Why is Apollo shutting down?

Reddit API changes force beloved app to close

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You may be aware right now, that Reddit is introducing API charges that will affect all the Third-party apps that use the Reddit API. One of those apps is Apollo, and according to a recent post, seems to be at the center of quite a controversy. Come listen to the story of Alleged blackmail, slander, and API changes. Here’s why Apollo is shutting down.

You must understand that all of the information in this article is basically a summation of a post made by u/iamthatis, the creator of Apollo. In which they provide their own evidence. We will link where we can, but we aren’t presenting anything here as a solid fact, just information as it stands from the post over on Reddit.

What’s happening with Reddit’s API changes?

First of all, we need to understand what’s going on. Why is Apollo shutting down?

A recent policy change by Reddit has put many beloved third-party mobile apps at risk of being shut down. A moderator in r/videos reports. The change involves a price increase for accessing Reddit’s API, which will have a detrimental effect on apps like Apollo. These apps offer unique features that enhance the user experience but will become permanently inaccessible due to the new pricing.

The impact of this policy change extends beyond mobile users. It also threatens other means of customizing Reddit, such as Reddit Enhancement Suite and the old.reddit.com desktop interface. These options may be limited or eliminated as a result.

The problem caused by this policy change extends to subreddit moderators as well. Many of them rely on external tools only available through third-party apps to effectively manage and maintain their communities, ensuring they stay on-topic and free from spam.

Overall, the Reddit policy change has raised concerns about the loss of quality-of-life features and customization options, affecting both users and moderators alike.

Why does this mean Apollo has to shut down?

The owner of the Apollo app has expressed serious concerns about the steep cost associated with accessing Reddit’s API. They have revealed that at their current rate of 7 billion requests per month, they would be required to pay an astronomical amount of $1.7 million per month or a staggering $20 million per year.

The owner strongly believes that this pricing is both unrealistic and unjust, as it would impose an unsustainable financial burden on the app. Such exorbitant costs to maintain operations would ultimately lead to the app’s demise, jeopardizing the experience for its users.

All of this can be read in greater detail in our “Huge Reddit protest set to commence June 12th” post. If you want to learn more.

Now you’re all caught up, we need to hear u/iamthatis‘ side of the story.

How did allegations arise?

Obviously, the developers of Reddit had to contact the developers and owners of the third-party apps that use Reddit’s API to discuss pricing. Sometime in May, Reddit called Apollo to discuss these price changes.

It was during this call that u/iamthatis became concerned about the pricing of the new API requests, As u/iamthatis had cleverly whipped up an app prior that will spit out the price per month/year for Apollo to run as it is now.

The costs appeared to be astronomical and almost 20x what Reddit had predicted at the time. Coming in at around $2.50 per month per user, when Reddit estimated it would be around $0.12.

Fast forward to May 31st, on another call with Reddit, u/iamthatis proposed that Reddit just buy the App, instead of running it, since it’s costing Reddit so much money currently to allow the app to use Reddit’s API for free.

u/iamthatis said in their post:

“I believe it’s a fair question. If these apps apparently cost so much, an easy solution that would likely make everyone happy would be to simply buy these apps out. So I brought that up to them during a call on May 31st where I was suggesting a variety of potential solutions.“

Reddit allegedly misinterpreted u/iamthatis’ proposition as a threat

Around 24 hours after that call on May 31st, u/iamthatis received a message on their Masterdon:

“Can you please comment publicly about the internal Reddit claim that you tried to “blackmail” them for a $10,000,000 payout to “stay quiet”?“

u/iamthatis also learned that yesterday (June 8th) Reddit moderators were on a call with CEO Steve Huffman, claiming that u/iamthatis had threatened Reddit.

Steve: “Apollo threatened us, said they’ll “make it easy” if Reddit gave them $10 million.“

Steve: “This guy behind the scenes is coercing us. He’s threatening us.“

What u/iamthatis actually said, by their reckoning

u/iamthatis is adamant that what they said was not meant to be a threat, instead, they insist that Reddit employees are intentionally lying in a slander attempt. Here’s what u/iamthatis had to say in their Reddit post:

“The bizarre thing is – initially – on the call you interpreted that as a threat. Even giving you the benefit of the doubt that maybe my phrasing was confusing, I asked for you to elaborate on how you found what I said to be a threat, because I was incredibly confused how you interpreted it that way. You responded that I said “Hey, if you want this to go away…” Which is not at all what I said, so I reiterated that I said “If you want to Apollo to go quiet, as in it’s quite loud in terms of API usage“.

“What did you then say?“

Me: “I said ‘If you want Apollo to go quiet’. Like in terms of- I would say it’s quite loud in terms of its API usage.“

Reddit: “Oh. Go quiet as in that. Okay, got it. Got it. Sorry.”

Reddit: “That’s a complete misinterpretation on my end. I apologize. I apologize immediately.“

“The admission that you mistook me, and the four subsequent apologies led me to believe that you acknowledged you mistook me and you were apologetic. The fact that you’re pretending none of this happened (or was recorded), and instead espousing a different reality where instead of apologizing for taking it as a threat, you’re instead going the complete opposite direction and saying “He threatened us!” is so low I almost don’t believe it.”

u/iamthatis then went on to explain that he has the transcripts of this part of the call and the Audio recording of this part of the call.

An important note

Note: that we will not be posting the link to the audio of the call, Canadian law states that as long as one person consents to be recorded on the call, it is okay for the call to be recorded.

We are based in the UK, and the laws differ here from that of the ones in Canada. But you can find the link to the audio call in u/iamthatis’ Reddit post.

The whole reason for the owner of Apollo to bring all this up is an important one, it’s to protect himself from any foul play. In their own words, they posted:

“I bring this up for two reasons:”

• I don’t want Reddit slandering me to internal employees or public people by saying I threatened them when they reality is that they immediately apologized for misunderstanding me.
• It shows why I’ve finally come to the conclusion that I don’t think this situation is recoverable. If Reddit is willing to stoop to such deep lows as to slander individuals with blatant lies to try to get community favor back, I no longer have any faith they want this to work, or ever did.

Final word

We don’t know who’s right and wrong in this scenario, but the owner of Apollo makes a compelling case and has the sources to back it up.

It’s all a bit of a mess really, but deserves to be shared in case it’s another case of a giant corporation squashing the little guy by unfair means. Apollo shutting down has to be an extremely sad day, u/iamthatis in fact notes it as such at the beginning of their post.

These allegations are serious and can be career-ruining if they get out, so we think u/iamthatis has every right to do what is necessary to protect their name and image in a lawful manner.

Let us know what you think of the latest developments, again, we strongly encourage you to read the full Reddit post, as this article merely scratches the surface of the situation. This is why Apollo is shutting down.