Obviously they needed one app to be saved to tell people “see, just work with us and you can keep operating”. But is there a reason behind choosing that specific app, or did they just take a random one?
The reason I heard is that Red Reader is totally free and open source, unlike most others. It also has accessability features that the official app lacks.
Quantum Badger, the developer still seems quite pessimistic about things though and he hasn’t had any assurances about how long the exemption will last for, from what I understand.
He’s talking about adapting the code to make it more Fediverse compatible, so hopefully Lemmy compatible in the not too distant future. This has to be the way long term now that Reddit is heading towards IPO.
I’ve been a Red Reader user for years, from the time when Reddit is Fun went from open to closed source and it’s a great app. I think I’m ready to quit Reddit now and start exploring alternatives and I’m sure in only a few months there will be new apps that work with the Fediverse which will offer a Reddit-like experience.
Once the critical mass of users is achieved it should hopefully scale fine, with a diverse range of instances absorbing the load influx.
I’m a bit more cynical, given the circumstances. When I read Red Reader was getting an exception I checked it out and, as a general purpose Reddit app for Android, I found it clunky in comparison to apps like Infinity and Boost. I wonder if that was the actual rationale, i.e. choose an app that’s not as appealing an alternative to the official app so that you can cite it as justification that you are listening to app developers who “do it right” with respect to open source, accessibility etc.
RedReader has screenreader support and is popular with the blind community. Their exception from API charges is as an accessibility app.
From the wording Reddit used, Specifically as a non-commercial accessibility app.
It’s seems non-commercial alone , or accessibility alone is not enough to be excempt
Indeed. If you read the actual statement they got, you’ll find that The Verge has been very irresponsible in how they reported it.
“We’ve connected with select developers of non-commercial apps that address accessibility needs and offered them exemptions from our large-scale pricing terms,” Reddit spokesperson Tim Rathschmidt says in a statement to The Verge.
This is just PR fire-fighting. There’s no commitment to do this for any other apps. If people prefer the different accessibility features of other apps, then they will remain screwed.
