Sync for Reddit fans, rejoice: Sync is back from the dead! However, it isn’t back to connect you to Reddit. To use it, you’ll need to commit to a different social networking platform entirely. Let’s dive into it.
Sync for Reddit’s recent demise
Sync for Reddit was a popular client that connected Android users to Reddit for a solid decade. That is, until Reddit suddenly changed its rules surrounding charging for API access, the feature that allows third-party apps to actually connect to Reddit. According to developers, the charges were unfairly high, with Apollo for Reddit developer Christian Selig saying it would cost him $20 million a year to continuing operating his app.
As such, all of the major third-party Reddit apps shuttered their digital doors on June 30, one day before the API pricing changes took effect. That included Sync for Reddit: In a brief post, developer Lj Dawson lamented shutting down Sync, saying how they didn’t want to close the app and thanking the community that made the app possible in the first place. As you can see from the nearly 3,000 comments in that thread, the community felt the same way.
While many of the third-party Reddit apps have hung up their hats, Sync hasn’t—at least, not entirely. While there’s no getting around Reddit’s absurd API pricing (most assuredly designed to kill apps like Sync), Sync has decided to take its ventures to another app that, at this stage, is much kinder to third-party options that increase the overall usage of their service.
Introducing: Sync for Lemmy
The new Sync app, now available in beta on the Play Store, is for Lemmy, not Reddit. Lemmy, for the uninitiated, is like Reddit, but federated. Unlike Reddit, Lemmy isn’t run by one company or one website; rather, it is made up of a collection of servers that can all talk to one another to make one cohesive experience. It’s similar to the comparison between Mastodon and Twitter: Both platforms let you post your thoughts and follow people who post their thoughts, but while Twitter is run by one company, Mastodon is made up of a federation of different servers.
Once you get used to this different approach, Lemmy might turn out to be a suitable Reddit alternative. If so, former Sync for Reddit users might just find a home in Sync for Lemmy, which comes with Material You support, swipe actions, customizable quick actions, AMOLED dark mode, and more. This commenter says as much.
Sync for Lemmy is a free download, and is available to use without charge. However, if you’re interested in certain features, such as no ads, cloud backup, tagging users, translating text, and selecting text from images, you can subscribe to Sync Ultra, which runs for $1.99 per month, or $16.99 per year if you’d like to commit and save a little cash.