Apollo, one of the most popular iOS applications on Reddit, will be discontinued as a result of the company’s decision to implement new API fees, which would make it significantly more expensive to maintain the app. Did you expect something like this to happen?
Christian Selig’s Apollo app won’t be able to survive the new API price regulations implemented by Reddit, which might end up costing him more than $20 million annually. On June 30, the Apollo project will be terminated.
In his statement, Selig spoke further on the decision to remove Apollo from the competition and explained the reasoning behind the decision. He stated that in order to run the app, he would be required to pay more than $20 million in annual fees based on the existing pricing plans for the API that Reddit has in place. That is clearly more than we could have ever imagined.
Selig also pushed back on Reddit’s assertions that Apollo is “less efficient” than other applications, arguing that Reddit is unjustly framing its statistics because Apollo only utilizes a fraction of a percent of Reddit’s own previously stated API rate restrictions.
Going from a free API for 8 years to suddenly incurring massive costs is not something I can feasibly make work with only 30 days,” Selig explained.
Many of Reddit’s biggest communities will go dark or block new posts on June 12 to protest the platform’s API pricing changes, including “r/gaming, r/Pics, r/todayilearned, r/Music, r/art, r/explainlikeimfive, r/gadgets, r/DIY, r/EarthPorn, r/LifeProTips,” and more.
In his announcement, Selig stated that he would deactivate Apollo’s API token “on the evening of June 30” Pacific Time and that until that time. If you have already paid to Apollo, Selig states that “over the next few weeks,” he plans to issue a pro-rated refund so that you may get money back for the time that is still available in your membership.
Recently, Reddit issued an announcement that it will offer a particular exception to its new API fees for developers of accessible applications. Still, it does not appear to have made any accommodations that would make it possible for Apollo to continue existing.