27 upvotes, 2 direct replies (showing 2)
View submission: Accessibility Improvements on iOS and Android
My understanding is that certain apps, eg RedReader,are exempt from the API limits because of accessibility concerns.
For the avoidance of doubt, please could you confirm that their exemption will remain after your roll out. Or are you going to give them the boot too?
Comment by relator_fabula at 28/07/2023 at 09:48 UTC
7 upvotes, 1 direct replies
My guess: They're making a half-hearted, half-assed, half-baked attempt to add a few "accessibility" features to the official app so that they can claim they're accessible, and then have an plausible excuse to revoke free access to those 3rd party apps as well.
If they genuinely cared about making a quality app, they'd hire or buy out one of the better 3rd party apps. There are probably half a dozen or more than would suffice.
But just like youtube, twitter, facebook, or any number of commercial platforms, they don't want customizability/convenience for the user. They want a curated, directed, and optimized feed to cram promoted posts and ads down your throat, and keep you scrolling past mindless posts. They don't want discussions and user-to-user engagement. They want a tiktok/youtube/whatever clone to profit from. Their app is not designed to be user friendly and facilitate discussion, it's designed to exploit the profitability of its user base.
Comment by smellycoat at 28/07/2023 at 11:55 UTC
5 upvotes, 0 direct replies
Likely they allowed RedReader and Dystopia to continue to give them a little rhetorical wiggle-room if anyone says they removed everything. However I'm sure they'll be on the chopping block if they gain any significant uptake like Apollo did.