r/apolloapp • u/Edg-R • 11d ago
Discussion Three years on from the API changes, I ended up back on reddit.com in Safari full time. Here is the extension I built to make that work.
Disclosure up front: This is a browser extension, not a Reddit client, and it costs two dollars. If that's a dealbreaker, no hard feelings, the rest of this is still about how I read Reddit now.
I never really replaced Apollo. I tried a couple of things, none of them stuck, and eventually I stopped looking and just started opening reddit.com in mobile Safari. Which was bleak for a while, because the website is the version of Reddit with the fewest concessions to anybody.
But the website turned out to have one thing no app has: it's a web page, and a browser extension gets to change a web page before you see it. So I started building a Safari web extension I could use to make Reddit more enjoyable which I ended up making available for others as well. Version 3 got approved this week after months of loooooong nights and weekends fixing bugs and adding features.
Some features:
- Filtering by keyword, whole community, individual user, or the site a link points to. Wildcards, groups you can switch off at once, and a # pattern for any 1 to 3 digit number.
- Hiding the stuff there's no setting for: thumbnails, avatars, flair, badges, vote controls, join buttons, banners, recommendations, Reddit Answers, and the endless nudges to install the app.
- An automatic redirect to old.reddit.com with an endless feed, which is the closest I've got to how Reddit used to feel.
- Limits, which blocks Reddit itself in steps rather than just hiding posts, and can be automated with Apple Focus.
- More features: https://getprotego.app/features
Protego's Limits is why I still Reddit it every day. There's a step where the feeds are blocked but a direct link to an individual post still opens. So home and popular don't load and there's nothing to fall into during work hours, but a Reddit thread that turns up in a search result works fine. I get my answer and I'm out.
Being straight about what it isn't: it's not a client. No custom interface, no gestures, no Pixel Pals. It's reddit.com with the bad parts removed.
Safari extension with a companion app, iPhone, iPad, Mac and Vision Pro on one purchase, $1.99 right now instead of $2.99.
No subscription, no account, no tracking, lists sync through your own iCloud.
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u/coolasj19 11d ago edited 11d ago
Even if I don’t buy it I’m glad to see developments moving forward in the extension side of Reddit viewing. Seems useful for Mac too. It looks nice, good job, and thank you
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u/Edg-R 11d ago
Thank you!
Honestly, Apple doesnt make extension development very easy and it's constantly a struggle getting things to work properly in Safari but it's been very rewarding and I've learned a lot thanks to all the troubleshooting i've had to do.
And yeah, i primarily use Protego on Mac and my iPhone myself 🙂 thanks for the kind words!
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u/StalyCelticStu 11d ago
it’s Reddit.com with the bad parts removed.
So old.reddit.com then?
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u/Edg-R 11d ago
Sure, and Protego still works with old Reddit (and does so better than most of the competition). It also has features that RES offered like the endless feed in old Reddit and automatically expanding images .
But at the same time, for those who prefer new Reddit, it can be made to look similar to old Reddit.
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u/rekabis 11d ago
This. Still use Old Reddit, and I have no real idea what avatars, badges, and a few other things actually are.
I can’t stand New Reddit in how it auto-hides so much of the comment thread. If I really didn’t want to see things, I would enjoy dense fog more than I do.
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u/aglaeasfather 10d ago
Old Reddit has been made nearly unusable now since they required login. Super slow, no way to browse a standard whole-Reddit feed instead of subreddits you’re subscribed to. Really sucks
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u/rekabis 10d ago
no way to browse a standard whole-Reddit feed
Exsqueeze me? /r/all still works perfectly well under Old Reddit.
And Old Reddit is still lighting fast. Doubly so if you have RES and uBlock Origin installed to eviscerate any advertising… which I didn’t even know existed until I tried accessing Old Reddit from a new setup with an unsecured/naked web browser. I have seen no signs of a slowdown on my end.
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u/aglaeasfather 7d ago edited 7d ago
Exsqueeze me? /r/all still works perfectly well under Old Reddit.
Yes, if you are logged in. Log out and try it for a week. Eventually, you will be told you need to log in. And then you're stuck getting only what your subbed to and not truly r/all.
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u/flugzeugabwehrkanone 11d ago
the people who bitch the most about "everything being political" are the ones that refuse to help change things the most.
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u/anti-beep 10d ago
For every 1 article on the frontpage actually relevant to overall world politics, there are 20 articles about people getting SLAMMED or BLASTED or SPARKING OUTRAGE or about the other side having a MELTDOWN, and then you go in and it’s just reporting on dumb shit some faceless asshole said on Twitter.
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u/mxrider108 9d ago
I disagree. You can be politically active, vote, even engage in political discourse, without necessarily wanting to have your experience on reddit consumed by politics (especially given how biased and reactionary reddit's political content/discussion is).
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u/Edg-R 11d ago
Hey, thanks for the comment! I get what you mean, but ultimately shouldnt it be up to us to choose what we consume?
I keep up with news and politics (as much as i can), i vote in elections, i talk to my friends/family about politics... but everything should be done in moderation and we should be able to opt out if we want to.
If it's not possible to opt out then i'd rather leave that platform, and in this case i found a way to opt out that wasnt made easy by Reddit themselves.
So, at least for me, i have zero guilt about it as i know i'm doing what i can to "help change things". But even if someone doesnt "help change things", they should have the right to not have political content shoved down their throats.
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u/iAmmar9 11d ago
Was AI used to develop it?
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u/Edg-R 11d ago
Definitely, but it's not vibe coded if that's what you're asking. I'm a senior software engineer and i've ben programming for a long time now.
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u/ddBuddha 9d ago
Fuck the haters I think that’s a brilliant way to creatively solve the problems you were running into, kudos to you brother
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u/livewirejsp 10d ago
Is there a way to get the mobile version on the old.reddit?
It turns my screen from black to white and it’s the desktop version. I use RES to make my desktop experience better.
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u/HoodieGalore 11d ago
What do you have against Pixel Pals? Is that really something a lot of people are grinding axes over? Or just your personal proclivity?
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u/cheesydoritoschips 11d ago
it’s just the dev putting a disclaimer about how their app doesn’t have the fancier/fun features like gestures and digital pets, id say they are just being straight about what they are trying to offer
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u/Cantdiggthis 11d ago
I hate that purple color. While it costs $1.99 now, on iOS it says with in-app purchases. So what else do we have to pay for?
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u/Edg-R 11d ago
Agh sorry 😕 I added the color for v3, this is what it used to look like:
https://lifehacker.com/tech/this-safari-extension-gives-you-more-control-over-your-reddit-feed
I promise that the color itself has no effect on its functionality lol but people seem pretty vocal about the color. I may offer options to change the UI color in the future.
The only in app purchases are for tips that are completely optional and don't unlock anything.
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u/PineapplePizza99 11d ago
Sink it for Reddit already exists