It's so nice to see them all growing, but this is just the truth, sorry.

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 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.

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.

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.

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.

go memmy <3

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.

Sync is by far the most polished. Everyone acting this is some major company. It's literally one dude.

The gatekeeping is so fucked up

Oh nooooooo someone made a familiar and easy to use app to help people get used to this new ecosystem that can only thrive if people actually show up and use it. What a real shame.

Are we really being this petty already?

Still love sync tho

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.

To be fair, this should be the other way around. All these foss apps are the teletubbies because they're clunky and have major bugs. Sync is the power ranger.

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.

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

Lemmy will never succeed if every community is filled with meta posts about lemmy.

Hahaha so true

-Posted from Sync™️ for Lemmy

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.

Gotta be honest, sync is the first lemmy client I've tried that seems to work without any issue...

Lol I love how some people share their subjective opinions and call it "the truth".

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.

Sync is a fantastic app, the fact that I get to use it again is what drew me here, not Lemmy itself

Sync is a fantastic material design app stfu

Truth is..... Many FOSS lacks significant polish and features as... Well it's free. I don't mind paying for a quality product

What a miserable take.

You're sad that a good app came out for lemmy? Does it prevent other apps from working?

This comment was written with Sync (⌐■_■)

Yea down with sync!

-posted with Sync for Lemmy-

My two favorite Lemmy apps aren't FOSS. 😬

(Sync and Connect)

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"?

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.

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.

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.

My take is; it just works. It just happen to be a pleasure to browse with the app that I paid for an ad-free experience. Yay for small devs making great products.

FOSS is great, but I love to pay for a good experience.

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.

I'm so happy to see Infinity for Lemmy in a meme. This made my day. Thank you.

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.

Sure, if Jerboa worked well.

I didn't know INFINITY for Lemmy existed!!! I don't mind SYNC, although I prefer the FOSS alternatives

sync has consistently worked for me (so far) whereas jerboa and voyager have had issues connecting to lemmy servers

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.

First comment from Infinity, glad it's there again

I'm not tempted by it myself despite using it for reddit for years, but there's a weird amount of open source zealotry on Lemmy.

I've seen people complaining that the Nintendo Switch is closed source. Like, no shit.

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.

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.

This meme got a chuckle out of me. I think people shouldn't take this too seriously. It is a meme after all.

Sent from voyager

Glad to see the lemmy community welcoming new users and their choice of app to engage with the fediverse.

infinity for lemmy exists?

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.

We need some love for Connect! I find it excellent.

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.

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.

But Connect though 🥺

Test from Infinity (works)

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.

Thanks for letting me know that theres a Lemmy Version of Infinity :D

Seriously, Sync is fantastic, way ahead of others apps

Permanently Deleted

Sync isn't FOSS. It's just free.

Meanwhile I'm just waiting for boost....

Permanently Deleted

I'm fine with paying a one-time charge for an app, but I will never rent software.

Never have foss app users got this hung up on a small dev** (pronounced corporation)

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.

I just want RIF again

If you purchased Sync for Reddit in the past, can you recover that purchase in the Sync for Lemmy?

Sync is very well made in my opinion it's one of the few apps out there which I truly think deserves my support.

Infinity? Where?

Cool so I paid $20 for ads free, it's a bit expensive for a phone app, and lots of free options. I'm ok with it though let's move on from Reddit bois

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?

Since when is Sync claiming to be FOSS?

It's bizarre to me how, on this decentralised and FOSS platform with a ton of clients already available, people have been only waiting for the closed source one (with ads and payment to boot if I'm not mistaken?).

To each their own, but it's still a sad state of society.

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.

I don't get it tbh

Im using CONNECT. its pretty good so far.

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.

Closed source apps do not allow us to verify they do not actually steal our data or profile us. Liftoff for life

OP didn't come to hurt feelings.

OP came to hurt some butts!

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!

I've found Thunder to be the best so far. But I'm holding out for Boost.

Currently flip between lift off, connect, jebroa and web browser and sync... Waiting patiently for Boost for Lemmy... But not found a favourite app yet...

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.

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

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.

I feel like i'm out of the loop. The heck is FOSS?

Infinity for lemmy is the way to go

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

Using infinity rn its much fun !

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

Had concurrent variants installed for fun, looks and lavours. Deleted all but Jerboa. It just works well enough and I quite like it.

Can we stop complaining about the android clients and just appreciate them all

There are tons of lemmy apps in development now. Are there any kbin apps being developed? I haven't heard of one yet

Can someone lay this to rest for me? What is FOSS? I think I get in some capacity that it's Lemmy... but?

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.

as a software engineer there's nothing wrong with that, but I think the developer should lower the add-free fee

so that sun in the corner is boost for lemmy ?

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

Writing this comment from infinity

Where did I find Infinity for Lemmy? I cant find it on fdroid or play store.

Thanks for notifying that my favorite frontend app (for Reddit) is finally ready! Yeah, too bad it's not FOSS...

Just sitting here waiting on Boost. On jerboa for now, but Boost will be the bees knees

Never heard of/tried any of those but I have no reason to move away from Mlem, been fantastic so far

Meanwhile I'll be sat here waiting for a Lemmy port of RiF... I'm in no rush.

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.

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.

I'm using connect. Since it's not listed is that bad?

Correction: FOSS Android Lemmy apps. It’s missing a few.

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?

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.

for long i thought Voyager had performance issues but in fact it's my instance's fault

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 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 👉👈

i just use what's best/comfy for the job so I mix and match foss and propietary stuff in my life

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?

Permanently Deleted

Glad Connect isn't in there, it's complete shit. Just converted over to sync because i was waiting on a decently stable alternative to be released before uninstalling.

Sync is the only thing (or Apollo) that will now make me use Lemmy at all because I can't stand how crappy it looks and works without it.

Is there any Foss app that marks as read posts on scroll?

can somebody explain it like I'm 5. I wanna be in on the funny photo

Is Boost FOSS?