Following community outrage and protests, Reddit has taken the step of shutting down several third-party apps. Among them, Apollo, which had become a symbol of recent protests against Reddit’s API pricing, no longer displays any content from the platform. Christian Selig, the developer behind Apollo, confirmed that Reddit was responsible for disabling the app. He expressed disappointment over the lack of a specific shutdown timeline. Another popular app, BaconReader, also exhibits an error message and fails to load content. Despite facing backlash and protests, Reddit remained steadfast, resulting in the official shutdown of certain apps.
This widely expected development followed Selig’s testimony in May, where he revealed that the API pricing would incur a cost of $20 million annually, prompting him to announce Apollo’s shutdown by the end of June. Other app developers also announced their intentions to cease operations. Reddit’s treatment of Selig and other third-party app developers provoked user outrage, leading to protests in an effort to persuade Reddit to reconsider its position. However, Reddit maintained its stance, resulting in the disappearance of several apps. Although not all apps are vanishing, a few such as Narwhal, Relay, and Now will still be available but will eventually transition to a subscription-based model.
It is important to note that Reddit implemented the shutdown earlier than expected. This decision was particularly frustrating for Selig as Apollo had recently been featured during Apple’s WWDC 2023 keynote. When asked about his plans to continue using Reddit after Apollo’s shutdown, Selig’s response remains unclear.
