Now that Sync and Infinity are out, which do people prefer? Also, how do they compare to the existing lemmy apps?
Now that Sync and Infinity are out, which do people prefer? Also, how do they compare to the existing lemmy apps?
I have about 5 different apps installed right now, and while I plan to test them all out, curious what people's conclusions are thus far.
The moment I tried Sync for Lemmy I have this feeling of closure, like I finally can make peace with the fact that I'm leaving Reddit behind for good after using it for 13 years (8 years of those on Sync). The only thing that top this is the first time I saw federation in action where people from various lemmy, kbin and mastodon instances talk to each other in the same thread and deciding to jump ship on the spot.
I am using Sync, and I paid for a year of it. A year from now, I'll evaluate and maybe pick something else. Do I care if it costs a tiny bit of $ for a solid app experience that performs better than the rest, because it has dedicated development resources? Nope. Having read the details on what data is collected, do I have privacy concerns? Nope. Do I think folks have gone a little over the top about certain things? Yes. Bad enough having to leave reddit without making it even more complicated.
I was using Jerboa for the first month. It's good, functional. However, with all due respect to the penguin people, it felt like working on Linux. Just a bit too utilitarian and function focused.
Yesterday I installed Sync and it was like switching to Windows/OSX. So much more polish, much more pleasant experience.
On Reddit I was using BaconReader - and had no idea Sync looked (and felt) this good. Great UX, though still has some ways to go. The comment font size when typing is super tiny!
I've tried Connect, Liftoff, Thunder, Voyager, and Infinity. It's just bugs galore. The back button will take you to the wrong activity, comments won't post (due to the app not the instance), some instances or accounts won't load, and a laundry list of UI or functionality bugs. Liftoff gave me the fewest issues of all of them, apart from using Lemmy in the browser.
But Sync really is polished, and the experience is night and day. I'm a big FOSS proponent, but I don't think it's wrong for a developer to want to make money when their income source suddenly disappears and they need to pay bills (and region-specific pricing is coming soon). The level of customizability, spit and polish in the other apps doesn't even come close. I'm sure they'll get there eventually, but I think it's a mistake to drive away passionate developers who want to help Lemmy succeed.
I've given pretty much every app or browser front-end a fair shake at this point, and I'm gladly choosing Sync for now.
I found all of the prior Lemmy apps to either be missing something, clunky, or buggy. The one I liked most was Voyager/Wefwef, but even then it was missing stuff.
Now Sync is in beta and has bugs, but thanks to past development from Reddit it's already so much more polished than all the others, my Lemmy usage has gone up considerably, I've barely touched Reddit today. It does have ads, but they aren't visible when using DNS Adblocking.
Sync has always been a superior UI/UX to anything else.
And I'm happy to pay $20 for the developers work. Ads would barely pay him anything anyway.
I feel like all you lemmings are getting way too hung up on the whole ads = spyware thing. It's not the app that's the issue, it's the ad platforms - and those platforms are how he makes money. Don't like it? Pay $20 for a lifetime without ads.
Sync is good because it's a full time job for the Dev. That means the guy needs money to survive. I'm more than happy to help towards that, so I can have a better experience.
I used sync for Reddit for a loooong time, $20 is nothing compared to the value I've gotten out of it.
Sync is the only reason i am on lemmy.
Been using sync for years now and it's just a great app.
It runs so smooth, very clean looking, easy to read, highly customizable, tablet mode, dev is always updating and adding in requested features from the users.
Small features that make the app stand out like sharing a setting from the settings menu that will take you straight to it:
Settings shortcut: Comment options > Display navigation bar
Used connect and liftoff before and on Reddit RiF but for me sync is just the best.
I used Connect until Sync dropped.
Connect was cool, but had a few clunky spots.
I used Sync for years so it was like putting on a favorite pair of jeans
Sync user here. It's the reason that I found reddit usable. The effort that has gone into creating and refining the app is evident. I like it better than the the other apps, because it feels like home to me. I also enjoy the concept of u/spez unintentionally spotlighting lemmy, and literally tossing over the very best that reddit had to offer. Sync is just one of several excellent options already here, or on their way.
The free apps are anywhere from very good to very work in progress. I like Connect the best from what I've used. I expect that they will all improve over time, and have noticed improvements over a short length of time.
I actually enjoy the controversy/buzz over pricing, pricing models, privacy, and so on. This is mostly because I'm petty,and believe that all of this is hastening reddit's demise.
I'm a Sync guy, it has the best scrolling performance on my shitty low end phone. I've tried other apps but all of them still have stutters during scroll but Sync still manages to keep smooth.
Infinity, because it's the best FOSS option in my opinion
Infinity because it is free and open-source
Connect or Liftoff
Sync. It was the exclusive way I browsed Reddit. Having foldable support day 1 was a big push. I have no issues with supporting the developer for an app I've been using for well more than a half decade now.
I'm using Infinity :D
Infinity, the king is reclaiming its thrown, and huge thanks to the fevelopper who forked it.
I use Sync because it's just what I'm used to. I've been using it for more than 3 years, but I've also used Jerboa, Thunder, Liftoff, Lemotiff, Connect and Voyager.
Here's what I think about those:
Jerboa is good, maybe a bit laggy and things take a bit to load, but overall good. Nothing that stands out.
Thunder is very good, but I've been unable to reply DMs and comments from my notifications, I'd have to go to the browser or use another app to reply. I'm almost sure it'll get fixed in the future.
Connect is very, very good, but, and it's a huge BUT for me, every time I'm commenting and I want to change part of my comment, I click on the part I want to add or erase more text but instead of doing that it selects the text from where I was to where I clicked, and it happens with every comment and DM, to fix it I have to copy the whole thing, go back to the post, paste the comment again and keep on writing. I stopped using it.
Liftoff is very good, but I don't like that when I collapse a comment it says "comment collapsed, tap to expand" (that's it, it's just nit picking, everything else is good), I still sometimes use the app.
Lemotiff I can't log in but the idea/design is good.
Voyager is one of the best but sometimes it jumps to random parts of the timeline, I also prefer having an app not a PAW (or was it PWA? I don't remember the correct term)
Lemmur says my instance doesn't exist so I can't even try it.
Haven't used infinity or Boost yet, just downloaded Sync and it just works perfectly.
I'm surprised by how much of a big deal apps are for the users. I would have kept Jerboa if it was more stable. I got Connect for no specific reason and don't really see a reason to try anything else... I was still using old reddit and an app called Slide, so I guess I'm some removed user or something. Happy that those apps brings more users tho.
Permanently Deleted
I'm using sync. Used sync for years on Reddit and I like the product, vision, and direction the dev delivers.
Connect :D
Sync is more polished, but Infinity has a much better layout on the Galaxy Fold. I'm using Infinity for now, but hoping it improves quickly.
Neither is as good as Reddit Is Fun for foldables, unfortunately. That had a perfect interface IMO. Much better than Apollo too.
One thing that really bothers me on Infinity is that I see no way to show the parent of a comment that I am looking at. It only times you the option to show all other comments, but not the parent specifically.
I'm using connect, it's simple and just works. It was rough when I first came over but had been fine for a while now. I'm assuming they worked out some of the bugs they had at the beginning.
Sync and Voyager.
Finally, I got around to downloading Sync, and I'm impressed. I'm still going to use Infinity as my main access to Lemmy, but all my other programs were uninstalled, and Sync is now backing up Infinity.
BTW, not saying do it but to those complaining about ads, adguard.dns.com or quad9 dns are both free.
Infinity! It was my go-to client for Reddit, and now it's my go-to client for Lemmy. Most basic things work. There are still some bugs lurking in the app, but it's still in Alpha so that's kinda expected.
The UI is really smooth and customizable, but I guess anyone who's ever used Infinity already knows this.
I'm using Liftoff, but waiting for Boost.
I used to mostly use connect and then infinity and voyager are out in the same day. Honestly, voyager feels really nice.
I had been using Connect a good bit for the last couple of weeks. But Sync impressed me by how polished it feels. So I'm using Sync now.
I'll keep on evaluating others. So far, none have moderator action support. So I'll probably switch to whatever app has that first.
Jerboa is still the best one for me.
Just installed what popped up first in F-Droid search (Jerboa) and not feeling like I need something else - everything just works and UI/UX feels natural.
Prefer connect
I have Sync and Jerboa, and I must say, Sync is polished and smooth and makes it more simple to use. I haven't tried the Infinity for Lemmy but I might test that one out, too.
I have been rotating through most lemmy clients on android, and the truth is I haven't been satisfied with any of them, although Jerboa was best of them even though the search was a bit lacking. I used Infinity on reddit and was kinda bummed it wasn't coming here. I found out about this fork 3 versions ago and am not looking back.
I am happy with Jerboa. I used to use Boost and Infinity for Reddit. I tried out Infinity, Voyager, Sync and connect. So far, Jerboa has been the best experience for me.
I am using multiple apps right now. Sync feels really smooth. Summit also comes close in terms of fluidity I feel. I like Thunder and Liftoff as well. Waiting for more improvements on Thunder.
Thunder is nice.
Swiping to do things really makes a clean UI.
I prefer Infinity but I did so for Reddit too so it's just my prefered app in general, Sync definitely seems to have less rough edges! I think the main advantage over fresh Lemmy apps are their UX and Animations, those are increadably hard to get right without years of user feedback!
Really loving Sync. I would be happy if I had to use it forever, but I will swap to Boost if that ever comes out because I'm just more familiar with it.
Neither. I'm just using my browser for now until Boost for Lemmy is ready. The mobile site is pretty good for moderate usage.
I have been giving all the apps a go as well. I was using RIF for over 5yrs prior to the switch. I grabbed the sync app as soon as it was available and was so impressed that I immediately bought ultra, mostly to support the developers. I know it's steep, but maybe as more users start using lemmy the price will come down a bit.
So far I am very impressed with sync. I love how granular the controls are even to the point of having different settings for different logins. Account switching is super easy between several alts that I have and I am really looking forward to being able to import my community subscription to my back up instances in the near future. More than happy with my purchase and I hope the developers continue their outstanding work.
Sync is pretty good but its font options are awful on my phone. If I set the comments font size to "huge", it's still smaller than e.g. the clock in the notification bar. And then it's an unreasonably large jump from "huge" to "header".
It needs a simple font size slider instead of preset mystery values. As it is, it's just uncomfortable to use.
Not sure if Sync for Reddit had the same problem since I used other clients more.
I prefer my own app, but that's a given :P
I did like many aspects of the official Reddit app until they enshittified it, so I'm reusing some concepts it had. It's still in alpha phase, and even then, there's some things I liked that I'm not sure I'll implement. I particularly liked the second tab in the bottom navigation bar when it had your list of subscribed subreddits and an alphabetical scrollbar. That was super awesome. I'll definitely try to add something like that in the future, probably after I get feature parity with the official UI.
I'm avoiding pop-ups by editing the current relevant components. So, when you press "submit", the error message will be inside the form instead of as a pop-up. Or when you report a post, the form appears inside the post instead of as a pop-up. It's much more intuitive to use and I think I can make it faster to use.
Having Infinity I feel back at home. The pre-release is said to be buggy but I have not seen anything yet these last few days.
Not sure if infinity has the same "issues" as sync with the data collection.i will let someone smarter chim in.
Infinity hands down. It's the only app out so far that has horizontal swipe through posts which is like my only factor for a good
redditLemmy appNeither. My two favorite are Voyager and Connect.
I'm using Voyager (!voyagerapp@lemmy.world) and it's near perfect! Only thing that could make it even better is having it as a standalone app instead of a PWA (which currently you'd really have to install via Chrome as PWAs are just slower with Firefox), and aeharding is working on it!
I'm waiting for boost to launch until then i am using jerboa
Liftoff.
Honestly i am still waiting for that slide port :(
I just downloaded infinity to give it a shot and I find the UI to be a little rougher around the edges. The most noticeable is the layout of posts on the feed - the icons dont look like they are consistent sizes and the lack of grouping compared to Sync (like having a box around both vote and vote count) makes it look more cluttered. I also think the default theme color (the intense blue color) kinda hurts my eyes because it's too high contrast maybe, so changing that was the first thing I did- I think having a milder default would provide a better out of the box experience.
I have no major gripes about the base functionality, they're both functional enough for me but the aesthetics of sync win for now. Also it seems like both sync and infinity don't collapse the comment you pressed and only the replies, making it seemingly impossible to collapse top level comments which inconveniences how I read threads, by collapsing top level comments as I go down the thread - long top comments stay expanded so I have to scroll past a lot more.
Those are my first impressions based on never using either sync or infinity (be it lemmy or reddit) before like this week.
Edit: Just downloaded Connect too, looks very similar to Sync in level of polish so I think those will probably be my top 2
I'm trying Sync, Infinity and Thunder. I like Sync and Thunder because I like the polished UI. Infinity looks and feels kinda 'old'. But this is just me. All three deliver the feeling of coming home. They work like before, but with Lemmy features like images in comments. It's like Reddit but on the fediverse.
I keep flip-flopping between thunder and liftoff. I like the visual design of liftoff but thunder feels easier to use .... I could probably fiddle about with their settings and make one that last bit better than the other in either direction but I'm not sure wich way to go. (Posted from Liftoff)
Sync looks fine, so does Infinity, but I'd like to wait to switch over until there's an option to see both upvotes and downvotes separately, as is the case for certain instances
Been using Memmy on iOS but used to use Sync on my Android device. Now I got that and using it more and more. Love the customization features on Sync and this is the first time I truly didn’t miss Reddit.
I use summit. And its alright so far. I havnt tried the others.
For me, I used to love Sync for Reddit for a long time, until he switched to Material You without a real option to go back. Material You is just plain ugly.
Now that I'm on Lemmy, I stumbled across Summit, which looks good and performs good.
It's interesting to me how I've tried like 10 apps including Sync which everyone raves about and for me one of the least mentioned is best: Connect. The UI is cleaner than the others. The navigation transitions are a little janky but not horrible and I'm hoping they'll smooth out eventually.
Permanently Deleted
Jerboa. It works for me. I used to use Relay and while it had more features, I really am not missing it that much.
Personally there is not much to into a decent app: after all it is just text and images.
I'll give the other apps a shot soon, but I'm really glad to have Sync back. It was the Reddit app of my choice.
If you don't like it, that's perfectly fine. You still have the option to use any other third-party Lemmy app of your choice.