able to use the vast majority of what the app offers.

“Even when Apollo was in its heyday, Pixel Pals was about 40 percent of my overall revenue, and it’s only gone up from there now that I’ve had more time to focus on it.” He says he could see Pixel Pals approaching $1 million in annual recurring revenue by the end of the year, “which would definitely exceed Apollo.”

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