I was wondering, with all the different Lemmy clients and frontends, what/which out of these do people actually use? To answer this, I made a poll if anyone wants to fill it out, and I tried to put every client I could find.
I'm a bit sad that my favorite (Infinity/Eternity) isn't that high up. Loved it since my Reddit days. Tried different clients: Lemmy, thunder, liftoff, sync,... still like this the most!
Closing in on 10 years of Sync (Reddit/Lemmy). I'm too used to it to switch things around. The only time I'm using the mobile website is when I need to use spoilers.
On desktop, I switch between default, Photon and Alexandrite.
Memmy has been my favorite, although I wish it would go back to having updates. I understand they're taking a break though and I just need to be patient
I'm using Memmy too, although the app sometimes repeat post reply 5 times and I had to delete the other 4. I still use Memmy anyway and don't mind waiting till this gets fixed.
I'm using Memmy too, although the app sometimes repeat post reply 5 times and I had to delete the other 4. I still use Memmy anyway and don't mind waiting till this gets fixed.
I'm using Memmy too, although the app sometimes repeat post reply 5 times and I had to delete the other 4. I still use Memmy anyway and don't mind waiting till this gets fixed.
I'm using Memmy too, although the app sometimes repeat post reply 5 times and I had to delete the other 4. I still use Memmy anyway and don't mind waiting till this gets fixed.
I'm using Memmy too, although the app sometimes repeat post reply 5 times and I had to delete the other 4. I still use Memmy anyway and don't mind waiting till this gets fixed.
I'm using Memmy too, although the app sometimes repeat post reply 5 times and I had to delete the other 4. I still use Memmy anyway and don't mind waiting till this gets fixed.
My only problem with lemmy is the lack of a client. Right now, for me, memmy and voyager are the least worst, but they’re pretty bad.
I’m not even asking for an Apollo out of the gate. I’d settle for an Alien Blue. And I have no problem paying for it, either. I was an Apollo ne plus ultra user, or whatever it was called.
From an information architecture perspective, it really seems like reddit and lemmy might be close enough that a middle layer could be written that would make it easier to port user-facing apps from one api to the other. There’s obviously be some differences, but if feasible it might accelerate development of multiple client options at once.
For the record, I’ve tried memmy, voyager, mlem, lemmios, liftoff, and I am presently going to try bean. That’s approximately the order of how useable I’ve found them, but they each have their own annoyances. I don’t own an android device, but I hope the options are better over there.
In any case, I became a heavy reddit user only after Alien Blue came out. I became a very heavy user after Apollo came out. I left reddit the day external clients became unavailable.
I think lemmy has enormous potential, but the UX needs to be made easier if we’re to really make a dent in reddit usership and get the level of posts, comments, and active communities they have there.
I also suspect that the backend is going to need a better approach for handling the negative consequences of a large influx of users. I’m not talking about load - I’m talking about community management. Back in the day (by which I mean the early 90s) there was an email blacklist. Admins of important nodes in the email distribution network had a shared list of domains that had unsecured servers, and would update it based on where they saw the (then relatively recent phenomenon of) spam coming from.
I’m really interested in how the information flow network of the fediverse evolves, if it continues to grow. Are we going to find a network with community structure, with clumps of mutually federated instances that have few if any connections between them? If so, clients will have to have solid account creation and management, and the admin tools will need to be sophisticated.
I can't speak for iOS apps so comparing would be hard but, I'm quite satisfied with the current state (and estimated future) of the android clients. So far, I found Thunder and Eternity (fork from Infinity for Reddit) to be the most suitable for me.
I'm excited to see the progress in a year's time and which apps will be the most popular/developed by then
Yes, try Avelon OP! It’s really good. The UI is so smooth. Scrolling. And it has the ability to hide bars on scroll. It seems I’m the only one who cares about this feature haha but to me it makes content look much better without the navigation bars constantly being on display.
Yeah I really liked Memmy. The lack of updates wouldn’t bother me except there are a couple annoying bugs still. Also when I click on a community it opens in my browser. I’ve tested a bunch to find one that has everything I want. I’ve also settled on Avelon. The only thing it doesn’t have is multiple icon options and that’s not an important factor at all.
I think only Summit is as good as Sync is in smoothness, I voted for Sync, Voyager and Summit as those are the ones I use more, Voyager is nice, but it is not very smooth compared with the other two (using the native app).
Almost all of Syncs business model is ads. The free version has ads and almost everyone who pays for it is doing so to remove ads. Which is just rewarding the implementation of ads. I also disagree with the concept of profiting from free user content with ads like Reddit does. Which was Reddits primary goal of preventing third party apps. They wanted the ad revenue themselves instead of third parties getting the ad revenue.
The only way this can be acceptable is to not have a free ad version and only have a paid version. That way you are paying for software and not paying to remove ads or profiting from free user content.
I paid to remove ads from Reddit Sync in 2014. 9 years went by where I continued to use the app every single day, as ljdawson continued regular improvements and updates (aside from the incident). By the time Reddit Sync went away, I felt I had vastly underpaid for what I got, and purchased lifetime Ultra as a way of supporting ljdawson.
I totally get what you're saying. But at the same time, Sync is so much more than just the content that it displays. The ads are not there to profit on free content, they're there to support the user experience that sync provides. They're also far, far less obtrusive than typical ads
The nice thing is, there's choices! Feel free to use other clients and find what works best
Same here. I used the paid version sync for reddit for years and got my money's worth out of it. When the incident happened I switched to infinity and, while annoyed, I definitely felt I got my worth out of it. When ljdawson released sync for lemmy and added the ad-free upgrade I happily purchased it and I have been very satisfied with the app and all the improvements he is continually making. This is all coming from a hardcore open source 20+ years of Linux on the desktop guy.
I'm a sync user and pretty tired of these pointless statements. Don't want it, don't use it! I pay for ultra to support the dev and that's my choice. Again, if you don't want it, don't use it. But can you please stop this sync bashing? It's not as if the torrent of anti-sync memes forgot to cover what you are saying.
Why do you care if someone doesn't like your client of choice? They have some value that is different than yours, they have every right to express why they think people using sync is harmful. You are free to disagree but don't complain because they express an opinion you don't like.
This is such a bad take. Imagine being mad that the user has a choice for a low/no cost ad supported version and a paid version. There are other benefits too, like being able to trial the software for as long as you want before buying in.
I'm using the free version of Sync for Lemmy now, I don't see any ads. Maybe because my phone has the adguard server as my DNS server and it's just blocking them all?
Wait, how is earning revenue from having ads in your app "profiting off free user content," but charging someone directly to use the app isn't? They both do the same thing for the developer (generate revenue), the only difference is who is paying.
Synce is hilarious to me. "You know how Lemmy is completely free to use? What if it had ADs! And what if you had to pay money to remove those ADs!".
And people lined up around the block for it.
If people line up around the block for it, maybe it does actually add value? You can hate ads, I do too. But if people willingly look at ads to visit a website (Lemmy) that does not have any in its original version, then for those people the app obviously adds enough value to make it worth it, don't you think?
Every time I see comments like this I imagine that Reese meme from Malcom in The Middle saying "Wah Wah, too bad!" Or whatever the English translation of that is.
I was considering trying sync. thanks for the info. never gonna touch it now. there are too many good free browsers now to even bother. I'm still trying narrow down between the last three out of five different iOS ones I downloaded. they are all so good and Apollo like
I recently switched from Voyager to Avelon. Voyager is great and I’m keeping it because it’s always been so reliable, but I just really like Avelon. It has a nice explore tab for finding new communities, and it’s SwiftUI, so it has that clean native iOS look to it. They’re very similar otherwise.
Only things I miss in Avelon at this point are more sorting options for Home feed and a not full black dark mode. Voyager solves both of those for me so that’s where I’ve mostly been.
For me, it runs faster and smoother/more consistantly than the native Android app. I've not actually used the iOS one. Also, the updates come in faster.
I've noticed that all the Sync users are polite and never bash any other Lemmy client. Maybe because they know that we have a choice and they do too. I've got money to spare I will spend it on arguably the best app for Lemmy . You guys can use your FOSS . I never complained . Why are you???
Enjoy your clients. There are many. We have got an array of choices. That's awesome. Lemmy wins.
I tried a bunch of Lemmy clients and they all have some issues; some annoying, some catastrophic. The interesting thing is that the pros and cons complement each other, which has lead me to use Bean as my primary client and lifoff as the secondary one.
Bean is good for browsing, reading, commenting etc. When you get a reply in a long thread 4 layers deep, it’s the time for Liftoff to shine.
I tried using Thunder a while ago and didn't really like it when compared to liftoff, but that was earlier in the development timeline so it's probably better now
I use Connect. I like it. Seems to do what I need and I've used the customize settings to set font colors, etc.
I'll definitely be checking out Boost when the dev gets it set up. He's a one man show and tries hard to get things running 100% before releasing updates, so, I'm guessing a new app might take longer.
Yeah, i hear ya. Rueben really tries for "perfect" before he did updates on Boost Reddit. So, I imagine he's trying to make the best 3rd party app that will work without a hitch and give lots of custom options.
I use Sync for now, but full disclosure I am Beyond 's developer and as soon as it becomes more stable and with more features I will be making the switch 😁
I'm using Liftoff as well right now I wanted to take a look at Eternity a while ago but it just never came to that for some reason. Probably cause my main is kbin idk. Might as well just try it now that I'm reminded by the poll, I guess.
Edit: Well, Eternity doesn't seem to handle logging in from lemmy.blahaj.zone yet. Or something else's wrong with my credentials idk.
Liftoff doesn't work with beehaw right now but seems to work with other lemmy instances.
Yeah I'll probably check out the other open source lemmy apps. Sync doing the ads is a no go for me. I do really like lemmy so not sure really what I'm looking for.
You don't necessarily need it as a builtin option in Lemmy, actually. You'd just need someone to hand-roll it. Before GitHub had forums with surveys, there used to be a third party provider that offered inofficial surveys that could be added to comments as embedded SVG images. The only drawback was that you could vote even as a non-registered user (but that's true of Strawpoll as well). I sadly both forgot the name and think the company/people behind that tool may have stopped providing it.
I have four installed on Android: Sync, Jerboa, Connect and Voyager. Five if you count Firefox which is the only one that does all the admin tasks I need. I switch between them because as admin I find myself testing the user experience frequently.
I have Memmy on iOS, but really only use iOS for testing purposes. I don't browse with it.
I default to Sync for most browsing and commenting because the Dev is very active and it's the only client I know of with any mod tools at all. It is the most polished of the clients at the moment.
I'm using a mix of Sync and Eternity. I was using Infinity for Reddit before the migration.
Because Sync came first, it's still my default way to navigate Lemmy but Eternity is slowly growing on me. I prefer to alternate between a few apps to stay up to date on the alternatives, and to ensure I don't become dependant on a single app/interface.
I've also tested a few times Photon, great web UI which can be installed as a PWA.
I access Lemmy through the browser all the time. The experience is solid and consistent across devices and I need access to both mod and (occasionally) admin tools.
To be honest I was extremely skeptical about Sync because I didn't use it for Reddit and I thought that the default web-ui is pretty neat even on my mobile phone. But curiosity got me and I installed it, even though it's not FLOSS and it has ads in it which are two no-goes for me. Still I'm using it on the phone predominately, but I hate myself for it.
after trying a few, Eternity was the first one that worked without errors on my older Android phone. i enjoyed using Infinity previously and i'm glad it was repurposed
I use Connect too and I consider myself as bit of a power user(have 6 clients installed my phone). Connect has all the features or even more than any other client. The horizontal swipe to navigate the posts is my favourite and probably only client that has this feature.
I’m glad to see Voyager so high. I was hooked on Memmy for a while, even though I had been trying wefwef and a few other interfaces occasionally. But now the app version of Voyager is just about perfect for me.
So whats the consensus for ios apps right now? I know mlem was one of the first when the reddit crisis begun, I personally use memmy at the moment but few new alternatives came out with different levels of maintenance. What is the community opinion on different alternatives for ios?
I’ve used quite a few but settled on Avalon. It has all the extra features I want (mark read on scroll and custom swipes) along with all the normal stuff that works well. It also looks nice.
Given that Sync (the #1 response to far) is Android exclusive, the #2 option is Voyager, which is available for iOS.
Voyager started as an app called Wefwef but rebranded a few months ago. It aspires to be an Apollo equivalent for Lemmy and does a decent job of it, to hear others tell of it.
Just an interesting note, I see a lot of talk about Avalon in the comments being amazing but not as many votes as other clients. It seems pretty new, but already has a loyal userbase. Wish it was on Android so I could check it out!
Have tried out quite a few of the apps (was stuck the longest with Voyager, it's awesome) - but I tend to come back to Jerboa ever so often - may be because it is the oldest Android client for Lemmy, so probably the most tried and tested.
I kinda like the vintage look of Jerboa (and the cool icon) - so as soon as Jerboa gets its search feature enhanced (right now it just searches for communities, not posts or comments - but I hear that work is in progress) - Jerboa will become the best Lemmy app out there, at least for me.
Pretty happy with voyager, it's a pretty solid choice despite being styled entirely for iOS. I'll probably look into a more Android designed / focused app going forward.
Is there a way to collapse comment threads on it I'm missing? I've been loving some of its other features (like being the only one I've found that stretches when I turn my iPad lengthwise).
Curious what sync users find about it worth paying for above say Jerboa or whatever? Would appreciate comments.
I used sync on Reddit and was kinda sad to see the dev didn't grandfather people into Sync for Lemmy - especially given the high price of sync and the reuse of work that I'd already paid for. Obviously the guy should get paid, but I think £18 is excessive, especially for existing users.
Yeah I have no problem with it being a paid app - just disappointed that it's so expensive and that existing users of sync didn't get any kind of offer. No hate...I'm just expressing my feelings.
I got close to a decade off a $5 purchase. (Or however much it was) I can't think of a single other thing I've used daily for that long that cost so little. $20 now is no biggie to pay for a major update to switch to lemmy.
I didn't realise how much I missed image peek (long press a post to popup the thumbnail image) until I switched back from jerboa to sync when it first came out. Especially since I mostly seem to be reading webcomics.
I don't comment much, but sync's draft feature feels very solid.
Otherwise I did feel jerboa was good and would have gotten used to it.
Tesseract is essentially a fork of Photon with native video playing and a few more features, you can find a public instance for photon here and can sign into your normal account, a tesseract instance is here
Need Arctic to be added to the list. I personally use Thunder because of its unique UI, unlike most other apps that just look like different variations of Apollo. Special mention to Arctic and Avelon because they can embed and play gifs/videos instead of opening an in-app browser. Arctic can also scrub gifs which is cool. Artemis has a unique UI too but I’m not on kbin so I’ll have to wait for lemmy support to fully use it.
Was first using Memmy but it felt unfinished and abandoned. Then I switched to Bean. It’s much better but still needs a lot of work. I was not aware there are so many Lemmy clients already. I’m trying Voyager now and it seems very good. As a former Apollo user I feel right at home.
Tesseract is essentially a fork of Photon with native video playing and a few more features, you can find a public instance for photon here and can sign into your normal account, a tesseract instance is here
Is there some kind of comparison between these clients? Ideally, I'd want a web client with more customizability than the default one - in particupar, I'd like to be able to set the default view to show subscribed communities instead of the local ones. As I'm running my own instance, I don't have much in terms of local content
The one thing I don't like about Thunder is the lack of a swipe back to previous screen, but that's pretty minor and otherwise it's quite slick. Not sure enough about it to settle down yet, though, there are so many other apps and most are also great
Yeah, Thunder is weird about their swipe to go back gesture. It works if you're doing it over the post itself or if you're scrolling through the comments (so while the comments are moving, swipe to go back).
I'm using the standard UI on web and Jerboa on mobile, but I'm going to try alternate web UIs like Photon and Alexandrite and find a good one that also works as a PWA so I can use the same client both on my computer and on my phone. I'd much prefer to use the same client across computer, tablet and phone.
I used to like LiftOff but it started to get buggy after a while, then i switched to Eternity since i used Infinity when i was in Reddit but i didn't like it so i ended up using Voyager which is preety good so far.
As a Sync user myself, why should I switch? I've been using Sync for years on Reddit, I love the interface, and I don't mind if the dev makes a bit of money from it with the occasional and minimally intrusive ads or paid ad removal.
How dare you. Now I'm going to remember your username. I will hunt down your IRL identity, and ... send you sugar free gummy bears in the mail.
Seriously, though, haven't you looked at a comment with up or downvotes and thought to yourself, "If I block every idiot that did that, my timeline would be a little less stupid"?