I like a good UX

This one dude has made this app for years and constantly updates it, fixes things, is responsive, and makes a great app. He's now been more loyal to his users longer than Reddit has, and I personally have used his app daily for 13 years.
Yeah, I'll happily pay for it.
FOSS is great but it doesn't pay the rent people, this guy is doing this mostly as his main gig. This isn't some huge corpo, it's one guy who makes his living building the app he loves. I'm sure he'd love to make it FOSS if he didn't have to pay bills on anything.
- FOSS can pay the rent. But the users that will complain about £20 for a lifetime of ad removal, definitely aren't going to be the ones that help him should the bank come calling about late mortgage payments.
  
  This is the same crap I left /r/Linux for way back in the day, so so so many people who are all "Linux is the best way and you're stupid for even considering windows or mac" but unable to see realities. Yes, of course I love linux and FOSS, I use it as my primary driver, but we live in a society where free work doesn't pay for housing.
  You're exactly right, most of the "FOSS Open Source supreme" people will look at an app that was lovingly crafted for months, call it garbage, and then demand they make it free. I just can't even with them.
  Meanwhile I'd love to see the stats on how many hours a week they put into FOSS apps on their own, and if they've given up their jobs to code for FOSS apps for the good of the community.
  I'm a developer. I code mostly proprietary stuff for my company. I'd gladly go code for FOSS projects, but so far my bank is just completely unwilling to cancel my mortgage payments, and my electricity, water, sewer, internet, they all want to be paid too, so unfortunately I'm stuck doing this.
  
  Lemmy doesn't have ads. If you have to pay to remove them don't you think something is wrong with that? Why not pay for the community and useful features instead?
- Upvoted via Sync lol. FOSS is great, FOSS is irreplaceable, but for independent programmers FOSS doesn't pay the rent.
- I understand people's concerns and criticism over the use of Google-based ads, but I have no issue paying for no ads knowing how much work has been put into the app. I'm glad we have some great FOSS options as well (shoutout to Infinity and Thunder, among others!)
- FOSS doesn't mean your product/service/app is free to use
- You can make it FOSS and still have some sort of subscription for syncing between devices for example. Tasks.org did it like that.
  Not to mention that you can run something on donations like lichess or F-Droid and have some extra money.
  
  NPM did donations too and found that <0.01% of users paid anything, and the average for even the most used packages made on average $40 a month. That doesn't pay a full time fry cook, let alone developer
- The price is a bit steep for me personally, but I agree. I'm currently on Connect but the call from Sync is strong.

- This meme just explained the post meme to me
  
  Scatterbrained me sometimes forgets to add more context, because I forget other people can't see what's been going on in my head prior. Now you know how people at work feel when interacting with me.
  Or when I do a "by the way..." remark to something that was discussed hours before and nobody knows what I'm referring to.
  My brain could be used to feed entropy to /dev/urandom

FOSS is great but also developers' gotta eat
- Amen. And he got screwed from the Reddit api fiasco. If i remember correctly he was on the hook for as much as $250k in refunds because he's had to shut the app down and refund subscribers.
  The guy has to make a living, so I don't begrudge him that one bit.
  
  How fucking bad does your math need to be to not realize that 250k in refunds for a 6 month period where the app is unusable equals 250k in revenue for the first 6 months of the year? All y'all are like "dev needs to eat, he deserves our support!" and the guy's pulling down over 500k/year.
  
  That was Apollo, not Sync.
  
  I'm pretty sure he already made millions from the app.
- I love the idea of Lemmy itself being FOSS but individual instances and apps being a competitive marketplace of for profit businesses.
  That way profitable entities with skin in the game can contribute back to the core, as can anyone, while ensuring the communities exist on servers that actually have some kind of monetization.
  
  Exactly! This is the playbook for how Linux has gained such a mainstay - while GNU/Linux on the desktop may still be pretty small, the extensibility and open-source nature of the platform has meant it's been able to take over on all sort of alternative platforms - Android and Steam Deck being the big ones in the consumer space, but also larger distros being used regularly in enterprise/web hosting.
  If everyone had refused to embrace Android or Steam Deck or any of the other distros run and maintained by for-profit corporations due to some preconceived idea of what the 'correct' way to use Linux is, it would still be doomed to irrelevance outside of tech circles.
- developers’ what

I don't think apps have to be FOSS. It's super important for libraries, frameworks and other infrastrucuture related stuff to be FOSS, but you can always change a client.
- I totally agree! I would much rather use lemmy with a proprietary client than reddit with a FOSS client. But when I have the choice to install something from f-droid instead of aurora store, its an easy choice. Also, wefwef works perfectly for me, so why install anything at all xD
- I use sync, but I think they still should be FOSS, or at least open source. Just because when anything gets left behind or never fixed, you can take it and patch it up yourself. That includes clients too, lots of good clients that get left behind because Dev stopped and whatever they were interfacing with changed.

I'm using Sync right now. I've tried a few different lemmy apps and this is the only one that actually works without bugs. Maybe because it's a paid developers full time job and not just some free side project?
I do wish it wasn't a subscription. Apps are generally a flat fee.
- yeah I think I'll go to the ad removal fee. it's expensive but I use it a lot 🤷‍♂️
  I originally did the monthly sub because I didn't have an option and that was the cheapest, it is kinda pricey but it's light years ahead of what I was using
  also I'm a developer and I think the guy who made it has probably working like mad to make this, and if it's his sole income and it got pulled out from under him... idk. it's a gamble to not just go get a 9-5 and work on this instead
  bro has to eat and I already donate to my local instance.
- The dev updated it a couple days ago so you could get Pro / ad-free with a one time payment.
- There is a flat fee for add removal, it was patched in yesterday so make sure you're updated
- I love Sync but it's worth noting some basic features aren't implemented yet like submitting posts.
  
  Wait... are you saying that you can't post using Sync? Wtf.
  
  bahahaha - all these people ready to hand over their hard-earned and you can't even submit a post?
- I wouldn't say it's entirely bug free. There are silent crashes and sometimes your position is lost but it works fine.

The three stages of a long-term FOSS user:
How the fuck do I do anything? I'm so lost.
I've somewhat mastered how to use it and became a power user. I'm happy about this, I've developed a sense of superiority over those who don't use it, and will now promote it constantly to others like a goddamn cult. My SO has left me and my family has disowned me, but I don't care, they are too ignorant to be as enlightened as I am.
(A decade or two later) I don't even give a fuck anymore what somebody uses, this still works for me, and what works for you, works for you. Let's just all coexist. OS and app development models don't mean shit, common standards and protocols between them do. As long as I, a Linux user, can email a PNG to a Mac user and they can open it, we're good.
It's been like this since the mid-90s. Most of the people who are being annoying about it are in stage 2.
- Thank you. Exactly what is happening and why I'm so exhausted. Feels like the stupid Mac vs Windows debates back in the day, with the even more annoying Linux users.
  
  Yes exactly!
  Or Commodore 64 vs Apple //e vs IBM PC. Unix System V vs BSD vs VAX/VMS. Gawd. I'm long past those days.
  I'm a Linux user. Hopefully not too annoying lol. Also a Mac and Windows user. Because they're tools and I find 'em useful for different things.
  I would be very, very surprised if the people getting bent out of shape about an app charging money and/or displaying ads use a flip phone or Linux/bsd phone and no closed source anything. (Car? Network router? Fridge? Television? Seriously? There's closed source firmware in so many things...)
  If I am wrong I will eat crow but... Also how? That seems like unhinged religious zealotry.
  I don't care for loss of privacy and big corps fucking everyone. But hey I run pihole and ublock. It's not perfect but I have too many other far more important priorities, like friends, family, enjoying life, work, etc. to go all jihad against all closed source software.
  I remember being all absolutist and dogmatic in my thinking when I was in my 20s. I gained perspective and chilled in the last 30 years.
- I have the (perhaps irrational) fear that sitting too comfortably in stage 3 leads to the kind of complacency that allows things like Web Environment Integrity to escape the "shower thought" phase.
  On principle I believe that people shouldn't feel forced to restrict themselves to FOSS - I use Steam and barely ever pirate games ~~(ignore my Lemmy instance I guess)~~; however, I think people should put some effort in understanding the consequences of always choosing the path of least resistance, at the very least.
  
  That's not an issue with FOSS vs proprietary, but with large corporations needing to be broken up.
  FOSS isn't immune to that, its a known thing that large corporations can use their dominance of a market segment to infiltrate even totally open standards and make demands with the threat of leaving the standard (and therefore resigning it to becoming irrelevant).
  This is especially true of web standards. Chromium is FOSS, yet Google can use its absolute dominance in the market place to force through changes to things like HTTP standards (also FOSS). My understanding is Microsoft and Google both have strong-armed stuff into C++ in the past as well
- I prefer my version of stage 3: I still care about software freedom and advocate for it (as well as related issues like interoperability, privacy, and right to repair) but without being an obnoxious fanboy for "Linux" or talking down to people who still use non-free technology for whatever reason.
  Simply caring about an issue doesn't make one a cultist or zealot, and not caring about anything does not make one enlightened.
- Spot on. For that matter, this is the pattern I've seen in computers since the 80s.
- I'm currently a mix between 1 and 3. Learning 2, but not the shitty part of it.
- And then
  Network effects matter, supporting open source software promotes its adoption and lowers barriers to entry for technological literacy and accessibility, accelerating the technological and social development of humanity
  Although that doesn't have the same ring as "fuck these dumb cult members because i don't care and they shouldn't either".
- So it's just growing up and becoming a more mature person? Don't think that applies specifically to FOSS enthusiasts. The same could be said about coffee hobbyists, for example.
- What version of Linux or unix are you using on your phone?
- Unfortunately I don't know how in your case as I'm not even on Lemmy, I'm on Kbin.
  This is a prime example of my last point though. Interoperability is all that matters, and we can still communicate even using completely different servers and apps. Just like email. I don't remember there being giant internet flamewars over email clients back in the day, people thought of email as "just email" and it didn't matter what you used.
- I'm at 3 and it's been quite annoying all these posts about people pushing Sync glory, saying that every other app is basically a buggy garbage (I'm exaggerating). Like, dude, I enjoy the other apps and I am not having bugs, can you enjoy your app without belittling others? Thanks?
  Maybe the reason some people are pissy with Sync is because even with their community blocked it's bloody everywhere on the all feed. Like guys I get it you like it but pls stop.
  
  Launch hype is always like that. Give it a week and things will settle down.

I just wish people would stop making software choice their whole personality
- I use Arch Linux btw
  
  I use Microsoft Windows, because I like a challenge 😎
  
  Perfect response.
  
  Linux Mint user, I hope that's not a problem
  
  same
- Most people don't even think about software, they will happily use whatever came on their device by default. The next time you buy a new phone or laptop and it is crammed full of trash software it is because people DO NOT think about software choices at all.
- Apparently that's the only thing a lot of Lemmy users do
- Same tbh this weird hive mind mentality thing I was happy to leave behind on reddit only to come to pretty much the same thing with a different coat of paint.
- It's important, especially in the early days of Lemmy that we set good groundwork for the infrastructure we're going to use for the next 10 years or so.
  
  By it's nature, it certainly seems like there will be a wide variety of apps for accessing Lemmy.
  I'm far more concerned about if Lemmy will be a thing for the next 5...let alone 10 years, than making sure everyone decides on the app I feel is the right one.

Don't forget this is a community built around Open Source software with many refugees who came because proprietary apps were forced on them.
- The Lemmy protocol is open source and you're free to use an open source solution. You're free to use sync for Lemmy in much the same way you can run a Spotify client in Linux. One does not destroy the other.
  Tldr if you don't like it, don't use it.
  
  but shouldn't I go online and complain about it loudly?
  
  Yeah yeah, but OP made a post about it so I thought I'd add some of the reasoning behind people being that way. I don't care what app people use as long as I can use the one I like.
  
  You're free to use sync for Lemmy in much the same way you can run a Spotify client in Linux. One does not destroy the other.
  I don't understand these mini-Stallmans and their identical attitudes like this. One Stallman is enough, please develop a personality and realize that things do come in shades of grey.
  I contribute to FOSS projects & I love Linux and have been using it professionally for a couple of decades, but I'm never going to stand up an LDAP server on it when Active Directory exists, the same way I'm never going to use Windows as a Docker host or a network load balancer.
  Use the best tool for the job, don't be a zealot.
- There are FOSS alternatives available. I personally use Jerboa daily.
  
  Yeah I'm aware of the alternatives but I thought it could do with some rationale as to why people aren't overly impressed with Sync as they were on Reddit. Nothing against the app tbh, happy with the one I have.
- literally no one is forgetting about that - And the great thing about Lemmy is that no one will ever be forced to use an app they don't want to use, whether it be closed source or open source.
  What OP is (rightly) complaining about, is the huge amount of holier-than-thou rhetoric that's plastered all over the front page of Lemmy right now giving users shit for wanting to use a closed source app.
  I love FOSS, I'm typing this comment on a linux desktop right this moment (arch, btw) - but sometimes the best tool for a job (by my own completely subjective opinion) is a closed source tool. Using a closed source app to access an open source system isn't a betrayal of that open source system.
  If you personally don't want to use a closed source solution, or if you specifically think that Sync is a bad solution for any number of possible reasons, then you're free to continue using open source solutions, I really don't see why so many people care so much about what apps other people are using, Sync existing doesn't take anything away from open source solutions (except maybe users, but again - you can't force people to use your software)
  
  the huge amount of holier-than-thou rhetoric that’s plastered all over the front page of Lemmy right now
  All I'm seeing in the all frontpage is people glorifying Sync while belittling other apps and complaining about those complainers, Like dude, I have the sync community blocked because while I like that it exists, I don't want to be force feed with that content, and now I still am because it's being discussed in other communities.
  What's annoying is the way some people talk about the app, stating that it's the objective best app ever, like zealots. I don't give two flying fucks about the price but I swear that the alleged complaints of FOSS users may be in part because of the attitude of other users.
- ~~This is not a proprietary app (in the first party terms, it's still a 3rd party app)~~
  Yes Okay I get it, yes it's proprietary, but I'm saying everyone was gleefully using proprietary 3rd party apps on Reddit, Apollo was proprietary, RIF was proprietary, proprietary was not forced on anyone. 1st party apps were forced on us all.
  This is literally one of the apps Reddit killed off
  It's literally not being forced on anyone
  
  It is by definition a proprietary app.
  
  But it is proprietary. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Proprietary_software
  
  I think the comment you're replying to is not talking about late Reddit refugees but early FOSS enthusiast that were on Lemmy before. You're missing the point.
- I have a problem with writing text that doesn't read negative or angry, so a little disclaimer beforehand: it's not :D
  I see your point, I don't tell them to change or not to embrace open source.
  I like open source for various reasons (especially for learning), but not everything I use has to be open source by default.
  I also understand the reasoning behind apps like Sync to remain private (non-paying user btw). If you put so much effort into a project you can go two routes: release it public or keep it closed and try to monetize it. When I use an open source app extensively and it brings value to my workflow or makes my daily tasks easier I'll throw a few bucks their way (or a server license once), but how many really do that? If you release your app publicly with the option to pay or to see ads to, some people could just fork it and re-release it, stripped of both monetization models that were intended as support for the developer. (Again, from the point of view of a developer that wants to see some return for their investment of time.)
  In my point of view we have the benefit of an open platform (unlike reddit). If any dev of a proprietary client fs up, you can change it without repercussions. Unless all instances suddenly decide to restrict API access or make their API pay-to-use all at once, we won't see a shhow like with Reddit.
  Sometimes I want something that works as expected and gives me a pleasant/polished experience when using it.
  Forgive my exaggeration, but I usually don't use my free time to look through the code of every program I want to use, at some point we reach that "I've read the TOS" problem", feels like no one even reads that anymore.

I am currently using Sync, and while I agree that the UX is better I can also understand why so many on the Fediverse are against similar apps. They are here because corporations have ruined every other good thing on the internet and non-FOSS is very much associated with big corporations. While I would prefer that Sync were FOSS I also see the reality of Western society and how untenable creating an app would be without some kind of ad revenue. A majority of people are notoriously stingy and donations can only get you so far.
- Also, Sync is one dev working full time by himself, not a big corp.
  
  Reddit was two guys, YouTube was a small group of friends. Things grow fast, especially with a subscription price as high as Sync.
- No shade to anyone who uses Sync, but the egregious thing to me is the price. Sync isn’t making the content, just like Reddit wasn’t, and they’re setting the price at a level that it feels like that’s what you’re paying for.
  Any comparison to other software makes this pretty clear. If it were $4.99, I’d say that’s relatively fair, but charging 1/3rd of the cost of a new video game for an app that took less than 1/3rd of the resources to produce seems a bit absurd.
  People can spend their money however they want, but I also don’t think it’s completely uncalled for to criticize the company for what appears to be price gouging.
  
  The one time payment to remove ads is 20$.
  People are really overblowing the price. As other ppl have mentioned, lemmy is less than a fraction of the user base of reddit.
  The 4x price increase isn't crazy. Devs need to make a living. I talk to Lj every now and then on Discord. Dude has been scrambling since the Reddit shut down to get out a working product. I really don't think it's price gouging to spend 20$ for an app I'll be using for maybe 30-mins to an hour almost every single day.
  
  The lemmy user base is tiny compared to reddit, so the price is higher.
  We also seem to be willing to pay it. Personally, I think it's worth it
  
  You don't have to pay anything to use Sync.
  
  That's my main hangup as well.
  The one time app removal fee should be $10 or less. In line with other premium apps.
  And the subscription rates are just bananas.
  Cut all the prices in half and I wouldn't have any issues.
  ...posted from Sync for Lemmy.

Everyone is always promoting that app, so I don't understand why y'all are butthurt when anyone complains about it.
- It's almost like the internet is a collective of different voices and not one unified entity...

Dude, at least people don't use Reddit is what I think about this situation.

The great part of the fediverse is that everyone can use whatever they want. Personally I stick to Foss clients though.

Sync is great and I'm happy to pay for a quality user experience to support a solo dev.
- I've read somewhere that ~~it's a team and not a solo dev but it was stated in a comment and I'm too lazy to do some research,~~ so I'm sorry for this useless comment.
  
  Sync is one guy. Ljdawson. Always has been.
  Google link

I don't mind so much that it's not FOSS. Developer needs paying, fair enough
I want an app without an egregious Privacy Policy that doesn't bundle code that shares "Usage Data" with advertisers

I use Linux and tons of other open source software daily. I have published and maintain a number of open source projects, and contribute regularly to others.
I also pay for closed source software and have a few proprietary apps that I sell.
There's a place for both models, they're not exclusive.

I installed sync yesterday, and it's nice. It's very usable without paying for it. In fact, the only reason I could see paying at all is to support the creator. The ads are negligible. I had to look for them to notice em. Basically if you don't wanna use it, don't. Not very complicated imo. There's other apps and the web browser. Your paying for the interface not the content.
- I don't like that it doesn't have top comment navigation (or I can't find it) and when you click on a inbox message it takes you to that message isoalted in a thread, no context. Again, I might be missing something here...
  
  I was literally just realizing that now. I just checked inbox for the first time, and it's pretty annoying. I would mind less if there was at least the entire comment chain within that top comment, cause I often forget what the hell I even said. I was using jerboa before, and there are features I'm really really missing. Sync would be great for perpetual lurker, but I'm addicted to commenting lol. No post creation also a drag, so I'll just use sync and jerboa in tandem for now.
- This may be just my own individual experience, but the ads were worse before he released the first patch. Now I barely see any ads unless like you said I'm looking specifically for them. Although I'm used to RIF which had the same amount of frequency in ad space so I might be slightly biased.

Obligatory xkcd comic.
https://xkcd.com/743/
- Mega corporations are apparently equivalent to solitary, independent developers now.
  
  Seems so, sadly.
  Apparently for some every developer should work only for love and affection from their cardboard box and release their software as a free-for-all, but at least feature-complete before they starve, or else it gets a negative review.
- Facebook was built using open source software...
- People don't like to make sacrifices today to avoid a potential disaster tomorrow. Especially when that disaster is only theoretical. (See the climate crisis.)
  
  At work I've started taking an 'I told you so' photo of problems on the day they are identified so I can bring it up at 6 months later when it finally fails. Would recommend.

Sync is 1 person
- Proprietary software means leverage against you in the future. Je could sell out to evilcorp any day. However, I agree and of all the proprietary software, a good reputation small team that is upfront about their plan and treat their community of user with respect, is the most tolerable way to use closed source software under capitalism.
  Just know enshittification is always on the table with closed source.
  
  My view is, I paid $13 for an ad free one-time purchase, and I used the old sync for years, so if I see news that the app has been sold out to some shady company I'll just switch back to the free ones I was using prior to sync. I trust the Dev until there's reason not to. I do feel the way the ads and trackers were just glossed over on release and kinda just defaulted unless you read through and manually disabled them was really strange, but I'm glad the ad-free IAP was implemented later the same day
  
  That's true that that's the case but when that does happen foss alternatives will still be there. Just like they're here now. I just prefer apps that have a good UX
- Foss problems without FOSS benefits

Let's be honest though, when everyone is shifting to the fediverse to avoid corporate shit, they're more likely to gravitate to other things that are free and open and be less interested in something closed and for-profit
- People didn't shift to Lemmy because of the anti corporate mentality, we shifted because the Reddit app is garbage and there's no 3rd party apps anymore
  
  I don't dislike the dog, I just dislike the fur and the barking
  
  Hard agree. For me Sync was Reddit. Once it stopped working I had no reason to put up with a substandard experience. I do miss the content and would probably even go back if they reversed their stance.

I use Infinity for Lemmy you wanna use something else good for I've used sync myself it's good, it's in beta and it has a couple of ads if you want them gone pay or if your that desperate then pirate or use luckypatcher it's not that hard but honestly your better off just using a different client if you don't wanna pay there is like a good 7 options now at this point and I hope these posts go away soon let people use what they fancy and stop terrorising them or ridiculing then (note = intended for idiots who think criticizing people for the Lemmy client they use is a constructive use of their time not the OP who appears to be sane 🤣)
- On the same day it released on mobilism lol
- Holy run on sentence Batman!

Came from using Sync for probably close to a decade on Reddit, so I'm definitely a creature of habit switching back for it on Lemmy. That being said, I tried ALL the apps looking for a solid experience and nothing delivers like Sync (opinion). All of them were missing something that completed my experience, was that experience coloured by my time with Sync on Reddit, sure. For all the options Sync gives me I'm willing to pay the dev half the cost of a steak dinner. I've already spent 100x longer on Sync for Lemmy than it would take me to eat said steak.
As for FOSS, let's just say it's not the be all / end all. Look at all the options that Sync brought to the table in a month that Lemmy hasn't added in the whole of its development.
Personally I feel like most of the folks complaining about Ads in Sync are just complaining to complain. The FOSS crowd is also the most likely to use ad blocking, filtered dns providers, pi-hole, adguard etc and if that's the case they won't even see a single Ad.
- I am willing to use Sync only because of my ability to block all the ads. Once something better comes around I will use that.

I just installed it and I really like the UI/UX. Also if im always trying to use free and open source software sometimes it doesnt change anything if an app isnt open source.

Just gonna leave this here...
https://www.gnu.org/philosophy/free-sw.html
As I understand it Sync could charge for the app with a free software license, but wouldn't be able to stop people copying or distributing it.
- Yeah loads of people pirate sync lol

I feel like I'm the only person using Connect lol
- Isn't Connect closed-source, too?
- Nuh uh! It's the best we have until Lemmit matures enough.
  
  voyager?????????
  ʕ•ᴥ•ʔ
- I was using that up until Sync release. It was surprisingly similar but wow the Sync UX is like several steps ahead.
  
  Imo for mobile (not tablets) sync is worse than connect.
  I also remember back before the reddit drama, the sync dev would just vanish for months at a time. He's not reliable enough for me to give money to.
- No bruh, there are Dozens of us!
- I swap regularly between infinity, connect, and liftoff
  
  Have you tried thunder ? Its really good !

What is the benefit over the other options. All I've heard is the animations are smooth and liftoff seems smooth enough to me.
- It has a ton of features and polish, and the UX is very good. Mainly that, value is subjective, but I'm willing to pay the dev for a good app.
- Familiarity. I think that tops the chart for a lot of people.
  
  I think we all do it at times. It's cool to see some of them curious about other apps though.
- Interface, usability and features fit for my needs, that's all the benefits I need.
  Features I like for my clients are
  simplified, but decently designed UI
  setting to show uncropped images/videos in posts and comment view
  dark mode (adaptive colors syncing with device theme and color palette are a nice to have, but not mandatory)
  shortcuts to formatting options in Editor (list, bold, italic, code, citation, etc.)
  color setting to highlight OP or self in comments, links and other stuff for better information parsing
  feature to easily minimize comment threads
  Sure there are a few that satisfy some or all of these, but you have to take into account personal taste as well. No one will buy a banana with perfect nutritional values, when it tastes like tobacco.
  There isn't a one-fits-all solution, just try them out and stick with what fits you best.
  For now I completed the client speedrun and chose Sync, but I'll give Boost a try when it releases, since I used them before, but as soon as Infinity hits the store, I'll probably return to that, Docile Alligator created the perfect mix of simplicity, usability and visibility for me.
- Personally, the thing that the other apps don't do right yet, is the layout on big screens. On a foldable or a tablet Sync looks way better than the rest and I have tried them almost all. Connect is the closest one on a regular phone.
  
  Neat!
- Multi windows, ability to cache comments are the biggest ones at least for me. Imagine desktop class multi tasking and not having your comments/posts reload because you were low on ram,etc. Smoothness is subject and I find other clients like Jerboa more smoother overall.
  
  Multi window sounds neat, haven't had issues with ram yet. I always get a flagship device and use it till I don't get security patches anymore or until my device slows down too much.

there's a lot of hate for sync out there, maybe it's just because I've been using the Reddit version for years but I really love it. i do think some people aren't aware that it's only existed for Lemmy for about 3 or 4 days. there's going to be issues this early on even if the codebase is adapted from a working app. an app this polished already is impressive to me, the pricing isn't something a fan of but I can almost guarantee it'll be evened out sooner or later

- Sideload only I guess? Don't see this available on android store yet.
- Infinity from Docile Alligator was a really nice client 🥲 I easily prefer it over Sync.
  I'll wait for the fork to be available in the PlayStore and try it out. Would be nice to have DA working on it again though, but as I understood it he's not using Lemmy himself and is actively searching for a full-time job
  
  The !infinityforlemmy@lemdro.id fork is coming along pretty nicely. I love how many options there are. I keep switching between them (currently using Connect).

Infinity for the rescue
- And who is it rescuing exactly?

This whole Sync "issue" (is not an issue for me) has brought to light the way many people in the Lemmy communities feel about FOSS, free apps, ads even privacy, developers' compensation, etc. It's been interesting, still paid those $20 tho.
- I think one of the thing that irritated some people is that this time they are not paying for more, they are paying to remove a nuisance (tracking). This is something almost only seen in proprietary apps.
  I've paid for a bunch of Foss and non-foss applications through the years but never for the "remove ads" model. JuiceSSH is one such example. The base app was so useful that I knew I had to get the additional functionalities and paid a fair amount for them.
  
  Fair enough. Getting some extra features (premium, if you will) would've been nice. But the app is still in beta, maybe in future updates the cheapest "tier" can get some. Also, as an "early buyer" I'm aware that I'm basically paying to support the dev, because the app is still incomplete.
  
  Been a while since I've heard JuiceSSH discussed 🥲 used to use it to remotely log into my Pi back in the day.
  I use Termux now though, although it's nowhere near as user friendly as JuiceSSH was

i suppose i can purge the other apps on my phone now, voyager ftw though!

I do find it a bit odd to monetize a client for a service which is 100% free. Not necessarily against it, but it bothers me slightly.
- I have to laugh at the 100% free moniker. Sure, the CODE is free. Do you seriously think hosting, domains, certificates, maintenance, and everything that goes into an instance just poofs out of nowhere? Seriously?
  Lemmy and Mastodon are both paid products. Maybe you don't pay (and you should) but you should disabuse yourself of the illusion that Lemmy just happens.
  
  Even code is not free. Any decent developer writing code does so with an opportunity cost. If those developers want to provide that software to others for free, that’s great. But it still costs their own time and skills that they could be monetizing. For many people it’s a hobby.
  
  Certs have been free for years.
  Lemny is a "paid product" by your definition, but is still open source...
  
  By 100% free I meant on the end of the client. And it's not like the money from the monetization of sync is going towards hosting lemmy servers.
- I've gone through this a few times. When he (and his users) realized he wasn't going to continue developing Sync for reddit, he asked us what to do. We requested the Lemmy app. He's always been super receptive to us and we're comfortable supporting him. He's developing it alone and got fucked by a company trying to inflate themselves to cash in on an IPO.
  
  I wasn't asking so much as begging [for Sync]. I kinda wished all the people shitting on the app for gasp charging money would just ignore that it exists and keep using the web. Or go write their own app that is as good and give it away. (Because it's clearly so easy /s)
- Yes the app developer should totally work for free.
  Also servers are free to run yay.
  Seriously what in the world?
- This is why lemmy may die.
  It is not free. It's not close to free. You can use it for free because someone else is subsidizing your use.
  But the money comes from somewhere.
- I pay proton to use their webmail service, even though email is a free service.
  I pay to register a domain name even though typing URLs into a browser are free.
  I pay to host my website even though visiting websites is free.
  Right?
- It bothers me a lot. Also considering OP and the ones with the same thoughts are using lemmy instead of reddit but still support fucking sync, i realize all of them are hypocrite or just stupid.
  
  I only used Reddit because of Sync. I don't give a shit what site provides the content. I want the revenue for the app to go to the UX creator.
  
  What do you think is wrong about sync? The developer has had a low cost well supported product for quite a while. I must be missing your point.
  
  Seems a strange thing to be bothered by to that extent.
  "all of them are hypocrite" what is this imaginary group being hypocritical about?
  
  What in the world are you on about?
  
  Oh the irony of this comment.. calling others hypocritical and stupid when they themselves don't have the full context into the reason people beg for Sync... The irony is too strong

It's interesting how it's just assumed that everyone is browsing on mobile. I remember ten years ago on Reddit people making fun of mobile users and extolling the virtues of the desktop.
- I’ve pretty much only ever browsed Reddit on mobile (and only ever through an app) and with Lemmy it’s only on mobile, I was thinking anyone using the computer to browse is probably someone who is more likely to be working in an office, I’m not an office worker so I’ve never had quick easy access to a computer
  
  I have a personal computer, but if I'm going to be sitting at my computer, I'm not usually going to be browsing social media (besides video host/stream platforms)
  and I prefer not to browse social media at work using my accounts.

- Good test
  
  Good test

Nah. It's the ads and the steep cost to remove them that make it a bad choice.
Edit: here's another way to put it: Lemmy is an open-source platform run on independent instances. Your instance could use that $20 way more than Sync needs it.
- DNS blockers gets rid of them. But honestly $20 is not steep for something you will use every day.
  
  It's steep compared to the other options that just don't have them and offer largely the same experience. I keep hearing that Sync is miles ahead of other apps. It just isn't.
  A good app? Yes. $20 ahead of other apps that just don't have ads? No.
  I edited my above comment to reflect another point, that if all these people are happy to pay $20 to remove ads from Sync, hopefully they're paying their instances to actually keep Lemmy running.

except that being Free Software is WHAT matters, and why you would expect anything else from a Free and Federated network, I have no idea.
What you need to do is get the folks with "Good UX" to release their app under a Free Software license, not get mad at people with morals.
- I mean or the foss apps could just be pushed to be better, and contribute to those apps as well.
  
  I've noticed that the people losing their minds over Sync and solo software devs trying to make a living while keeping apps accessible, aren't the ones beating down the doors to contribute their time and skill and labor for open source. Most of them don't strike me as devs at all. I'm used to it. It's the lemmy equivalent of your one family member asking you to make them an app for free at a family Christmas.
  People that are passionate about FOSS/FLOSS should definitely use those things. And support them financially. And contribute. But somehow the meta has become to dogpile on the first major third party app for our community that had a lot of users on reddit and which makes onboarding easy.
- Personally I don't care. It's fine if you do. I think we spend too much energy squabbling over personal choices for very little results. We'd be much more effective if we focused on talking about and pressuring for regulation/policy changes instead of weighing each other down, especially when we are very like minded as a community.
- So if anyone uses Sync they have no morals? Dude get out into the sun a bit more

I was excited to try Sync after all the hype (read: advertising) on Lemmy, saw that it had ads, and noped the fuck out.
You do you, but I'm not gonna use that kind of garbage. Ads don't "keep apps accessible". Instead, they poison your mind specifically and suck balls in general. The entire advertisement model is flawed, and certain kinds of people only put up with it because they don't know better.
- Yup. I think apps should cost money. No ads. It's the freemium model that creates all the bad things about our experience.
- Exactly. I have no problem with people trying to make money from software, but FOSS tools should be supported over proprietary ones wherever possible, and it’s nobodies fault that FOSS is often the better technical choice anyway. As someone with ADHD: fuck all ads, I demand a peaceful mind.

Honestly I tried many lemmy apps and most apps are worse than just the mobile website, except for sync which is just slightly better

Replace "sync" with "reddit"
- Really these app "wars" should be a good natured ribbing, nothing to get angry about. But we shouldn't forget why we're actually here.

Jerboa is running more stable than before i dont need better UI in change of metada
- I do, let me enjoy things
  
  /bin/bash/ doesn't, let them enjoy things
- The little experience I had with Jerboa was not user friendly. Also, I know the Dev for sync is engaged and responsive to the community.

- Used this convenient site
  https://imgflip.com/memegenerator/373007204/Big-thumb-guy

Was using kbin, but upvote button breaks too much. I was going to fix it myself but its PHP 🤮

Nobody is mad about you using Sync. We are just amused that you decided to pay for it.
- Did he?
  
  Funny thing is: I did not
  
  If not OP there are people proudly making whole posts about paying for a Lemmy app on their community
- lol what? Why do you think everyone paid for it?
  
  Lol what? I never said that.

FOSS or die

I like sync but the font at medium is way too small. I went back to Thunder.
- Bro just go to the settings and switch the font a simple thing
  
  All their coding knowledge and my boy couldn't make text #bigger
  Lemmy is wild!
  
  I did. Replies and posts don't respect that change. I can consume lemmy just fine but that's not really a social experience is it?
  Edit: general > base font size works. I just... Never looked there

@THED4NIEL Use whatever tools you want for yourself, EXCEPT for communication. For communication it needs at least two people and the other party now has to use software that doesn't respect their freedom just to communicate with you.

Proprietary software is a cancer.
- I had cancer 5 years ago mate. Proprietary software is okay if you enjoy using it.
  
  Seems like it really won you over.
- Personally I think it's people like you that dictate how others should act and tell them what they're allowed to enjoy to be the cancer. There's a reason the world hates dictators.
- This guy is onto something
  
  Pray tell; do you enjoy loud water, or are you loud whilst enjoying water?

- nothing, rhey just want money for their work

Sync is a fine choice if you want to spend a ridiculous amount of money for an app that has 100 percent free alternatives, and also knowing that plenty of other third party Reddit app developers are working on Lemmy apps right now.
Absolutely nothing wrong with giving away a ton of money for no reason. Have fun!
- Except Sync is way more polished than a lot of the others, has a developer I've trusted for years, has more features...
  Also in what world do you live in where $17 a year is a lot of money, or $100 for lifetime? Is it the year 1899? We're over here complaining about Netflix closing in on $20 a month and you're complaining about $100 for a forever license?
  
  I was a redditor for 13 years. I bought the premium version of every app. Sync was never a standout for me.
  $17 a year isn't a lot, but when you consider that EVERY company is trying to fleece us all the time by using subscription models where we used to just buy products ... It adds up.
  
  No $17 a year isn't a lot. But it is a lot for something you can get for free.
- Free user here, so preaching to the wrong person here, honestly. Also nothing is forcing me to continue using this app, when a better competitor emerges, that's user choice for you. If you are happy with the app you're using, fine, but stop looking down on people if they find your favourite not satisfying.
  I personally support OSS devs (or even non OSS) with donations when I use their stuff extensively and find the "everything must be free"-mentality dishonest and a punch in the face of the people putting the work in.
- You know I can't afford fancy clothes. So I just wear cheaper brands. I don't tell everyone wearing fancy clothes that there are cheaper brands available, I just let them be them and wear what they like. Maybe if I could afford it I would wear them too.
  Really struggling to see everybody's problem in the thread. If you don't want to pay for an app don't. If you're happy with a less polished app use that. Why is everyone so intent on controlling what others should and shouldn't do when it has absolute zero bearing on them?
  I'm a Dev, I spend lots of my time in Linux, some might call me a power user I've been doing it for a lot of years, probably longer than most. Yet I use windows on my personal machine, I use windows because I like the polish, I spend all my time fucking around in Linux to get stuff working stuff that just works out the box in other os. I get why Linux is good I get why people like it, personally I like an easier life, I don't want to spend 2 hours configuring some container to play a game or piece of software that would just work on windows. It's part of what you pay for. The apps are much the same, I've tried many of the Lemmy apps since I moved here, some better than others all fairly decent but sync has a polish and presentation that is unmatched (in my personal opinion, your experience may be different) and I'm happy to compensate a developer for his time spent building the app, he gets to eat I get to mindlessly scroll it's win win. Well it is until people start shitting their opinions all over the place.
  
  As I said, if you want to give your money away for no reason, more power to you. No judgement.
- Hard agree. $100 is a lot for a simple reddit app when there are multiple just as good alternatives available for free. It's not a large amount but not a small amount either specially for people who are living in economically weaker countries.

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