This kind of gatekeeping and elitism is bad for Lemmy and for FOSS.
It makes this community a less welcoming place and leaves new folks with a bad first impression. Much better to be welcoming and let people learn/see the benefits of FOSS at their own pace.
I'd given up on lemmy because every so I had tried was unfinished and unpolished. I tried sync and finally felt like the user experience wasn't getting in the way of content.
I'd love to support foss, if a genuinely comparable experience existed.
I'm glad to say that sync has revived my interest in lemmy.
I'm glad to say that sync has revived my interest in lemmy.
Seconded
It's been one year of this conversation, but I just found it now.
Sync has also made me use Lemmy more often, but I was still missing a good web environment until recently when I started using photon. It is the best web experience I had using Lemmy and now I'm using as a progressive web app.
Photon repository here! Give it a star or start contributing to it.
Good for you, I personally prefer Thunder
Memmy is gr8
This is why I unsubscribed from the Android community. I love Android, I use nothing but Linux at home and really appreciate open source software.
But the FOSS...enthusiasm is starting to border on zealotry. It's getting really unpleasant.
100% agree. Going “haha, aren’t I COOL for NOT using this one popular app or software!?” contributes absolutely nothing and actively makes the community uninviting. I’m all for FOSS, but if a closed-source app is better than the FOSS options, I ain’t gonna knock on anybody for using it.
Also why even use an app outside of accessibility reasons? Been using Kbin on a mobile browser and it’s been a pretty good experience.
Also sometimes the FOSS software sucks compared to the non-open alternatives.
I don't understand how promoting FOSS in favor of proprietary software is bad for FOSS?
This is not promoting FOSS. This is mocking closed-source/paid Lemmy clients.
Dood the automod is wild.. people getting banned for, "suspicious activity"... and then there's no way to ask the mods why the ban.
Btw, the automod is ONLY a service from us, that you are getting notified when something got removed from you. If you mean the @AutoMod@lemmy.world
I don't get the point of this.
Since when did Sync masquerade itself as FOSS?
Just use whatever you want. Isn't that why we're all here?
Is the Sync noise getting to you? Just ignore it. It's natural since the app just opened up and there were a significant amount of Reddit refugees that badly wanted their app back.
I think it's more the Lemmy userbase having different expectations than that of the Reddit userbase, with Lemmy being such a shift from Reddit.
I agree. SYNC will bring tons of reddit users to lemmy. I for one welcome that change.
I could use this same logic to talk about your comment. People are free to dunk on other apps, so why not just mute the post?
Seems to me this has spawned a fair bit of discussion... Which is the actual reason we're all here.
Sync has gotten a lot of buzz (I don't understand why, even on Reddit, rif was always better anyway) and that's always going to bring out the people who don't agree, for one reason or another.
Don't mistake an opinion you don't share for anything beyond what it is. I could just as easily parrot your statement back: if you don't think this discussion is productive, just ignore it. There's plenty of other discussions to get involved with on Lemmy
Sync gained a big following because it had a core feature many many moons ago, when having constant cell service was much less common, it allowed you download and save hundreds of posts and all the comments while you were on wifi, so you could browse reddit offline, it did this automatically and in the background (based on your settings ) hence the name 'Sync'. This was a killer feature back in the day, at least for me. As that became less of a need, the app continued to change and add a lot of nice features, like lots of customizations, random NSFW, a very good OLED dark mode, etc, so there was no point in switching to something else.
My .02¢
RiF was all I ever used. Never even heard of Sync until I migrated to Lemmy at the end of June. Fwiw, I found Connect rather quickly, and it feels almost exactly like RiF. Enough that it scratches the itch. I tried Sync for about an hour today... It's fine enough... But I can't figure out what it has that Connect doesn't. Maybe it's just that everyone who used Sync was just comfortable and didn't want to change. I'm fine with it being a paid app, or subscription, or whatever dude decides to do to help support himself, too...I just don't get the hubbub when there's a perfectly excellent free alternative in Connect.
Sync is just so much more polished and feature-rich than all of these already... It's exactly like how it was when it was for reddit, and it's just one dev! I don't mind at all paying for a fantastic app.
You guys are taking the justified corpo hate and extending it to talented individual devs just making a living.
FOSS isn't about "corpo hate". It's about freedom. There's a philosophy behind it. You can, of course, disagree with it, but I think you should know what you're disagreeing with.
If the users don't control the program, the program controls the users. With proprietary software, there is always some entity, the developer or “owner” of the program, that controls the program—and through it, exercises power over its users. A nonfree program is a yoke, an instrument of unjust power.
In general I strongly prefer open source, because lots of propertiary software will try to vendor lock you and then extract money from you, when it's hard to escape for you.
In this case however I can change back to Connect or other any second, so amount of control this program has is extremely minimal and experience in exchange is better.
Informed choice is better than picking and following dogma, because dogma doesn't work in some cases.
Yeah, until he gets an attractive buyout offer from an SEO company who wants to get into data mining.
I mean, just change apps at that point? There's no lock-in, worst case you lose what you paid to remove ads. No point getting worked up over hypothetical scenarios
I mean he had all the opportunity for selling Sync for reddit and take profit. I converted to Sync nearly 7 years ago when I bought their ad free version called Sync Pro. He made great improvements adding material ui and lots of desirable features for an already great app. From my POV he didn't abandon the app, gave updates till the last day of its existence and was a great dev in general who was active in his sub listening to our queries . Maybe the people who knew him from those days are the ones who is supporting him now.
I am disliking this sentiment. I am on the Fediverse because Sync's developer and many others were betrayed by Reddit and I wanted to show solidarity and to 'punish' Reddit by leaving. The Fediverse's values are admirable, but I do not share them all. I believe in supporting good projects, even some that are private if they don't pose a risk of destroying something bigger, and Sync is a good project that can be easily abandoned without consequences if something goes wrong.
Paid software absolutely has a place in the world. Evil companies producing evil software designed to build a monopoly and lock out FOSS apps do not. I don't think Sync falls into the latter and I'm happy they've made the choice to be able to eat.
Couldn't have said it better myself
Just commenting this for those that may think free software is referring to price.
Free software is diametrically opposed to proprietary software, and not paid software.
Free software is free in terms of libre, not necessarily gratis. And there are corporations and individual contributors to free software that do charge for their product and maintenance of it.
If apps were girls:
I was always in love with Sync. But life happened and we had to go different ways for non-romantic reasons. Some fucker called Spez, long story...
Eventually I met Voyager and she was great. Any user would be lucky to have her. But Sync was always the one that got away. Everyday I looked at Voyager and thought she was awesome but I was always holding a candle for Sync. But Sync was gone and I had to move on. But I could never really move on.
But life happened again and Sync was coming back. I had committed to Voyager but, as great as she was, I always thought how she came short of Sync. Sync came back and she was as stunning as I remembered. I couldn't stay with Voyager. I'm sorry Voyager. You're an awesome girl but I was pretty much just using you since I couldn't have Sync.
I'm a user Voyager, I make no excuses. There, there...
Tbh, I think this whole thing is being blown out of proportion. Part of FOSS and the internet in general is the ability to have choice over what you use and spend your time with. Just because Sync is out, doesn't mean you can't continue to use your FOSS apps. It just means that we now have an option for people who want to pay for a very polished experience.
I agree. Considering the backlash at reddit for nixing third party apps, you'd think people would praise all the options for Lemmy.
The reason I'm on lemmy is I WANT to use weird apps and see different things programmers do. It's like the post is telling me just get taco bell when there's a dude selling Mexican grandma style enchiladas out of a food truck and I can go over that corner restaurant and get some fire chimmi-chanagas.
I like weird stuff. So what about it? God damned people pushing some vanilla boring shit.
What I find hilarious is that the Sync dev could have simply made a $5/month subscription for the Reddit app and continued on making a fortune from Reddit's product, but instead told people to come here where there are no API costs.............and then starts charging a subscription fee and massive one off payment lol. Oh and the app also has ads if you don't pay, despite Lemmy itself not having ads lol
go memmy <3
Love Memmy. It just works so good.
Oh hey, we appreciating Memmy over here?
Memmy is literally the reason I opted into the fediverse, such a beautiful UX/UI in this app! It feels like a true successor to Apollo.
Memmy gang!
I say this as someone that uses FOSS day to day for work, I don't really give a shit if my Lemmy app is FOSS.
For me, Sync was Reddit. It's where 99% of my interaction with Reddit happened. I don't really give a shit about Lemmy or the fediverse either. I'm here because Sync is a seamless product that gave me the best interface.
Despite saying that I don't care about Lemmy or other distributed servers, Sync is basically that sync (lol) for me. Once I map my old subreddits on Lemmy, the experience doesn't change.
Still love sync tho
Deleted the half dozen other apps I had for all my Lemmy accts. Now I have just 1 app to rule them all.
Yeah this comic is hilarious but sync is just so slick. Thunder has promise though.
Really enjoying Thunder, hoping it keeps gaining features.
I honestly don't see what the problem is. If you prefer FOSS use FOSS apps.
I've tried every single Lemmy app for iOS and Android, but I can honestly say nothing comes close to how smooth and native Sync feels.
I wasn't even a Sync user on Reddit so I didn't understand the hype, but I get it now. On my Pixel 6 Pro all of the other Lemmy apps had some kind of issues, whether that be random crashes or frame rate issues. But Sync is just so smooth and feature rich.
I've also joined the sync discord and the developer is very clear on what type of data he collects (He doesn't, but Google may).
Also with the pricing, if you don't agree with the price that's your opinion, but the amount of complaining is ridiculous. He made the app so whatever he wants to charge is his decision. You can also still freely use the app (with ads) so no one is forcing you to buy.
I like all the FOSS and community development of different Lemmy clients that's going on, it's really awesome and great to see.
But if Apollo was released for Lemmy, I'd subscribe to Ultra (or buy lifetime) in a heartbeat and only look at alternatives out of interest, not because I'd want to use them as my main Lemmy client. Apollo was just that good.
Views like this one feel pretty toxic and elitist to me. Let people use Sync if they like it. Let people use their Android phone unrooted if they are fine with it. Heck, let people use Windows if they like it.
I'm anti mega corporations with consolidated power and platform monopolies. I'm not anti small distributed devs getting paid for high quality hard work.
I couldn't care less if foss app users or developers are butthurt because closed apps are suddenly available and gaining popularity.
Sync for lemmy landed and it has been more stable and has more features than any of the other lemmy apps I've tried.
Maybe if the foss apps were stable and feature rich more casual plebs like me would use them, but at the moment they all feel kind of broken.
Also, I would take issue with jerboa here. Jerboa is there but not Connect? Lol...
I tried Sync, and it didn't scroll smoothly on my phone. So, I went back to Summit, which has been great.
But here's an idea: let's not get gatekeepy with apps. Use what you like. Freedom of choice is one major component of FOSS.
And summit isn't open source either
It is not, which is unfortunate. Though you can sideload the APK directly from github and at least avoid the Google Play Store. It is also ad free, which is the primary complaint I have currently with Sync (yes those can be removed, but for a relatively hefty $20).
Sync is the only one to actually give a smooth experience. The rest have loads of usability issues. I haven't used Summit yet though. I thought I tried all of the various clients by now.
Generally agree on smoothness -- with Summit as the sole exception. Far smoother on my device than Sync.
Wtf, this isn't about which app is better it's about variety! The fact sync is part of a list of options is what makes fediverse great - seems everyone in the comments agree 🤷♂️ gtfo with this sync hate. I'm a big Boost fan myself but im stoked sync is finally ready for those that've been waiting for it! 🥳
At the end of the day, software developers need to eat. If they get to eat because their compensation model is driven by donations either before or after you use the app, who cares?
(Fair enough FOSS is free as in freedom, not just as in free beer, but I think that is moot to a lot of people, as long as the market space isn't crushed by anti-competitive buisness practices)
The bigger issue at hand here is negotiating fair API uses for instances and their admins, who also need to eat, and make the apps possible too.
Let's face it. How many of us have actually contributed enough to any FOSS projects to demand for free and premium services. I personally would rather donate to a FOSS app instead of paying Sync, but it's unfair to judge Sync for having ads and trackers when the option of removing them is there. There's nothing wrong with any dev wanting to make a decent living or even more than that, as long as they don't go overboard and are honest about it.
More options is better for the community
I'm a huge FOSS guy. I'd support any of the FOSS apps if they were anywhere close to as good and polished as Sync already is. Sorry.
I mean, Sync is in beta and already has a tablet mode. I like all the other apps, with Connect being my favorite so far, but you can definitely feel the lack of polish.
I'm also on Connect. In what ways do you feel it is inferior to sync?
I'll be honest I was a RiF user and have never heard of sync until recently, but it seems just like any other app for Lemmy. Nothing special about it.
I 100% don't mind paid apps, but I'm only willing to pay for unique features that are useful to me. There's nothing missing from FOSS apps that only exists on Sync imho.
Tried all the apps and none of them is polished and smoother as sync. If tracking is the issue then one time purchase disables everything. The sdk isn't even loaded after the purchase. One time purchase is available. For people who want to support they can use the subscription service. For those people who want foss free apps, then another set of apps are available.
Truth is..... Many FOSS lacks significant polish and features as... Well it's free. I don't mind paying for a quality product
Yeah FOSS is rarely better than the commercial equivalent. Almost universally they're terrible in a hundred minor ways that makes them annoying as hell to use. The best FOSS products come from... Company sponsorship.
Just not true. Proprietary software starts on the wrong foot by asking, "how can we make money from this?". FOSS software is clean from that bs and it's so easy for it to improve since outside people can (sort of) aid in development. I use proprietary software as a last resort and it doesn't happen very often.
My two favorite Lemmy apps aren't FOSS. 😬
(Sync and Connect)
Connect isn't open source? I don't think I realized that. That's been my main Lemmy app but I've been a long time Sync for Reddit user so I've been using that quite a bit today.
And those are the ones with arguably better UIs out of all of the apps
Notice a pattern?
I don't know what you're trying to insinuate here. But anyway, have you tried Infinity?
So many people instantly shelling out 20$ (or 100$ "lifetime subscriptions") the moment an app releases in beta, then immediately bragging about it in comments. I'm using Sync right now and it's cool, but calm tf down people. There's a lot of sunk-cost and weird app tribalism going on.
Also this dev must have made some serious bank in 24 hours, holy smokes
Can we just celebrate good apps instead of go all out "too indie for you"?
This is all everyone is going to talk about for a while huh? As if most of the active posts being about Reddit wasn't bad enough.
If we want Lemmy to succeed we have to do more than whine about this kind of thing 24/7.
I don't understand the issue here?
You want open source and free software. You get that with a developer trying to make a living to improve upon a product like Jerboa. Jerboa works but by comparison to Sync it is rough. By rough I mean the UI is not the best, it needs way more time and polish not only looks nice but has extra features and functions to make it stand out.
With something like Jerboa you would donate money by choice but if your argument is free and open source you need to donate more money to support that.
Sync is popular because its closed source makes it harder to break the security aspect if you don't have all the access to source code. It is popular because it was a great app for Reddit and had that advantage. You know what people did to help the developer make a living and put more time into it? They supported it willingly by paying for extra features to help the dev and get more out of the money they were willing to spend.
I understand free and open source APIs being available and wanting more free and open source software to stay that way to make all things free and open. So support the apps you appreciate being free by willingly providing money which in return makes them not free.
If you want things to get better somewhat you invest in them. If they go belly up well then it was a bad investment. Sync is a fantastic app and it has the edge because it has a good developer and has had a good community who pays for it and supports it because things you love you will support. If you are a good developer you give more for that money provided.
The PS Mini literally used an emulator to play games. A free open source emulator that you could find. People still paid for a console that charged to use that open source software. Why? Because they loved gaming at home and the product.
I will pay for Sync because it makes a product better. A product that makes a newcomer leave Reddit and find Lemmy. An app that provides familiar and easy to use features. An app that has the edge that can make Lemmy a smoother experience. Just because something charges money, which by the way is an optional choice, and just because something is close sourced which by the way tends to be more secure doesn't make the product bad. It can bring more into the community.
If your issue with Lemmy isn't that it's FOSS but your issue with other platforms is that they run poorly or they need more polish well then you are arguing against yourself.
The hate for Sync just reminds me of how NHL fans always complain about how hockey isn't as popular as it should be, and then when new teams are added they complain about new fans.
Everyone should use whatever their heart desires, and for me the voyager app is beyond perfect (Android, PWA.) I havent used Sync so it might be better in some aspects but I am content with voyager.
P.S. If you really like a client you should donate any amount to the developer(s) to help them keep their app awesome!
I will support any indie developer if the product is worth it and the price is right. I’m currently paying Ivory for Mastodon (iOS) and the experience is top notch. The fact that paid apps for the fediverse are popping up is actually a great sign of interest and critical mass of active users.
On a side note, what are you guys using on iOS? There’s a LOT of options currently, but the four that I’ve been enjoying the most are Memmy, Bean, Lemmios and Avelon. I’m sure in a couple of months we’ll see amazing progress and clearer differentiation from each other.
This one is more controversial than intended. Since it's my "fault," I want to clear things up:
I fully support the "use whatever you want" faction. This meme wasn't intended to be a trigger against Sync. I just want to reflect the difference between Sync and all other apps. (I missed Connect, but my abilities to create a second Teletubby aren't the best.)
The controversy between FOSS and closed source reminds me of discussions on Reddit. It looks like we are separated into two (or more) groups: the privacy-focused FOSS nerds and the "shut up about the license, code, or ads and take my money because your product is the best working of all" group. Both groups have understandable reasons, and both can have their place in the fediverse. But don't forget, it's the FOSS group who started all this and early adopted (if you don't believe me, check the age of my profile). And this group is a little bit confused why everyone can't wait for a closed source app.
There's nobody who starts an unexpected feature or starts selling your data. Lemmy is FOSS and decentralized. A closed-source app can add whatever they want. If the ad-free pro version costs 20 bucks, then all non-pro users sell with their data, and I bet it's 20 bucks worth. Because free closed source is always free, because you are the product.
PS. I don't want to paint worse scenarios, but remember, WhatsApp was just a closed-source wrapper of XMPP, and Chrome is based on Chromium. FOSS will always attract people who try to monetize it. Some would say: "I don't care." But what if the monetizers start to claim control over the development, because there are "needed features" to get more money out of it?
And here I am, after testing every Lemmy App, waiting for Boost...
Edit: It's coming soon.
I'm a big fan of FOSS, BUT I also have absolutely no problem paying folks for their time and work. Sync was the absolute best way for me to access reddit, and even though it's a beta, it's been such an easy transition over to lemmy with it.
I like the experience with sync, have for years, I don't mind if it's not free or open source, it works better for me, so I happily pay the developer for their time working on it.
This judging people for how they choose to browse is so juvenile. Let people enjoy things.
The developer works full time for the app, even when it was a Reddit client. If you guys can't view an ad every once in a while to support something you use daily, then delete your Lemmy account. Nobody eats for free.
...or just pay 19 dollars to support the dev and get rid of the ads
The developer works full time for the app
The Sync developer doesn't work on it fulltime. He worked on it for maybe a few months, then at least a year of hardly any update.
I really wonder if you're a long time Sync user.
LJ absolutely works on it full time, he doesn't have any other job, and I've been using Sync for about 6 years at this point
Imagine defending advertisements.
Sorry, but I'm not a fucking product. I don't care who's pushing them.
I agree. That's why I pay for apps and services that are well designed and supported. The "free" mentality always leads to advertisements being pushed into everyone's face.
Without financial support, most Lemmy instances wouldn't exist. I'd rather support apps that have free versions with premium subscriptions, or donation models, but it's all the same thing to me. I want to go back to world where we just pay for stuff.
Then pay for the software?
Glad to see the lemmy community welcoming new users and their choice of app to engage with the fediverse.
From the perspective of someone who isn't currently in the "Bad If Not FOSS" mindset, this image really gets the impression backwards. To the average user who doesn't appreciate the user-unfriendly klunk and jank that is inherent to FOSS interfaces, it really feels like the image should depict a bunch of FOSS Teletubbies being intruded upon by a competent Power Ranger.
I used to be a FOSS guy. And then I realized I valued my time and sanity way too much to spend more time troubleshooting and nudging my software into just working normally than I did actually using it.
FOSS software as the underpinning of the platform that is then accessed by a closed-source client is, ultimately, the best circumstance we could ask for. Clients are what the user actually interacts with. If that experience is more engaging and approachable, you get many more users on the platform overall, without threatening the sanctity of the freedom of the FOSS platform it all runs on. There is no one authority to make unilateral decisions to derail the platform, while still offering a more welcoming public face. If you can't understand that, or don't care to recognize it, that you're content to let the platform wallow in obscurity.
Everyone is getting bent out of shape. Just use whatever app you like best. I have 5 apps installed that I'm testing including Sync.
That being said, my 2 cents regarding Sync: I don't mind paying for a great app like Sync, but I'm not crazy about subscription models. I know there is a one time option but $100 for a mobile app is beyond nuts.
EDIT: $100 is for the lifetime "ultra" plan. It's $20 to remove ads.
Sync is fine. More good apps are better for the platform and really needed.
I personally will probably not use Sync for long. I remember using it for Reddit for a while but noticing the app was updated to slow which over time broke some stuff. Then I went onto the Sync sub and apparently the dev is a bit...sensitive when there's negative community feedback and then just stops for a year or longer or so. Good on him if he can of course, it's not like he has to cope with the internet but I've found other apps to be more reliable overall for Reddit. Let's see how this one goes.
There was something that just felt wrong about the sync app thread in one of the lemmy.world communities. Just post after post of "yay, it's like having reddit back again." Reddit can fuck off. I like the novelty and slight roughness around the edges.
Jesus y'all are rude. Obviously he meant he can interact with the app in the same way he used to (via sync). When you've equated an app with a service for so long you will tend to say things like that. No need to get all elitist about it.
To you old people angry at changes: is it illegal to enjoy stuff? Is it not good that Lemmy attracts people from reddit? This sounds to me like good old conservatism. Also if Sync dev turns into a capitalist pro slavery billionaire, Lemmy should be the place to welcome refugees.
That's the exciting thing about new types of open architectures, you have numerous people putting their ideas into the space. Instead of being tied down to one way to do things, you're allowed to experiment and maybe even see crossover of some features.
I'm with you. There are a few terrific apps that were born here on Lemmy. Thunder, Connect and Summit are current favorites. Even though there was a time when Sync was my jam, I plan to stick with the locals.
I get you, but you have to admit Sync for Lemmy is gonna make the transition from r3ddit sooo easy for so many people.
There's a difference between "unpolished" and "can't keep what posts ought to be on the page straight". Like Ruby on Rails can get that right 100% of the time out of the box before you write any code, I don't know how Lemmy's web UI manages to do it wrong.
I don't want Reddit's ads shoved down my throat and I don't want a third party app's neither. Not having an option to unlock ads permanently is a deal breaker for me. The developer just comes across as greedy tbh
I see nothing wrong with apps for lemmy grow. Every new ex-reddit app that makes a version for lemmy means more people will stop using the reddit app and use lemmy instead.
I installed Sync to try it out, and noticed the subscription model for no ads, and for basic features like push notifications and exporting a list of your subscribed communities. $2/month or $100 for a "lifetime" subscription. Immediately uninstalled it, yes it has a beautiful interface but I've never been fond of subscription-based apps, especially for FOSS services. A low one-time fee would be acceptable to me, like the $4 fee for Toot! for Mastodon.
The silly thing to me about the subscription is, they say it's to "cover the monthly running costs". What running costs do they incur if Lemmy is free and open? I'm genuinely curious, if anyone knows please tell me.
I never used Sync with reddit. But I'm using it right now, for Lemmy, because I found it to be smoother and more customizable than Jerboa. I'll check out Boost when it becomes available, too.
I don't care about open source or closed source stuff. I really couldn't give a F either way. That stuff doesn't concern me.
Seriously, Sync is fantastic, way ahead of others apps
Sync isn't FOSS. It's just free.
With Ads. Who goes to a system created to be free of that, then brings it here, willingly
Exactly why the meme has Sync as the standout Teletubby and the FOSS text isn't over his body. One of these things is not like the other.
Meanwhile I'm just waiting for boost....
This seems like a decent place to ask-
I'm looking for two main things, can anyone advise if any of these apps can do both of these things:
Can I swipe on post view to go to the next/prev post?
Does it track "read" posts and support hiding those posts?
For context I'm coming from Joey. Essentially, I'd like the post view or view with comments as my usual and I swipe to go to the next post. And when I go back to the list view of all posts, no "read" posts I've visited are there. And of course this carries through multiple sessions.
Is there an android client like this?
Edit: Infinity seems to work exactly how I want, after tweaking the settings a bit.
Never have foss app users got this hung up on a small dev** (pronounced corporation)
Someone please correct me if I'm wrong, but does Sync seriously charge to remove ads that they added to browsing Lemmy in the first place? I get charging for Reddit due to the API, but I have a hard time believing the app is that much better than the existing FOSS apps such that the privacy tradeoff with ad trackers and/or the monetary cost worth it for, well, anyone really. Seems kinda scummy and antithetical to the philosophy that drives much of the Fediverse to me, yet I see so many people defending it in a way that reminds me of the rhetoric used to defend Reddit. Seriously, am I just a crazy person?
LJ, the dev of Sync, makes a living off it. It's not a side project like most Lemmy apps are for their devs. This means that yes, it's monetized, but also, it's one of the most polished and frequently updated apps.
He makes a living on it. That's why it's so polished and it looks so great. It really makes the experience so much better.
Ads are just a horrid concept from hell to me. Somehow I'd almost prefer if there wasn't a free tier lol. Either way I have zero issue with Jerboa so I have no reason to complain :p
FWIW the tracking is turned off if paying to remove the ads.
I hear you, I also find it weird to put ads for a free experience when the original service is also free and ad-free.
I prefer apps that, for example, offer limited usage for free and full features under payment. I know what others are saying about this not being a side project. For example, Ivory for Mastodon (iOS) is a freemium app with a subscription model for you to be able to full use the app, also not a “side project” but their model works (they previously developed Tweetbot until all the mess at Xitter started to happen last year).
Beware of that dev. He was caught injecting Amazon commission links into his apps. He also started a mass attack on Dash for reddit & Joey for reddit dev.
Regarding the second point, he was not alone. Relay,RiF & Boost for reddit devs were also involved in it. Funny how they did the same thing later they accused those poor devs of.
Infinity? Where?
https://codeberg.org/Bazsalanszky/Infinity-For-Lemmy APK is in the releases tab, works surprisingly well given how new it is.
I am so happy to finally have Sync again. Was always my most used app before the API death on Reddit. Always happy to support LJ.
If LJ (the dev) were to make sync open source, I believe the same thing would happen to the developer of Paint.NET. Someone would just steal it and claim it as their own. That's why Paint.NET has been closed source ever since. I understand your reasoning, but the positives outweigh the negatives for me.
especially for android apps this is the reality, someone would come, copy the thing wholesale, half assedly rebrand it and then buy ads to push it on the play store, and google would do fuck all about it, it's a well documented thing
Genuine question, is it possible for a developer of a FOSS project to enforce copyright protections or does the nature of FOSS disallow that?
Yes, you are allowed to licence open source software which allows for different limitations. Common open source licences you'll see a lot of are Apache 2 which is what the Android Open Source Project uses, or GPL v2 like the Linux kernel. There are plenty of explanations online about the different licences and the limitations they impose on distribution of a piece of software.
There's a line in the sand with security and transparency on one side and ease-of-use and convenience on the other.
I feel like most people don't really care about open source or federations..they just want an easy to access news/commenting platform.
It's a great examples of devs telling users what they want.
OP didn't come to hurt feelings.
OP came to hurt some butts!
I don't get it tbh
The other apps are Free and Open Source Software. Sync is not.
So many years wasted on reddit... only reason was that I liked infinity and it made my experience good...
Infinity for lemmy feels like rediscovering an old friend!
It's an inconvenient truth for sure. I'm using sync right now because it's the best app experience on android at the moment if you don't need to top level post and because I used it with Reddit. This wasn't a big deal with Reddit imo, but using a closed source app to access an open source platform feels wrong.
I have zero problems with jerboa, but I'll give sync a try to see what everyone is so excited about.
Y'all sound real kool-aid, though.
Update 1: Not digging the bevels around every post, is there an option to disable that I haven't found?
Update 2: I know it's a small thing, but on a phone screen, that every-post bezel is making every post noticeably smaller. I'ma go back to jerboa and try sync again in a week or something after you crowd have hammered the dev with feedback.
Update 3: I don't want the top and bottom bars snapping up and down with every swipe either, that's gotta be an option right?
Peace out guys, and enjoy.
Can someone tell me what "FOSS" means? I get it in context, but what's the acronym? I'll look it up later if need be
Free and open-source software
They could just say open-source like normal people but we're amongst nerds here.
Free Open source software :)
At least we aren't using reddit! Anyway it doesn't affect you what app I'm using. As long as I support my lenmy instance everything will be fine. Relax
I feel like i'm out of the loop. The heck is FOSS?
"Free Open Source Software"
I think.
Sync is the odd man out because even though it's free to use, it's ad driven, and then there's a yearly subscription service for no ads.
Honestly, it's a good app with a good developer. If supporting good work is your thing, I see no reason to use it free or with subscription. It supports him, and if you don't like it...you always have FOSS apps which arent as polished but completely free.
FOSS apps are important because they'll always be the standard of "acceptable" and alternative apps MUST be better if they want you to give up your hard earned time and money for it.
Just take a look at Reddit.
there's a yearly subscription service for no ads.
There's a one-time purchase to remove ads and a subscription for other stuff that also includes removing ada
That's free as in freedom not beer. So the big difference is that you and the community can look at the code and inspect it. Closed code you are just trusting the company behind it.
There are always ways to support Devs in Foss software as well. Just ask , everyone has somewhere to receive donations. I for one A) want to know what I run on my devices. B) don't like to be spied on C) don't want to support the practice of doing so. And D) I have security and privacy standards. Even if you would trust a one dev closed source project , you are just one hack away from getting something nasty on the next update.
Infinity for lemmy is the way to go
I was running most of them and added Sync - looked fine, but Connect / Voyager work fine for my personal taste, I'm just waiting for Infinity to come out with a full featured stable release. if dev wants to charge for no ads version or ultimate version, it is up to them, and up to the users if they are willing to pay them this. So, it all depends. I wouldn't go ahead and attack them just because.
I will switch from Sync to Infinity once it's available on F-Droid or the Play store. I don't stay on top of things enough to use apps that I have to update myself.
Maybe I'm the only one, but I just want a lemmy client that'll change the way homepage sorting works so that when I refresh its not the exact same feed. Feel like it wouldn't be that hard to make it not show posts you've already seen. Cause currently, I have to always browse lemmy in one session. If I quit, I have to come back like hours or even a while day later just so I don't have to scroll past posts I saw already
I dont know man, I installed Liftoff as I want a consistent UI throughout iOS and Android and so far it’s great. Roll with whatever works for you 🤷♂️
As a jerboa this is 💯 accurate lolol
Where did I find Infinity for Lemmy? I cant find it on fdroid or play store.
APK link from their codeberg repo: https://codeberg.org/attachments/b907662c-6fc6-4c75-ba35-605df2f3217c
You need to dl it directly from the repository right now. Download the .APK from here: https://codeberg.org/Bazsalanszky/Infinity-For-Lemmy/releases
Thanks
I saw all the announcements for Sync, and remembered that Sync for Reddit was my main app a long time ago. Couldn't recall why I switched to Infinity.
Downloaded Sync for Lemmy today, scrolled past about 4 posts before a box showed up that said "sponsored content." Now I remember why I switched.
You want free and high quality. Generally not a sustainable business model for developers who have to eat.
Why... would a developer make a zero-cost, ad-free, money-draining app? Sure, some hobbyists can and do afford to lose money doing that, but for the rest of them... they still have bills to pay, y'know?
Everything has a cost...
Thanks for notifying that my favorite frontend app (for Reddit) is finally ready! Yeah, too bad it's not FOSS...
Meanwhile I'll be sat here waiting for a Lemmy port of RiF... I'm in no rush.
Same but rif dev is working on three cheers instead. At least connect for lemmy is here and is really similar in feel to rif
You were not joking, I just downloaded Connect and it's so similar to RIF! Especially the comments sections.
The dev just released an alpha of an app for Tildes (called Three Cheers for Tildes). It definitely feels like a new RiF
Just sitting here waiting on Boost. On jerboa for now, but Boost will be the bees knees
All i want is a client that has posts as list mode and the ability to have different accounts with different settings and blocklists.
Connect is not the business for this, blocking one instance blocked it across all my accounts.
Sync actually allows you to set up each sub account separately.
Yea but i don't like sync for privacy, ad, and pricing reasons right now.
Never heard of/tried any of those but I have no reason to move away from Mlem, been fantastic so far
Mlem, voyageur, infinity, where do you find them as they don't seem to be in the app store?
Vger.app - progressive webapp. Installs and runs as a real native thing. Give it a go. I chose that one as a stopgap thing before Sync arrives and it is hard to stop using it now. Just now I found Infinity (https://codeberg.org/Bazsalanszky/Infinity-For-Lemmy/releases). Absolutely brilliant android native app. What to choooooose? I dont know.
voyager can be installed from chrome or firefox app(on android atleast) explaned by @ruud@lemmy.world on: https://lemmy.world/post/1303201
Mlem was recently added to the App Store!
I've seen a lot of posts recently about FOSS. I'm not a programmer, so I don't know anything about it. What is FOSS and does it have a big advantage over other software designs?
FOSS = Free and Open Source Software
Basically it means anyone can view the code and tinker with it/look for security failures/add features for themselves, etc.
FOSS means Free and Open Source Software. Since English has two meanings for 'free' (one as in no cost, the other as in freedom) you'll also see it called libre software because Latin languages differentiate between no cost (gratis) and freedom (libre).
Open source means the source code is available and required to be accessible. The Free part is you have the right to take that code and use it in other programs. Copyleft licenses like the GPL will require any program you use that code in to ALSO be licensed under the same license, giving everyone access to your code under the same conditions. Non-copyleft FOSS licenses like the BSD licenses do not require that, and allow the incorporation of the code in closed source software.
To give an example of the differences let's use Apple. Much of OS X userspace is derived from BSD Unix, so Apple can use it and not release code. But KHTML, the KDE HTML Rendering engine they took to make WebKit, was GPL so they had to release their changes and allow others to do the same, which is how you ended up with Chrome and Edge also using and extending WebKit and now it's basically the standard browser rendering engine.
Free and Open Source Software
It means that the source code is released and available and you can even build the code yourself. You can inspect it to make sure it's not doing anything malicious or stupid (but more likely you can hope other people that are smarter than you will do it).
The only advantages it has really for regular end users are it's free, and if it's popular other developers will make apps that use it.
Correction: FOSS Android Lemmy apps. It’s missing a few.
I remember trying the reddit version, and uninstalled on the first full screen ad. After asking about this on the Lemmy version, got a nice down vote 👉👈
for long i thought Voyager had performance issues but in fact it's my instance's fault
Instance hosted voyager webapp?
I don't like Jerboa so much, it's some buggy but it's the only one available in F-droid
Try Connect for Lemmy. It's excellent.
I enjoy using different apps and will continue to do so. I've got a few Lemmy apps installed and looking for to installing more. I enjoy seeing the differences between apps and how devs implement features differently.
Even with Reddit apps, Sync was my daily driver, but I would switch between other apps. It's a nice change of pace.
Really happy with sync on my chromebook. I use iOS nowadays and wasn't expecting to enjoy using sync as an android app on chromebook?
No-one uses Summit or what? 🤔
Yeah the audacity to charge money for dev time if they so choose :| wild. Something free market of ideas something
thanks! this post made me try out thunder, and I have to say it's my favorite so far! sync is way too flashy, the standard font is way too small, the condensed feed view options (smaller cards, list, compact) are virtually all the same shitty list view, and it's too floaty and zoomy.
thunder on the other hand gets all the little, but super-important things just right; how one-finger zooming of pictures is so smooth, how the download button is in a logical spot and is responsive to show the succeeded download; how the preview in the feed is just the right size; how collapsing comment chains is smooth and not disorienting. great app, thanks for the recommendation!
oh and I couldn't care less if an app is open source, closed source, pay-to-use or not, as long as the UI is good. I'd just block ads anyway, or try to find a ripped version (revanced etc) – but having an app that's not reporting home is of course even better!
Is Boost FOSS?
Since it's full of ads. I don't think so.
What, no Summit?
I hope this was the right order of first releases.
No love for Arctic? Def the best on iOS IMHO. Voyager is a close second.
I think that app didn't exist when I made this meme 7 months ago.
Lemmy #FediMeme by @Samsy
https://lemmy.ml/post/2718594
