Casey NewtonCatching up on the Reddit API mess. Are there other big API users besides Apollo? Links welcome
steve 
@caseynewton RIF https://www.reddit.com/r/redditisfun/comments/144gmfq/rif_will_shut_down_on_june_30_2023_in_response_to/
Will C 🚗 ⚡️@caseynewton I believe Reddit is Fun is impacted
monorail times@wheelsee @caseynewton Sync as well
Sam Burkhard@caseynewton Reddit is Fun
endeavorance 🕊️@caseynewton Tons of popular 3rd party apps (Reddit is Fun, Baconreader, etc) as well as basically all major bot integrations, and ingestion systems like NetNewsWire
A big part as well is moderation tooling. The (volunteer) moderation teams rely on a lot of 3rd party systems to do their work, which Reddit is just casting aside while still expecting them to maintain those communities
@endeavorance thank you! any more info / links on what moderation tools used the API? would love to include
Drew Breunig@caseynewton @endeavorance Same and would be interested to learn about these. I keep hearing this is the case but have not read any specific examples.
@caseynewton @endeavorance A quick search says the most popular 3rd party mod tool is *not* affected: https://www.reddit.com/r/toolbox/comments/13x0gl8/will_the_api_pricing_affect_toolbox_in_any_way/
@dbreunig a lot of it has to do with the available tooling on mobile apps for moderators not being good in the main app.
(I'm mid boss fight at the moment, but I saw earlier the toolbox dev say that the reddit changes and whatnot has them concerned about what the future looks like, but also have seen them say its not immediately impacted. apologies for the brevity. Boss fight.)
@endeavorance Yes, that is what I linked to. They are not impacted and impacting them would be very hard, because they are a browser plugin just manipulating HTML/CSS/JS. It's not an API.
Do you know of some features of 3rd party apps that mods consider essential? (And I'll wait for the conclusion of boss fight.)
@dbreunig late reply. Banging my head against high difficulty content when tired is a bad idea.
ANYWAY, yeah the dev of that plugin has commented a few different sentiments in a handful of threads. I saw a different one to the one you linked but I think we're on the same page.
A cursory scan of more replies to the top of the post thread shows a good few references and resources, I'd point to there for helpful info as there's infographics by people much more deep into it than I am.
@endeavorance The infographic has no specific functions, tool names, etc.
@caseynewton I'll see if I can find good direct sources. Look into a11y-focused apps too!
Some of it is that moderators use 3rd party apps which have better innate mod management UIs for working on the go. The official Reddit app is just leagues behind on mobile support for mods.
Extensions like toolbox [1] are on thin ice, as they use the API but reuse the existing session, so not immediately dying. The Toolbox dev has expressed concern about the future there.
[1] https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/moderator-toolbox-for-red/jhjpjhhkcbkmgdkahnckfboefnkgghpo
@caseynewton (of course, tons of discussion links now just lead to restricted subreddits because of the protest WHOOPS)
GerakionThe big one is probably Pushshift https://github.com/pushshift/api. Though reddit might still make pushshift available to verified mods. This quote explains some use cases:
"Many moderators have shared their concerns about the potential loss of pushshift emphasizing its importance for their moderation tools, subreddit analysis, and overall management of large communities. One moderator, for instance, mentioned the invaluable ability to access comprehensive historical lists of submissions for their subreddit, crucial for training Automoderator filters. Another expressed concerns about the potential increase in spam content, and the impact on the quality of the platform due to losing access to Pushshift, which powers general moderation bots like BotDefense and repost detection bots. "
https://www.reddit.com/r/pushshift/comments/135tdl2/a_response_from_pushshift_a_call_for/
@caseynewton @endeavorance For an overview of the whole thing (focused mostly on the 3P apps)
Tim@caseynewton Well, probably a couple of Android clients? Sync, Boost, Relay, RIF, infinity, Joey...
Maxi 12x 💉@caseynewton All the moderation tools redditors used were accessing the API, found this info graphic: https://twitter.com/FullMetaDuchess/status/1668175077266067456
@frumble this is super helpful, thank you so much!
Lunar 🛸 ♾@caseynewton Haven't seen Infinity mentioned yet, it's not quite as popular as the likes of Apollo and Rif, but it's still up there. https://old.reddit.com/r/Infinity_For_Reddit/
MrEUser@caseynewton
https://www.imore.com/best-reddit-apps-ios
Reddit didn’t have an app until 2016. They bought Alien Blue. Then they replaced it with their own homegrown app.
And now they want everyone to use IT instead of the market that exists and propped up Reddit for years…
Paul@caseynewton essentially, Apollo is the #1 Reddit client on iOS and RIF ("Reddit Is Fun") is the #1 Reddit client on Android. I guess it isn't fun any more!
Mike Beasley@caseynewton Reddit posted a chart showing the top 10 apps using the API (names removed, only usage shown) and someone at Reddit confirmed to the Apollo dev that the app wasn’t any of the ones shown there. So tons of apps using it, and many of them using it more than Apollo.
Lots of moderation tools rely on the API and they’re getting cut off. Plus apps like NetNewsWire.
Chase Martin 
@caseynewton I remember really enjoying Relay when I had an android phone
Chloe Tse 
@caseynewton I have android so I use RIF (Reddit is Fun) https://www.reddit.com/r/redditisfun/comments/144gmfq/rif_will_shut_down_on_june_30_2023_in_response_to
hannah aubry@caseynewton I think the disruption of bot & moderation tools is the most harmful outcome of the API change: https://www.reddit.com/r/modnews/comments/13wshdp/api_update_continued_access_to_our_api_for/
Overcome5588@caseynewton Every single app or service that uses Reddits APIs are in the crosshairs. Reddit clearly wants to end 3rd party services.
Oliver Kamer@caseynewton yeah a bunch https://www.theverge.com/2023/6/8/23754616/reddit-third-party-apps-api-shutdown-rif-reddplanet-sync
They all have easily findable reddit threads, but I'm not going on the platform currently.
PMacDiggity@caseynewton I think the real story here is they’re gating the API, and the data created and curated by users, to sell a highly tagged data set for AI training. It didn’t matter to them if it’s created by users, or if it goes to shit in the future, they have the asset already as-is and that’s what they’re going to sell.
@pmacdiggity good point
Joel@pmacdiggity @caseynewton yes this is it. I’ve only seen one article mention it, and I haven’t seen anything on Reddit itself among the deluge of posts about the api changes
Bob K Mertz 
@caseynewton Here's a pretty funny story.... Reddit crashed today and they blamed it on people..... not using the site? 😂
I get that maybe it increased API hits but it's still pretty laughable (not to mention an indicator of just how many people use third party apps).
Sukrit Venkatagiri@caseynewton Pushshift! Though they seem to have worked out an agreement with Reddit?
Telodzrum@caseynewton Sync is the biggest on the Android side, I think. Slide and Infinity are the biggest FOSS apps. Others have mentioned Reddit Is Fun (RIF).
Chris Zikopoulos@caseynewton https://apps.apple.com/app/id845422455 From my use case the best iPhone and iPad Reddit app.
narwhal for reddit
narwhal is a fast, gesture-based application to browse all of reddit. All of these features were designed from the ground up specifically for iOS: - View any and all subreddits - A seamless experience to see a link and its comments at the same time - Voting on posts and comments through a simple s…
Megapenguinx@caseynewton most of the bots not least of which the MTGCardfetcher bot which is used heavily by all the Magic subs