Apollo, one of the most beloved iOS apps used to browse Reddit, will be shutting down due to the company’s new API pricing that will make the app much more expensive to operate.
The app will shut down on June 30th, according to developer Christian Selig. “Reddit’s recent decisions and actions have unfortunately made it impossible for Apollo to continue,” Selig wrote on Twitter.
Apollo will close down on June 30th. Reddit’s recent decisions and actions have unfortunately made it impossible for Apollo to continue. Thank you so, so much for all the support over the years. ❤️ https://t.co/HOJaLMW8fx
— Christian Selig (@ChristianSelig) June 8, 2023
Selig went into further detail in an extensive post on Reddit. He reiterated that based on Reddit’s current plans for the API pricing, he would have to pay more than $20 million per year to operate the app. “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 wrote. “That’s a lot of users to migrate, plans to create, things to test, and to get through app review, and it’s just not economically feasible. It’s much cheaper for me to simply shut down.”
Selig also pushed back on Reddit’s claims that Apollo is “less efficient” than other apps, saying that Reddit is unfairly framing its data, because Apollo uses a fraction of a percent of Reddit’s own previously stated API rate limits.
The Apollo developer’s post also contains a link to a partial audio recording of a conversation between Selig and a Reddit employee — because Selig wants to prove he never blackmailed Reddit for $10 million. (Selig did joke about this, the audio seems to show, but he claims that Reddit CEO Steve Huffman is internally accusing him of threatening the company.)
Reddit spokesperson Tim Rathschmidt declined to comment but said that the company plans to post more information on Thursday and on Friday. The company will host an AMA with Huffman on Friday “about the latest API updates, including accessibility, mod bots, and third-party mod tools.”
Many of Reddit’s biggest communities will go dark or block new posts on June 12th to protest the platform’s API pricing changes, including r/gaming, r/Music, r/Pics, r/todayilearned, r/art, r/DIY, r/EarthPorn, r/explainlikeimfive, r/gadgets, r/LifeProTips... here’s an unofficial list.
On Tuesday, following the news of that protest, Reddit announced it would create a specific exemption to its new API pricing for makers of accessibility apps, but it doesn’t seem to have made any accommodation that will allow Apollo to survive.
Selig says that he will delete Apollo’s API token “on the evening of June 30th” Pacific Time, and until then, “Apollo should continue to operate as it has.” If you have subscribed to Apollo, Selig says that “over the next few weeks” he is planning to offer a pro-rated refund to get money back for the time left in your subscription.
Update June 8th, 3:33PM ET: Added that Reddit will be doing an AMA with CEO Steve Huffman on Friday.
