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Comment by skizm | Hacker News Reader

I wonder if Reddit just bought Apollo and sunset it over like 2 years (think darksky), if this would have all blown over.

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The official iOS Reddit app was already from a purchased third party client that people used to like (AlienBlue).

The issue is the popular apps will inherently be at odds with Reddit's goals, because popular apps are popular due to their user-friendly experiences, and Reddit doesn't want a nice app where users can get in and out without interference. They want dark patterns that get you mindlessly scrolling forever, showing you ads, and tracking every tap and fling you do.

Right, agreed, which is why the very long sunset period would make people grumble but theoretically not yell for blood.

That said I’m not sure if it would work. Just speculating.

I think people would pick up the change of ownership and flee for greener pastures. Think MySQL.

Actually, to be honest... can anyone think of an example where a company bought a competitor with a large user base, and then just outright, or even gradually destroyed their acquisition? Mismanaged, sure. But destroyed? Nothing comes to mind immediately. Like was Vine destroyed or mismanaged?

Maybe this distinction doesn't matter. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Apollo is only one of many third party apps. RIF, Relay, Sync, Narwhal, BaconReader, Readder, and Slide are the ones I can recall off the top of my head. There are dozens of others out there, and Apollo is iOS-only. Apollo just happens to have arguably the most dedicated userbase and made the most noise when these actions were taken, which is why it's front and center.

Not really, it's not like Apollo has 90% of the 3rd party app users, there are tons of other apps, and this would have happened regardless. Apollo just gave them a martyr to make it a bit easier

never underestimate the ability of redditors to find something to get angry about

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