Third-party Reddit App Narwhal Hopes To Survive Reddit's App Purge With Subscriptions (techcrunch.com) 20
An anonymous reader shared this report from TechCrunch:
After a nasty battle between the developers of third-party apps and Reddit management, ultimately resulting in a site-wide protest, many app makers were put out of business due to Reddit's price increases related to the usage of its API. Though the changes meant the loss of popular apps like Apollo, RIF (Reddit is Fun), ReddPlanent, Sync and BaconReader, one app, Narwhal, is attempting to make a comeback. The company announced this week that it will implement a subscription-based version of its app at $3.99 per month, promising an ad-free and privacy-focused experience.
The new app will also include a Tip Jar to solicit donations to help keep the app afloat beyond the subscription fees and fund additional development work. Though not available at launch, the app's developer Rick Harrison (u/det0ur on Reddit and CTO at Meadow by day) says he's considering adding a small fee, perhaps $1 per month, to allow users to also check their notifications and messages... Notes Narwhal's developer, Reddit's fee will be "tens of thousands if not hundreds of thousands a month depending on how many people subscribe." To work, the app will need a critical mass of subscribers to cover its costs, but Harrison says he's fairly confident the model will work.
"Also, with a simpler plan like this, I can offer a subscription on a Narwhal website for 30% less (no Apple cut)," Harrison wrote...
Narwhal isn't the only Reddit client to attempt to remain in business despite Reddit's API pricing changes. Another, Relay, announced a multi-tier subscription plan where users have to choose one of six price points, each that caps them at a certain number of API calls.
The new app will also include a Tip Jar to solicit donations to help keep the app afloat beyond the subscription fees and fund additional development work. Though not available at launch, the app's developer Rick Harrison (u/det0ur on Reddit and CTO at Meadow by day) says he's considering adding a small fee, perhaps $1 per month, to allow users to also check their notifications and messages... Notes Narwhal's developer, Reddit's fee will be "tens of thousands if not hundreds of thousands a month depending on how many people subscribe." To work, the app will need a critical mass of subscribers to cover its costs, but Harrison says he's fairly confident the model will work.
"Also, with a simpler plan like this, I can offer a subscription on a Narwhal website for 30% less (no Apple cut)," Harrison wrote...
Narwhal isn't the only Reddit client to attempt to remain in business despite Reddit's API pricing changes. Another, Relay, announced a multi-tier subscription plan where users have to choose one of six price points, each that caps them at a certain number of API calls.
Who is the target customer? (Score:4, Insightful)
Who is going to pay $4-5 per month to get a slightly different version of a free website? I would like to know so I can also target the fools and part them from their money.
Re:Who is the target customer? (Score:4, Insightful)
When the mobile version and official apps of said website are famously hated and considered far worse than those different versions it's definitely possible.
Re:Who is the target customer? (Score:4, Interesting)
And here back when I degraded myself by visiting Reddit... I foolishly used the standard web interface. It was good enough, why install an app on my phone at all?
I understand the whole admin tools thing, but if you're paying for Reddit you're doing it wrong. It just shouldn't be worth it to you.
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It's a weird side effect of a lack of explicit browser plugin support.
To me, the seminal and best desktop reddit is Reddit-Enchancement-Suite on the old style site. The standard Reddit you on desktop and mobile are both, imo, pretty anti-user friendly.
Since it's only kind of available on phones via some tricks a 3rd party app was the closest thing to replicating that experience. For the longest time for me that was BaconReader. RedReader which got a usability exception is a nice choice still.
Reddit's be
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if you're paying for Reddit you're doing it wrong. It just shouldn't be worth it to you.
It's participative entertainment. It's less a expensive and more productive hobby than watching series.
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When the mobile version and official apps of said website are famously hated and considered far worse than those different versions it's definitely possible.
Only if people consider the content worth paying for in the first place.
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Who is going to pay $4-5 per month to get a slightly different version of a free website?
I would like to know so I can also target the fools and part them from their money.
Reddit website users aren't the target audience here. The website is free and can be made functional with an adblocker.
This is targeting Reddit Mobile users. Reddits mobile website is unusable, in the most literal sense.
You can't read posts in followed subreddits because they only show up one out of five or six "posts" that are ads.
You can't read comments due to the ads and popups constantly interrupting and covering your screen.
An app promising an ad-free experience would let people use Reddit on their p
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Wonder if one could pipe that through their local computer to the mobile phone? Always on connections, VPNs, and cheap hardware make it possible.
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Many people spend dozens of hours per month on reddit. If it's a better experience, why not?
Some people here make hundreds of dollars per month from their job so they can afford it.
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I paid for the relay for reddit subscription the day it came out. I will 100% never use the reddit mobile app.
Here are some comments from friends in the last 24 hrs about reddit mobile app:
> Even better, my reddit app won't scroll up anymore. It just refreshes instead.
And:
> I hate the latest Reddit app update. Modmail is non functional
Yup:
> Absolutely. They somehow made a bad thing 5 times worse.
Why would I want to use the "free" version when it is just shovelware for ads and frustration?
Re:Who is the target customer? (Score:5, Insightful)
So now you're paying them via API fees in addition to your content being monetized via ads to those who use the official mobile app! Brilliant!
Sounds like the new business model is working as intended.
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Why would I use a page that is just shovelware for ads and frustration?
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Translastion: It's already free, why would I want ad-free and spyware-free too?
If the paid version stops protecting their paying members, those members can go to the free service. That will be a lesson for everyone. Unfortunately, the lesson of your post is, privacy doesn't matter. At least, until it does.
Reddit already does half of this (Score:2)
You can pay reddit $40/year, and browse with no ads.
That's $3.33 and change per month.
I've done this ever since the days when reddit actually needed the money.
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A broken mobile website that is just as broken for subscribers as it is for free users isn't worth $40 per year.
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A lot of people pay for Office 365 despite LibreOffice or even Google Docs being fine for their needs and completely free.
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Who is going to pay $4-5 per month to get a slightly different version of a free website? I would like to know so I can also target the fools and part them from their money.
$5 a month is less than a digital newspaper subscription, so I don't see why you have an issue with the price. The question is can a reddit app provide enough value? personally I'm enjoying not using reddit since my app got cutoff although I do find it a little tedious keeping up to date with the news important to me as now I check about 6 different websites instead of a single app.
Seems like they'd have a better chance ... (Score:2)