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Yikes
This Dev is so greedy that even if he adjusts his prices down to earth, I’ll probably just skip it and wait for one of the other 3rd party Reddit app devs to come out with their lemmy versions.
What a turn off.
There’s a one time purchase at 1/5 the cost to disable ads. This is for the ultra subscription.
Yeah, he’s asking $20 to disable ads. Hilarious when there are already ad_free apps out here.
Yikes, that’s really steep and puts a bit of a bad taste in my mouth, tbh. :(
This is just for ultra. Ad free is a one time payment
Got it, thanks!
Honestly that’s fair. There’s way less of a subscriber base here, development time is expensive, and you need to foresee circumstances for the future (look how many people Apollo dev had to refund). Sync is also such a great app, I’m personally just using the ad version at the moment on my android phone (and this is from Memmy on iOS). Sync is still one of the best apps I’ve ever used and keep an android phone just for it.
How does less of a subscriber base lead to way more expensive price? Unless the dev is greedy and wanting to suck the souls of all the early adopters.
Well, let’s just do the math: the original pro version has over 100,000 downloads over it’s 10 years of life. At $3, that means the dev earn at least $300,000 over 10 years, minus 30% play store fee. Let’s say they earn at least $27,000 per year, which is almost twice the minimum wage at the very least.
Now lets do the math for Lemmy version: some metrics say we have 1 million users. Let’s assume 10% of them are active users (100,000), and among those active users, lets assume 10% of them (10,000) buy Sync for Lemmy at $3 (the original price) one time purchase (a very generous estimate). This means the dev will get $27,000 (after 30% cut from play store) from those users, ever. Even more likely is only less than 1% of active users buy it, which means the dev would earn something like $3000. Even if they sell it for $20 it’s likely they still won’t earn the same amount as the old Reddit version.
So yeah, I don’t think the dev is greedy. In fact, I’m concerned that they won’t get enough money to earn their living and we’ll all have to go back to Jerboa (it’s good though, but not as good as sync).
$3? I paid $40 cdn for Sync lifetime in May 2022. Toss an extra zero on some of your numbers there, it might have been $3 initially but it definitely went up.
3x the price for the lemmy edition is a steep hike.
It was 1$ at the beginning for the pro version.
I think some lines got confused between the calculations being originally done. The person you replied to was referring to the price of Sync Pro (Removed ads) whereas I’m pretty sure you and the original commenter are referring to Sync Ultra (extra features).
Sync Pro was certainly never that high, but Ultra was for the lifetime purchase option.
Can’t estimate how much sales the dev actually got on ultra lifetime because the sales data is not public. This is just an estimate for sync pro.
Explained way better than I hahah. Comparatively, developers of his caliber should be making $200k a year salary (though the market has cooled recently).
I guess best way to put it is imagine Sync Reddit had 10,000 subscribers with each paying $10 lifetime. You’re netting $100,000 for those signups.
Now the dev time hasn’t changed (in fact I’d say it actually increased as he has to research and test with a brand new API), and now his potential subscribers have decreased dramatically. To accommodate for that you need to charge a lot more as the developer is expecting only ~1000 subscribers.
Yeah I’ll just take the non intrusive ads on my feed.
Fuck that. I’ll take no ads and no gouging. Choice is the whole reason you are here and not in reddit still.
Sounds like you’re doing exactly what you’d like to do… which is what everyone else is also doing
Nope
Or use one of the myriad of other ad-free apps?
I don’t get the fanboi-ism, it didn’t blow my socks off when I was on Reddit either. I used Slide and RIF.
Sync looks like the apple, Tesla/musk of some.
Sync is polished with an experienced dev. All of the other free Lemmy apps have some kind of compromise. They’re fine, but they definitely feel like they are free.
IDK, I’ve been pretty impressed with Connect, I haven’t had it bug on me yet, it’s really configurable, and looks good.
Then you should use that, honestly.
For those of us who really like Sync, we really like Sync and are willing to pay for it. I’ve tried the other apps, they’re not bad but they aren’t as good. For me. Others may have different opinions and that is fine for them.
I’m not sitting here trying to tell everyone else that what they like doesn’t make sense. I’m just happy that what I like is now available. And I have no problem paying for it, considering how many hours of my life I have already spent using this app’s reddit version.
Same here, love Connect, feels close enough to RIF to be a good replacement for the experience.
those ad free apps will probably add ads later down the line if I had to guess. maybe they won’t but devs gotta eat
For the foss apps, i doubt it. People will just fork them if the app development direction does not agree with the community direction.
I bought the top of the line Sync for Reddit when it finally rolled to the new look. Had 0 regrets.
For the amount of time I spent on (cough) reddit, the value I drew per dollar spent was solid. I got greater happiness from that than… alcohol, a nice dinner, or food delivery (which I never use).
But those are my points of comparison. Early in life, I worried about affording the next tank of gas or a large mechanical expense. During that period, ad free would be ambitious and top of the line would be… a family present to me around an important event. And how do you explain that?
It’s the baseline and budget. Comparing to FOSS it may not rate. Comparing to a night out… I get more from the app over its lifetime.
If people can afford Sync, hopefully they (we) can afford to donate to keep the servers running?
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₹9900!!!
I bought 2 smartphones for my friends last month. Combined total cost of those was roughly ₹10200.
Sounds like I should buy my phones in India.
$50 wouldn’t have nearly as much of a negative reaction. $100 is awfully steep for a community as small as Lemmy.
But I’m glad the yearly sub is only $17, so I may get that instead.
It’s not “only” $17, it’s $17 every single year, indefinitely. In six years you’ll be over the $100 price it’s at now.
Subscription services are a scam meant to quietly part a large population of their money without their realizing it.
First, $17 is a lot more affordable for some people. We don’t all have $100 we can just throw at a app whenever we like.
Second, a cheap yearly subscription is not a big deal to some people, especially those that want to help the dev out.
And thirdly, subscriptions are not scams unless you’re tricked into signing up for one.
I’ll be dead in 6 years.
We’ll all wish we were dead by then.
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It’s steep because Lemmy is a small community
A small community of people who are probably mostly not interested in paying quite this much for an app.
If this is what it costs to continue development then I’m going to be surprised if enough people pay it to ensure its long term viability as a business in the first place.
I personally would never pay a subscription for a 3rd party Lemmy app. That defeats some part of why I moved to Lemmy to begin with.
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There’s a discussion to be had about the pricing structure of subscription based apps, but I catch the drift you’re not here for a debate.
There’s two options here:
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you deliberately chose to ignore the cheaper $20 ad removal option and chose to engage in bad-faith flamebaiting instead
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you’re incompetent and never even saw the cheaper option and instead of chosing to leave sync behind and use one of the myriad of other apps, chose to engage in bad-faith flamebaiting instead.
Take that attitude of yours and get right the fuck out of here. Discussions like you’re inciting them are not welcome here. Get the fuck out, where you and that mental diarrhea of an opinion of yours belong.
Take a deep breath, relax, no need to get all worked up.
RIF Golden Platinum was less than 5$ onetime. This app is equivalent to a web browser. It’s not like they are hosting lemmy themselves. No need for monthly subscription. Stop being a little bitch.
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All you Sync dick suckers in this thread have lost your minds.
You should head to the discord. People there literally choking on dev’s balls, it’s insane.
Your point is correct. While I love the UX and UI, the data collection is a fucking disgrace. Good thing I know how to block trackers, as I’m going to use a patched version of the app as soon as somebody releases one.
My motto is if an app has ads, the dev must be not that good. Otherwise you’d be able to pay for features because they’d develop features worth paying for.
Glad some people here are pointing that out.
Also, having people pay to remove ads on a ad-free platform is just disgusting misuse of open source generosity.
Instead, try to add something instead of infiltrating it with ads just to make money off.
You’re right. Your local instance deserves that money more so than any app. Maybe if there was a revenue share I could get behind it but not like this.
It would be a logistical nightmare, but I would love a Pay What You Want model with a percentage going to the Lemmy backend developers and a percentage going to your local instance.
You will attract the fanboys base. But, I second this. People should give the same amount of money to an instance before giving to these closed apps. Without the instances, they couldn’t use the apps.
Why assume that people paying for an app haven’t already donated to an instance or two?
I’m not assuming. My point is that the dev has to share the revenues with the instances. Without instances, the app is useless. It’s not the case so users should give the same.
The other point is that a paid third party client adds a layer what makes the instances less visible. This lack of visibility can lower the donation. Also, you will end with one or two people thinking they pay for the app and so for the instances.
A reminder is always good.
There is nothing to argue with. You are bashing a program without any correct facts. Its like watching an anti vaxer demand facts about why the microchips are sterilizing the penguins. It only makes sense in your head.
FYI lifetime Ad free is 12 bucks (20 now). Ultra lifetime is something else entirely.
20 bucks
It is only $12.99 to remove ads; the subscriptions also remove ads, but add extra features that you may not need
Not anymore, it’s bumped up to $19.99
It’s 22usd here to remove ads
Yeah, 22 Euros here as well. A little too much for just removing ads…
You’re paying to support the dev. The ad removal is just a bonus, you could do that by other means.
The Lemmy community doesn’t even compare to Reddit’s. Of course it’d charge more. Well worth it though, Sync is fantastic.
Honestly, if you’re paying to support the dev, ads won’t even needed to be added to the app.
While I do like Sync and Laurence, your argument is far from the truth, there are people that will think about paying just to remove the ads. Supporting the dev will be just the bonus there.
Edit:
Also valid to say that a smaller user base don’t suddenly mean that you have to charge more, that thinking is, in all honesty, mind boggling to me.
On Reddit we had native ads, that paying for Sync Pro removed, a lot of tracking and data scrapping, well lots of negative points on using the official app, Sync there was a solution to have a better experience, here it’s just prettier (imo at least), smother, well polished and makes Lemmy feels like home since it’s the same way we used to browse reddit.
Other than that, it actually made the opposite, bringing ads to an ad free experience.
I know Laurence needs to have a income, everyone does. Sync is indeed awesome and being closed source is not a bad thing as some like to argue about, but again not an excuse to raise the price because there is less users currently.
If wasn’t for Lemmy existing Sync would be just dead. Simple as that, but I guess no one really think about this.
Anyway, I reached out to Laurence to see if there is a way Sync can at least help with instances also, that would make a huge difference on the way people feel about paying for a app that works on a 100% free and opensource platform.
I always pay to remove ads from apps I use, as opposed to using blockers, to support the devs, but this is the first time ever I see it cost this much.
Especially since Sync Pro (the ad-free version) for Reddit was like, less than 5€
And Sync pro have more function than this ad-free version planned to have.
100% agree
I’ll pay if it’s in the oven a bit more, but not like this. This is barebone
I was eagerly waiting to be able to pay to remove ads, but this pricing really struck me by surprise, was expecting it to be closer to the old pricing, but instead it’s like 4-5 times higher? Enough of a price increase to make me think twice, instead of immediately buying it like I was planning to.
How do I remove the ads without the ultra subscription? I can only see the full ultra suite options.
maybe you didn’t update the app?
I checked and ensured there were no updates pending. Where is the ad removal options in the settings?
there is an option to just remove ads at 20$ one time payment.
Wow that’s super expensive. Love the app, but this pricing can’t be justified given there are no API costs.
No API costs but Lemmy is still in constant and early development and would not doubt require many changes in the years to come.
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Well I’ve used Sync Pro for reddit for over 11 years with constant updates and I only paid 1.99 for that so I have pretty good faith in the developer this go around…
sync ultra is ongoing costs it’s mainly features that require dedicated servers and subscriptions from LJ like translation requiring paying google cloud setting sync requiring servers to store it there’s a plain ad free only that’s lifetime for $20
I think the ultra price for reddit was like 30 dollars for lifetime. 100+ bucks just seems like way to much.
Its $179 Australian. Absolutely not worth it to me.
For an app that you can’t even make a post from yet. I don’t care who you are, $180 for an app still missing basic functionality is always going to be a hard sell.
Eh.
People have been spoiled by the app store. Like I agree its a lot of money, but it also takes a lot of money to live, and if someone is a solo developer for a living then they depend on software sales. Lifetime purchases are tough. Once you get that money, the potential for more money from that customer is gone. Unless you follow a traditional software licensing model where you buy a version and upgrading past a major release requires another purvhase.
Im pretty sure he LJ has taken into account the heavily decreased sales potential of the lemmy market. Hes going to make substantially less sales, so he needs those sales to be worth it, especially if its a lifetime purchase. Its hard to strike a balance between worth it for the customer and worth it for the dev. Ideally the lifetime cost pushes would be purchasers towards an ongoing subscription while still providing value for both parties.
I agree $179aud us too much, and I wont be paying that myself, but I feel for LJ at the same time. Its not going to be easy making the money he may need to continue developing at the same rate.
Spoiled by the app store?
This is the same price as a windows 11 licence.
What is so app store about that?
Mas activator will help you with the price
Because people want to pay $1 or $2 for a full version of an app, and that may not be enough to justify development.
A windows license is still legacy software model. You dont buy a lifetime windows key, you buy a version key and have to pay again after a major update, although this looks like its currently evolving to a more free to play model. Microsoft has an exponentially wider audience who are mostly captive though, as opposed to LJ who has just had his audience dramatically reduced.
At the end of the day development takes time. Time is money. If LJ cant make a sustainable wage from sync they will have to work elsewhere and sync and its users are the ones who suffer.
I think Sync might end up hosting a Lemmy instance for ultra users. It could help user experience quite a bit
What would happen if you stop your subscription then? Lose your account?
There is no subscription though? It’s even written in the picture
Read again
That wouls be a fine value add, especially if it integrated features into the server code that were open sourced and down streamed. That would add some real weight to that purchase price.
I ues connect it looks almost the same and feels better and it is free
Sync is also free
Just run your phone through a free private DNS server and never see an ad again. I use dns.adguard.com.
None of my free apps show any ads on my phone.
I just can’t get myself to trust an ex Russian, offshore company with my dns traffic
Nextdns.io works well, and lets you customize tons of features. Alternatively, you can run a pihole on pretty much any spare computer to work as an home adblocker. You can also route up to an adblocking dns with it to double up.
You want to get extra wild, setup a wireguard vpn server at home after that, and have your phone auto connect to it when you leave your home wifi.
No more ads ever.
I mean sure, but that doesn’t support the hard work the developer or into this… So…
Just donate whatever amount you want directly to them then.
Those donation buttons, rarely ever get used. Because everyone would rather just think that everyone else donated so it’s fine if they don’t. And sure, some do donate (I’ve donated before) but that’s the actions of the very few.
I do this. But I would still like to pay the dev. Just not those prices,
There’s also the ad removal option for 20$ one time. If you don’t need the other features of ultra.
I do that too on my Samsung phone. Do you know a way to do it on iPhone?
Check out their instructions. You’ve got a couple options:
You either need to set the DNS in your phone settings somewhere or route all traffic through a VPN (should be a setting somewhere too). You can then use a VPN where you can set the DNS. I use tailscale for this
