Voyager is free and the pwa feels close to a native app.
And if you’re on Android, the free apps that fully function are…
Liftoff (amazing)
Thunder (amazing)
Connect (great, but not sure if it’s open source?)
Summit
Nemmy
Beyond (tried it and didn’t like that it defaults to Lemmy.ml)
Lemmitof (haven’t tried yet)
Voyager just started their TestFlight app version a few days ago and it’s really great (on iOS.) It added haptic feedback which is very nice, and fixes the freezing issue. Otherwise it’s identical, I think. I’d guess there will be an android app sometime.
I’m also testing Memmy and using Mlem - both are coming along great, but Voyager app version is the cleanest and my favorite atm.
Looking forward to trying Sync when it comes to iOS. Never tried it for Reddit - only used Apollo.
Fuck PWA. I want a native, fast app with no JavaScript.
It’s fast and it’s about as native as most apps get nowadays. Kotlin on Android or Swift on iOS still run in virtual machines with GC not unlike Javascript. Nobody writes apps in C++ either. Maybe one day we will do it in Rust when there’s ever a good mobile GUI framework.
Also by fast I do mean fast. Much better than any other PWA or website I’ve ever used and on par with good native apps. There do be some bugs, I’ve run into two and they’re a bit annoying, but I’m sure they’ll be fixed soon enough. The dev is super active and it’s open source so anyone can contribute.
Much of the time you can’t really tell it’s not Apollo and that was the best reddit app hands down.
I do have a recent iPhone though. Maybe an older or lower end phone won’t be as fast. But even so, I would still recommend trying it.
Your argument for "as native as most apps” falls apart pretty quickly though.
I’m not saying it’s a bad app. I’m just saying it’s a badly made app, because JavaScript was a joke 30 years ago, it’s a joke today. (ThePrimeagen)
Most apps aren’t native, so being “as native” as the baseline average or better isn’t even saying much at all. They’re all using V8, and I’m slightly less disgruntled if they use something like React Native or whatever instead of Vue and virtual DOM stuff. This was brief but you get the idea.
Also, Xamarin and Flutter/Skia do exist.
React native, Xamarin, Flutter aren’t REALLY native either. Neither are, like I said, the main languages either mobile platform’s owner wants you to use.
Mobile apps are rarely native for real these days.
Voyager uses React so it uses the Virtual DOM much like Vue (which often tends to be faster) or React Native. I can’t see how using React Native instead of React like you suggested is all that much better. It’s all the same shit.
You want native, there’s Dioxus for Rust or I guess QT for C++. Those will compile into actual binaries rather than some sort of bytecode running in an interpreter. But these take much more time to write complex apps in and in a world where we want all our apps to be free, they’re hard to justify.
It’s interesting you quote ThePrimeagen about Javascript, because it’s literally the main language he uses/used at Netflix and he often says it’s not a bad language. He’s got a workshop on Javascript coming in November.
I hate the language as much as any and have avoided using it professionally, but your arguments are pretty weak. Modern Javascript engines are ridiculously fast, which is why a WELL MADE web app can be much faster than a shoddily made “native” app.
Edit: It’s now available on the app store, making it native by your definition. Which is to say it has direct access to some system APIs, but it still renders a vDOM like any other react native app.
The developer worked his ass off to repurpose his app to Lemmy for us.
I was more than happy to pay for his time. Hard work deserves reward. If people aren’t going to pay him and use the free version, which you’re welcome to, then he makes his money from ads (which pay fuck-all)
You’re just a bunch of cheapskates who want to be entertained for nothing.
ya went a little too far at the end there. nothing wrong with not wanting to pay a subscription fee lol. its not a noble cause to pay some dude who made an app we dont need
Complaining about a $20 purchase you don’t have to make qualifies for “cheapskate” I think. Simply not purchasing it, or not wanting to purchase it, is fine. The difference is entitlement.
I think the point of this post was the lack of regional pricing, so for them it is not a $20 purchase.
its not a noble cause to pay some dude who made an app we dont need
Do you think professional independent developers shouldn’t be paid for their work? Do you think this kind of development is effortless?
I don’t understand why people keep parroting this. The app is free. It’s a professionally developed app, where the quality tradeoff is either ads (which can be blocked) or your choice of ad removal payments.
This isn’t some company trying to exploit the community here, this is a full time app developer who just had his livelihood completely cut off. People begged him to make a version for Lemmy, and he did. He deserves to be paid for the hours and work he put in to make it happen. You can’t make an app if you can’t buy food or pay rent.
And if you don’t like that, then don’t use it. He’s never pressured users into paying, and he’s never suggested everyone on Lemmy should just send him money. He isn’t even spamming posts advertising the app, enthusiastic users are.
Why is everyone so upset?
I’m not the one who’s upset. Look at the guy I replied to. I’m literally not using the app and it’s not my responsibility to support the creator lol. I’m literally just saying I’m not a cheapskate because I’m not using your paid alternative.
No one is calling you a cheapskate. It’s just that when you said this:
its not a noble cause to pay some dude who made an app we dont need
…in context, it comes off as “Sync is not necessary to exist, therefore no one should pay him.”
I understand what you mean now, but you worded it terribly.
And by the way, going around in the comments being unnecessarily hostile and calling people “dumbfuck” or “asshole,” when they were just as confused at your poor phrasing, makes you come off as an asshole, so maybe work on that :)
No one is calling you a cheapskate.
Dude read the comment I was replying to…
it comes off as “Sync is not necessary to exist, therefore no one should pay him.”
I did not say any of those words. wtf. I didn’t word shit terribly, you just made stuff up.
makes you come off as an asshole, so maybe work on that :)
Whether or not this is passive aggressive, it sounds like it is, which makes you come off as an asshole, so maybe work on that :)
No one is calling you a cheapskate.
Dude read the comment I was replying to…
He was definitely talking about people using the app and complaining that they can’t have it all for free. You’re not one of those people.
The original post is about someone using a free app (the web app). They check out Sync and see that it has ads and costs money otherwise, and that cost has no regional pricing (apparently). So they continue to use the web app. It’s a fair complaint and it doesn’t make them a cheapskate. Doesn’t have anything to do with other people’s choices. Doesn’t mean the dev is an evil person. It’s a just a bruh moment they had.
It’s the reason lemmy is struggling, it’s mainly Linux gatekeepers and foss elitists. Along with lemmy needing a slight learning period, the community just spews toxic shit relentlessly.
FOSS is elitism?
No. Elitists are the ones who are elitists. They just chose FOSS as their high horse to be holier than though. To beat the vegan horse I’m going to use Linux users as an example.
Anytime anyone irl talks about Linux it’s not really about how great Linux has met their needs. It’s usually about how great it is that it isn’t windows.
Why is everyone so upset?
You know why, it’s because in the eyes of Lemmy users who have been here all along, launch of Sync is the start of their eternal September. I moved to reddit back in 2010 as a Digg refugee after the infamous redesign, I saw much of the same back then (down to the plethora of programming and Linux memes).
Sync isn’t trying to replace all Lemmy frontends or other FOSS apps, it’s trying to provide a Reddit-like experience for people who miss it.
People just find reasons to be upset, I swear.
it’s trying to provide a Reddit-like experience for people who miss it.
Ads and all 🤣
He didn’t go too far. It is a broad and overbearing, but generally accurate statement.
How? I don’t want to pay for an app when I have one that satisfies my needs for free.That doesn’t make me a cheapskate. I was using this before Sync was even available. I can express my opinions about it too. I don’t think it’s worth the money when the service is already free and I don’t like it’s tactics to make you pay. But again, why would I care if someone paid for Sync? I’m not going to call all Sync users money wasters. Clearly they found value in it. People who didn’t aren’t just cheapskates
Nothing works for “free” they ask for donations. And just cuz you don’t wanna use an app doesn’t make it useless or an app “we don’t need”. Also there’s not “tactics” to make you pay, guy’s just asking you to pay to remove ads, they made the app, it’s their choice how it should work. You’re not expected to buy it or use it, it’s just out there as an option if you want to.
It is free, in both meanings of the word. Donations are donations. I didn’t say it was useless and by “we” i mean all the people that guy called cheapskate. They are tactics. Never said it wasn’t their choice. For the last time, I don’t use the fucking app. That doesn’t make me a cheapskate. This is the most ridiculous comment section. The original guy was shitting on others for NOT using the app. I don’t fucking caaaare what people use. Good lord.
- You clearly do. 2. Cheapskate.
It’s the implication that the sync dev is doing something nefarious by charging to remove ads from the free app they developed.
I didn’t imply that. I don’t like the ad model and I think it’s bad for people. How many times are people going to try to make this dev sound like the most humble person ever. The poor dev made this free app and you wont support them. Dude can and already has made money. I’m not saying not to support independent devs. I’m saying I don’t like the model and that’s my fucking choice to not use it. I’m fine with Jerboa and I’m not a cheapskate because I wasn’t convinced to use Sync. This is the most bizarre opposition I’ve ever faced.
It’s not really bizarre. You’re digging in to something and responding to each comment, and every time you do, you talk from a perspective that to others is obviously flawed. In every comment you said “noooo I’m not a cheapskate, I just want an app for free” and that is amusing.
You’re the asshole who posts useless bug reports on GitHub but never donates. Get the 🦆 out of my project issues.
I literally said I donate dumbass. I don’t want Sync for free cunt. I don’t want Sync at all if it uses ads I have to pay to remove when I have a free alternative. That’s not a cheapskate decision. That’s called not wasting my fucking money. If someone likes Sync, then it isn’t a waste for them.
And I reply each time you do. Doesn’t take that long. Beyond that, the people digging this far are like you. My original comments are upvoted so clearly I’m not against everyone here…
not wanting to pay a subscription fee
It’s a one-time $20. It’s literally in the meme were both commenting on.
Irrelevant to my point but either way I saw other posts about a subscription.
If you don’t need it just don’t buy it. You’re bitching about someone wanting money for their hard work.
Not to mention, there are still a bunch of free options in other apps. Voyager, Memmy, modem, liftoff!, etc. Use one of those if you’re too cheap to pay for someone else’s work, yknow?
I FUCKING ALREADY AM
WHY DOES NOT BUYING SYNC MAKE ME CHEAP? Look! A guy made an app that costs money! What? You don’t want to use it? You’re cheap!
I mean…I don’t use it. But I’m not the one bitching about $20.
i never bitched about $20. its so funny how many times i had to explain this. i didnt use the app because i already had a free app that i dont pay for. i see no reason to use the paid app. somehow that completely reasonable decision makes me a “cheapskate”. I dont even know how you could read what I just said and think that reply would make sense.
dumbfuck i wasnt the one bitching. read what i wrote asshole
I see more aspects of reddit have made it here. great.
It’s a forum. Not everything is reddit.
The major issue for some is regional pricing. Where I’m from lifetime costs around $110 in regional currency
Someone correct me but IIRC the Reddit Is Fun paid version costed way less that 20$.
I hope they release Lemmy Is Fun or something.
He doesn’t deserve any reward for making spyware/adware garbage. His app is at odds with the ethos of lemmy. Fuck your ad hominem.
Lol spyware 🤣🤣
Do you work for free?
@drekly @Plswrk, nobody needs to work for free, but creating incommings by spying the user to sell his data to third party isn’t an acceptable way to gain money. There are a lot of methodes to gain money in the network, but with surveillance advertising spyware is the worse and with big risks for the user, which can’t control where his personal data ends up.
He just put ads in his app mate. He’s not in the CIA
@drekly, simple ads are not a problem, if they are based on the content of the page and not based on user logs. Ads as is only can be somewhat annoying if there a lot in the page or they appears in the middle of a concert in YT, but no are a risk for the user privacy, no more than a commercial poster in the street or an ad in TV. As with all, bad the abuse. Years ago you saw 1-2 banners in a page, but novadays you must seek the webcontent between advertisings, banners, cookieadvices and popups
Ok?
@drekly, no ok, blocking trackers is legit selfdefense, but also the abuse of ads, blocking these also is needed. Only it isn’t a problem when a web shows an banner image or two, this can be tolerated, but not the abuse of ads currently and annoying popups, it is legit to block this crap.
You can maneuver all you want, it is spyware. My hobby work is free. I don’t track my users nor do I inundate them with ads. I believe that’s unethical.
My work work is not available for free in any capacity whatsoever.
Good job you’re not using an android phone so it doesn’t matter!
It’s his full time job, so his "work work " isn’t free in any capacity either, you either pay with ad revenue or you pay with $20
He chose to go down that path. No one forced him. It’s a brain dead argument mate.
Oh and btw, it is free in some capacity. You do not have to pay to use the free version. It’s literally called the fucking free version.
The free version with ads that pay the developer that everyone’s losing their minds over like they’ve never seen an advert before.
Rightfully so, because it tracks you, collects and sells your data and inundates you with ads, which is literally every single fucking thing lemmy was built to get around.
I don’t understand the people hating on Sync just as much as I don’t understand the people hating posts criticizing sync.
It’s an app. Let people use what they want to use lmao. Growth for Lemmy is a good thing regardless
I like the 20$ app-free version. Sounds like a solid business idea 🤔.
I also sell app free apps for 20
Actually, I’m willing to go down to 15
For 20$ even YOU can get
NOTHING
I’m using it right now. Working just fine so far, exactly the same as the reddit version, and I haven’t been asked to pay $20 for it.
All the self righteousness of lemmy is strange.
There’s not just better opinions, even small decisions are morally imbued and if someone steps out of line…
Wait, does using sync cause hurricanes? Earthquakes? Will the four big ponies of the lempocalypse arrive and snort angrily?
Otherwise, I get that a surge of people elated they have something you don’t/can’t have is off putting. FOMO is real.
But it doesn’t need all the meme-shade.
I think this is just a reaction to the massive amount of hype we all saw yesterday.
It’s a good app, but it’s expensive, potentially collects your data and shares it with advertisers, and it’s closed source. That’s the facts of the matter so far as I can tell…
The are pros and cons here, obviously, but it’s neither objectively positive or negative. With the pricetag comes unique features, like being able to tag people with notes. That’s neat!
Wat?
Apt name.
My post had 3 downvotes (meh), so I’m taking that to mean it made sense.
What part of it didn’t make sense to you? The part where I indicate you’re playing innocent while throwing shade? People can see your post history.
Yeah, but people aren’t as creepy as you, crawling around others post history and posting irrelevant reply.
Ohh and i don’t care about downvote, this isn’t reddit anymore, time to grow up. So what if i’m throwing shade? The app isn’t worth the price, it’s too expensive, i talk about it, so what?
Why is looking at someone’s post history creepy? That’s something somebody would say who’s worried about their previous posts
You do you ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Ohh and i don’t care about downvote, this isn’t reddit anymore, time to grow up.
Finding out who you’re talking to is actually… kind of a lot more mature than, “Wat?”
HAHAHHAHA
Great joke, but okay. “Wat” because your original comment is so out of touch and so one-sided.
I’m just happy we have all of these choices.
The FOSS apps are fantastic already and Sync is there if you want that too.
Yeah let’s just support Lemmy developers maybe?
The ads aren’t even working yet lol it’s still in beta. I don’t get why everyone is complaining.
People complaining seem to be in 2 camps:
-
This is not FOSS and thus is bad.
-
The pricing is too expensive.
For either case people are free to not use the app. Surely the existence of an app that makes the Lemmy experience so much better is a good thing. This grows the Lemmy universe.
-
infinity for lemmy is out posting this from infinity.
Infinity Gang Rise Up
look i dont got much money in the bank but people need to start donating to foss creators cause it’s getting dumb, musescore sold out to ultimate guitar and theyre going to shit cause guess what? no one gave money. the linux distro im using is ome of the biggest jn the world and it barely scrapes 1000 usd a month. when i get a job i’ll start giving money but people seriously need to chip in, im not mad at sync at all i get it
Just paying a visit to lemmy because Sync is out, and all I’ve seen is this. Lemmy is just another reddit, isn’t it? People here are no better like what they believe themselves to be, still the same everywhere.
Not a big fan of the price, but it’s free to use if you want and the app is amazingly smooth.
Also, if you decide to use this app for many years, the one time payment isn’t that bad at all.
Isn’t it a yearly subscription?
The $20 one-time fee is to remove ads from the “standard” app.
The subscription pricing is for Sync Ultra, which has Cloud backup for settings and some more advanced features in addition to no ads.
I ues connect it looks almost the same and feels better
Based
deleted by creator
I can’t believe that people are supporting an app that literally adds ads into a platform that doesn’t have ads, then makes you pay to remove them. Insane.
Perhaps lemmy admins should start charging apps like this for API access…
The intent is to provide developers with a sense of pride and accomplishment for being able to pay the API bill.
