this post was submitted on 03 Aug 2023

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Voyager

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The official lemmy community for Voyager, an open source, mobile-first client for lemmy.

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Tried out Sync for Lemmy today... I'm back (lemmy.world)

submitted 1 year ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

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I just don't want the data collection and subscriptions.

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[–] [email protected] 22 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (4 children)

Haven't tried it but I just decided to put a recurring donation for aeharding on Github, Sync for Lemmy's tracking-infused ad model and the pricing for the ad-free versions just convinced me that we need to support open-source devs even more.

I find it sad that lots of people seem to be excited to pay $20 for a closed-source app but very few supported the devs that have been developing the apps that carried us on their backs until now for free.

Voyager has only 22 sponsors right now and hasn't even reached his $250/month goal on Github, while Sync for Lemmy is already asking for $100 for a OTP for the Ultra version.

[–] [email protected] 8 points 1 year ago

Hey, thanks for sponsoring! 💙

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

TIL I can give people money on github

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

People have a certain familiarity with Sync. I would pay $20 if "Relay for Reddit" were ported over. The other apps just lack a ton of polish unfortunately. Liftoff is the closest to being what I want (besides Sync).

Even still, I don't understand the backlash against the Sync dev charging for his work. If he's successful, others may see a viable path forward and follow him. We should WANT a variety of quality Lemmy clients out there for users. A good experience is how you gain/retain users. I'm also all for open source options for users. Users should have a choice.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 1 year ago

It's not charging people have issue with, but the initial subscription model approach to ads it took.

It might have worked for Reddit with its api calls they were charging for and the space of reddit generally being full on monetization of its users, but for something related to the fediverse it was off putting. And I think people here are more adverse to ads even being present in an app than paying.

Approach to subscription requests I've found best has been Christians approach with Apollo of having no ads but less features on the free version like limits to filters, no multiple account logins, and no submissions.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago (2 children)

Can you post a link for the donation for Voyager

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago

you have a "sponsors" button in the sidebar of this community 😁

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago

https://github.com/sponsors/aeharding/

[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 year ago

The main data collection post I assume you saw was misleading and isn't a true list of what data is collected. Viewing their privacy policy will tell you exactly what it collects and it's only a handful of things.

But so long as everyone uses what to get like then it shouldn't matter 🙂

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago

Ok.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago

If you pay the 1 time and removal then no ads, no subscription, and then there's no tracking either. It's only part of the Google Ads which isn't used if you remove ads.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I'm using Connect, works for the most part

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago

Connect is my favorite personally. Thunder is slicker and has a more polished UI but it's glitchy as hell.

Hoping boost for Lemmy is successful and doesn't do what sync did. I loved boost in my reddit days and would gladly pay to purchase (not subscribe) like i did way back when for boost.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

Trying Voyager now, installed the app on my android via Firefox. It's nice and simple and I really like the look and feel of the UI, both when posts are compact and large.

My only complaint, which is true for all the FOSS Lemmy apps, is that the appearance settings, really all settings, are global for the app and not based on the account you are browsing with. That is the one nice feature of Sync that is stopping me from sticking with any of the FOSS apps. Having my account on lemm.ee open straight to All Communities with compact posts and NSFW blurred, while having my ...other Lemmy account.. open straight to Local Communities with large posts and no NSFW blurring is a really nice feature of Sync.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago (1 children)

You may try Infinity for Lemmy. It's a fork of Infinity for Reddit and it is actively being developed.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago (1 children)

The UI is not good

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago

But at least it is functional, smooth and loads faster.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I'm using free apps and I donate. Although I feel as though I need to donate to the instances more. Can only imagine their costs going higher as they get more traffic.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago

Actually most are doing fine/not seeing a huge influx anymore. Beehaw is even downsizing. The rexxit bump is largely past and the usage is finding it's new level. That plus version improvements is reducing load.

That said, nothing wrong with donating to an instance you like! I donate to the ones that disclose their financials. I like the transparency and helps me assess if my donation is fair/equitable.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago (1 children)

They have a one time purchase option but, it’s expensive

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago (2 children)

Yea. $100 is a bit much when voyager is such a great app.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Holy crap - that is a lot. Well, welcome back.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago (2 children)

It's $20 for just removing ads permanently. But still, that's still too much imo.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 year ago

It's pretty high when apps like Lumafusion are a one time purchase of $30 or $20 during sale. And then there's procreate at $13. I guess I just don't value social media apps that much. Especially when the browser of Foss alternatives have been sufficient for me that don't have any ads in the app itself to begin with. Which is a reason I've always preferred separate apps like reddit is fun platinum over IAP approaches to removing ads from apps.

[–] [email protected] -1 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Yep it is. Also I have a distrust for any kind of selling point involving the words 'permanent' or 'lifetime'.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 year ago (1 children)

It isn't a selling point. It was launched without a one time purchase option and was added when so many people immediately asked for a lifetime purchase instead.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago (1 children)

That's.......literally what a selling point is.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago

No. It just straight up isn't. A selling point is something you use as advertising to sell something.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

Ad removal is £19.

[–] [email protected] 0 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Yeah, same boat here. Was a longtime Sync Pro user back on reddit, and saw LJ as a dev worth supporting, but I'm not entirely on board with the changes on the privacy end. Maybe if that stuff changes I'll go back.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 year ago (2 children)

It's pretty much the same as it was on the free Sync tier.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I guess after a few months here we forgot about entities that literally only care about money and data harvesting.

Why would anyone use sync over Infinity?

An open source app that has always been every bit as good, if not better.

I would rather give that money to the host of my local instance.

[–] [email protected] 0 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Because I like Sync better and value is subjective. Besides, the dev is super responsive and active, Sync pushes updates very frequently with fixes and community requested features.

[–] Levsgetso 1 points 1 year ago

And that’s a perfectly valid reason. I gave sync a try and really liked it, there just a few settings to adjust imo. Overall I think it’s one of the best lemmy app out there right now. I see why people would want an open source app but that doesn’t mean to mock the ones who have chosen to use sync.

[–] [email protected] -1 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

Quite. That's why I used to use Pro, however. And ultra as a regular subscription is... a bit out of my price range. I've heard that there's an ad free only tier priced lower, but I couldn't find it in the app, so... shrug

I'll probably come back to it eventually after post-launch flux ends and such, but we'll see.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

There's a lifetime ad free tier for 20 bucks. It was on the sidebar for me.