Sync Ultra is a very reasonable $17 a YEAR. YouTube Premium is reaching that per MONTH. I have sync downloaded and it was the first thing I did. Thanks lj for the beautiful app.
[EDIT: That was a poor comparison, as pointed out in the comments. Leaving it for discussion sake.
There are many counterpoints and actually good discussion happening down below. Even if you don’t agree, thanks for showing me a different perspective!
If you want to support Sync, make sure to support the Lemmy Devs and your instance holders as well!
*This post was made early in the day before the update added the OTP option.]
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I’m not comfortable with a subscription model, sorry. I will happily pay for a one-time fee. For the use I do of Lemmy I’ll pay up to €5. If they want to release a new version of the app in, say, 2-3 years down the line and ask for a new fee, I’m fine too.
I’ll wait until Boost releases (it was my default Reddit app) and will choose between Sync, Boost, Summit, and Infinity paid versions.
Immediately bought Ultra. Monthly basis and thankfully set it up with my Google Play balance. So glad I use Google Rewards to help out!
Feels like reuniting with an old friend!
First thing I did after opening the app was to look for the Pro (ultra) in-app purchase. But monhtly payments, no thank you.
Same here. I hate subscriptions but would happily buy a Pro version like I did with Sync for Reddit.
What would you be willing to pay? I paid £4 for Sync in 2018. I can’t imagine a Pro (non-ultra) version would be that cheap this time.
At the minimum I’d think it’d match 1 year of Ultra (£17). Not sure if I’d pay that for Lemmy since I still use Sync for Reddit more.
Realistically, it would need to be higher than 1 year of Ultra, unless it only included some of the perks of Ultra. If it was priced the same for 1 year vs Lifetime, very few users would pay for the yearly sub.
Personally, I’m happy to keep paying the monthly sub to support LJ, if the development stalls or even stops completely, I’ll be stopping my subscription. I’m happy to provide continuous support for apps that I use daily if it means that the development continues.
New update Beta 25 dropped. Ad removal IAP is $12.99 USD.
Edit: increased to $19.99 USD
Edit 2: Ultra lifetime IAP added in Beta 26 for $99.99 USD
I suspect he may be A/B testing pricing. I could have sworn I saw $12.99 for the Ad Removal IAP earlier, but it’s showing $19.99 now.
Even $12.99 felt high just to remove ads. Especially when compared to previous Sync Pro pricing.
I also suspect there may be some testing of the appetite for higher pricing for early adopters… with the potential to lower pricing later for mass audience appeal.
I think we’re seeing a lot of long-time Sync users (who came from Sync for Reddit), so that audience is probably a bit more amenable to higher pricing to support the developer, but this pricing doesn’t seem competitive with the broader Lemmy community.
I’m seeing 19.99…???
Which is in line with my comment, I was simply saying that Ultra Lifetime will most likely cost more than Ultra Yearly.
I’m really confused why people feel this way. Can’t you just cancel it if you feel like it’s not worth it anymore?
I just don’t do subscriptions. One of the aspects I hated about my foray into the Apple app store where everything seemed to be subscription or ads. Quickly missed Android and places like f-droid where I knew I could find ad free and subscription free open source alternatives.
I was happy to pay for apps like Procreate and Lumafusion though, so it’s not that I’m against paying for ads. I just don’t do subscriptions.
I generally do not do subscriptions either, but I do make some exceptions for specific apps/services. At least for me, Sync is one of those for now.
When I think about it I think it’s mainly been web hosting type services where data is being streamed or stored on the cloud that I’ve been fine with subscriptions for. And then not so much for pure software preferring more pay once and then pay for a new version update down the line type of approach like Office 2021 for example over Office 365. Although, I’ve moved mostly to libreoffice.
Same for games. I’d rather pay Diablo 4 $70 over paying for PS+ or game pass. Chose to forgo online multiplayer than pay for PS+ on my PS4 last Gen. Generally preferred a large one time lump sum than small monthly payments for things, since I suppose I just a distaste for adding more monthly expenses to the already growing list of monthly expenses.
Plus, how many years do you think Diablo 4 will be supported with updates/patches? At $17/year Sync will be just as expensive after a few years and doesn’t exactly have the same development team size or cost as something like Diablo…
Completely fair point.
I gladly pay subscriptions for services. I see that the Ultra has cloud backup of settings, but how much storage could that possibly use? Certainly not $2/mo worth. For that price I’ll want the equivalent of 100Gb of storage in the cloud.
edit: I’d send $2/mo. to the admins of my instance. They’re running the servers that host all this content.
Good point, I didn’t think about it when I wrote my comment, but I agree that there’s a difference between paying for a software product and paying for a software service.
Unless the app offers you cloud functions like email, cloud storage, multi-player gaming, or social media sites(lemmy, kbin, mastodon), etc. I see subscriptions as a no-go.
That’s a very good point. Software as a product should have a different pricing model than software as a service.
Sync does have some cloud features (and I suspect push notifications will be one of them soon), but yeah, I understand paying for them isn’t for everyone.
I usually hate subscriptions that try to squeeze you for money.
In the case of sync, I see it as a recurring donation for LJ. 15 bucks is what I make in like 20 minutes as an engineer myself, so ‘paying’ 20 minutes of my salary to a developer of such an awesome app is no problem for me.
I think Christian with Apollo went with a much better approach where he didn’t put in any ads, but limited the app to only being able to use one account and putting a limit to the filter list. But, you could buy the pro version to remove those limits and he put in subscription options too. If subscription is to be pushed his approach felt like the most tasteful way to go.
Yeah, same here. It is a shame :(
Yea, I would gladly pay to remove ads. Like I already did for the Sync for Reddit. Twice. But no one likes subscriptions.
First thing I did, it’s amazing
I bought the ad free thing on Sync for Reddit but I’m not going to buy a subscription to access a service I host myself.
I love this app but I’m sicker of everything turning into a subscription than I’m frustrated at the Lemmy frontend.
Because he will always have to work on the app as long as it lives. So subscription does make sense here. And 17 dollars ain’t much at all
The problem is how apps are bought on mobile now.
With PC applications, you’d buy a specific version and you would maybe get updates for a year. Then the developer would release an update and you would decide whether it was worth buying the update for the new enhancements. If it wasn’t then you’d stick with the old version until the next new version and make the choice again. This way the developer gets paid regularly by new and existing users if they produce a good app.
On mobile, you buy an app and expect to get updates for the life of the app. The developer is expected to keep producing updates whether the app is complete or not otherwise their app is labelled as dead. They only get paid by new users.
That second model is simply not sustainable from the developer’s point of view for any reasonably sized app so they need to think of ways to make it work. There are only two options which are ads and subscriptions and people don’t like either.
Of course, PC apps are also moving to subscriptions to remove the option that you used to have to not pay them for a year or two if they’re not providing good enough updates.
Everything is a subscription because users demand their software be updated on a consistent basis. That’s the nature of software development.
Exactly. A lot of people fail to see this.
What’s more infuriating is that Lemmy itself doesn’t have ads but Sync has, sadly.
I’ll admit to being a bit confused because I’ve been using sync for a couple of hours now and have yet to see an ad myself.
I’ve seen ads but I have also seen empty ad placeholders.
I’ve noticed that no ads are shown when you disable all tracking and reject cookies. Might be EU only though.
I’m Canadian, dunno if we’d have a similar effect.
Yeah I just started using it and I haven’t seen an ad. I know what ads for Sync looked like on Reddit, too.
Yeah, I’m not too happy about that. I’ll give this a few days, at least, but I can’t stand ads. It never occurred to me that they would be brought in for a platform that otherwise has none. I paid for a lifetime subscription on Sync for Reddit. For Lemmy, Connect is close enough to the Sync experience that I’m about to say fuck this and go back to it.
I am happy as well with Voyager as web app for both Android and PC.
Sync dev time doesn’t come for free. “Pay or see ads” is a fine model and I’m willing to pay off development. I don’t want a subscription, though.
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I’m absolutely fine with paying for apps! I’ve already paid for the ad free tier of Sync for Reddit. I just don’t want yet another subscription.
No, I’m with you. I had Sync Pro for Reddit and would happily do the same here. Like you, I just don’t want another subscription.
I understand, but the dev works on this app full time so he has to earn a living somehow. Even the core Lemmy devs are able to work on Lemmy full time because they got some funding from a grant.
I mean i agree the dev should be paid for the work. But it just seems a bit odd to require a subscription to remove ads using a service that does not have ads or backend cost from a api. I think there should be no ads or at the very least a one time purchase to remove just ads. Like I understand a subscription for like power user features. And i am not some cheap ass complaining I have probably given the dev 100+ dollars in support between patreon, ultra subscription, ultra lifetime purchases.
But the dev already confirmed that they’ll put a one time payment for removing ads though, just not in this beta release.
That information should be front and centre.
Yeah LJ clearly underestimated how much people hate subscriptions here
But when you serve ads on a platform that doesn’t have ads, why would I use the ad enabled app when I can just go on the actual site?
Everyone needs to make their own decision but IMO Sync’s UI is a million times better than the actual site even with ads.
But there are tons of other third party apps that are ad free that are just as good as Sync.
In my recollection sync for reddit had multiple long gaps in communication from the dev, including pretty shortly after subscriptions were first announced. I appreciate the desire to be paid, but I didn’t find it clear that there were ongoing development or support efforts.
He took a few months off here or there for irl issues. I’ve been using Sync for nearly a decade, my personal opinion is that the drama is overblown. Even if he disappeared I would have gotten my money’s worth out of the app, I used it daily for 1 - 2 hours a day.
Agreed, I’ve been using sync since 2016 and yeah the Dev disappeared here and there for a bit but it was always for personal reasons. Shit happens. The drama was definitely a bit much IMO.
That being said, I’m absolutely sick of everything turning into subscriptions, I’ll wait for either the lifetime option or just removing ads.
Oye, Timothy
Oye beltalowda, fo keng to im gut.
Fuck it, third
Same here. I would buy lifetime again but I’m done with subs.
https://lemm.ee/comment/1774742
Guys, chill. It’s just the first public beta. At least give a man a few weeks to iron things out. Geez.
subscriptions based services are mostly about cash grabbing. I really hate it that you have to pay a subscription to use a software. I’ll purchase any software for a reasonable price but I’d never subscribe for a software product like this.
You don’t “host” the front end development of the client though.
It still takes dev time, and that’s expensive, and this is the beta implementation. Lj said he plans to add the lifetime option, but for this first release, he did not include it as he wanted to see how lemmy held up first. If this all died out in a couple weeks after the api changes from reddit, it would have been pointless. This allows for those of us who want to support the development now to enable him to focus full time. With thousands of users vs. the millions reddit had having a dollar purchase to remove ads, it just wouldn’t scale right now to make this a feasible full-time project.
I’m still pretty new to Lemmy, and was a BaconReader Pro user for reddit. While I hold a great deal of respect for the sync developers, and agree they deserve compensation for making such a big development shift, I’m still not convinced that I’ll keep using Lemmy. There’s an awful lot of bitching about reddit, which isn’t interesting to me at all, ddos attacks, and the general difficulty of use associated with federated service. Sync has made it much more approachable for sure, but I’m not sold on continued use. If I opt to stay for a while, I can’t imagine NOT sending the devs some compensation for making the app/service.
While I hold a great deal of respect for the sync developers
There’s only one developer.
Ok
Shut up and take my money!
I’ll put my money where my mouth is just like last time if they give a one time option to remove ads. I don’t the extra stuff and don’t want another subscription.
Is there not going to be a lifetime pro (one-time purchase) option?
There is, people are knee-jerking to the beta version, which is subscription for now. Once things are out of beta, a one-time-purchase version will be available.
It’s already there. Got added in an update.
I’m not paying a subscription and the first ad I see I’m uninstalling it.
Sync pro was my go to for reddit, but I refuse to pay for a subscription.
I would be happy with a less intrusive one
Wait until the revanced team patches the ads. There’s an open request for it on the GitHub, so very likely it will happen.
Lucky patcher and adaway. Haven’t seen one ad so far.
The idea of buying something when I haven’t used it yet is kind of ridiculous, especially when the only option is an auto-renewing subscription service. If I could pay for a single month without having to figure out how and when I can cancel or it was a single purchase, I’d be more likely to give it a shot. Signing up for a subscription without knowing if the product is good just doesn’t make sense to me
Add that to the fact that I have to pay to get the same no ads experience as many other free apps, that kinda rubs me the wrong way
After thinking a little more, I had another frustrating realization. Some of the core tenants of the fediverse are being ad-free and respecting privacy. Sync breaks both of these, inserting ads in an ad free platform and collecting your personal data for the purpose of selling it to ad companies (explicitly stated in privacy policy).
As much as I liked sync for Reddit, I don’t think I’m going to use sync for Lemmy. The paradigm of the platform is different, but sync has not adapted
I think it might be better if sync actually not offering free version at all instead of including ads, given the almost universal hate for data collection among Lemmy users.
If I could pay for a single month without having to figure out how and when I can cancel
You just just subscribe and then immediately cancel the subscription in the play store just like any other play store subscription service.
I’m not trying to say it’s unreasonably priced, but that comparison with YouTube is not really fair. Delivering video content is an incredibly expensive service
And YouTube actually produces content, and some of your subscription goes to the independent creators. If this subscription somehow paid for Lemmy servers that I was using then it’d be far more reasonable. One time purchase or no purchase for me
The one time ad free payment is on the way. J is holding out on lifetime ultra since he wants to see where Lemmy is heading.
Had some Google Play balance, supported the dev. This is already the best Lemmy app by far.
