80 votes

Sync for Lemmy now available on Play Store

49 comments

  1. [4]
    dave1234
    Link
    Sync for Reddit was my Reddit app of choice for just about as long as I can remember now. I'm glad to see it live again in the Fediverse. Initial impressions are that it's just like Sync for...

    Sync for Reddit was my Reddit app of choice for just about as long as I can remember now. I'm glad to see it live again in the Fediverse.

    Initial impressions are that it's just like Sync for Reddit was. I haven't noticed any bugs yet. I'm looking forward to using it more.

    26 votes
    1. dirthawker
      Link Parent
      I downloaded it this morning and kind of panicked because it was failing to log me in -- turned out it was Lemmy being offline. All is well now and it feels great to have that familiar front end...

      I downloaded it this morning and kind of panicked because it was failing to log me in -- turned out it was Lemmy being offline. All is well now and it feels great to have that familiar front end again.

      7 votes
    2. [2]
      Very_Bad_Janet
      Link Parent
      Can you subscribe to Kbin magazines via Sync for Lemmy? I have a kbin.social account and follow Lemmy communities through kbin. I'm eagerly awaiting a kbin app.

      Can you subscribe to Kbin magazines via Sync for Lemmy? I have a kbin.social account and follow Lemmy communities through kbin. I'm eagerly awaiting a kbin app.

      3 votes
      1. dave1234
        Link Parent
        I assume you can, but I haven't tried that yet. I also follow Lemmy communities from kbin, but I haven't tried the other way around yet.

        I assume you can, but I haven't tried that yet. I also follow Lemmy communities from kbin, but I haven't tried the other way around yet.

        1 vote
  2. [9]
    otto
    Link
    And there's a huge discussion going on over a ton of Lemmy instances about FOSS. I don't know, I feel like Lemmy was pitched as a true reddit alternative, but the people that actually went were...

    And there's a huge discussion going on over a ton of Lemmy instances about FOSS. I don't know, I feel like Lemmy was pitched as a true reddit alternative, but the people that actually went were mostly the FOSS-enthousiasts. Which is fine, but there's a vocal part that tends to hammer anyone who doesn't share the same viewpoints. As a very irregular Lemmy user, the comments almost feel like the worst of reddit. To me it looks like they're really shooting themselves in the foot: if they really want a new reddit they need a growing userbase, not just the open source guys.

    24 votes
    1. Sheep
      Link Parent
      Yeah this pained me a lot to see. There was so much gatekeeping and acting like sync is some sort of evil app when the dev has been nothing but open with the community. Just because something...

      Yeah this pained me a lot to see. There was so much gatekeeping and acting like sync is some sort of evil app when the dev has been nothing but open with the community. Just because something isn't open source doesn't mean there's some nefarious dev behind it.

      17 votes
    2. [4]
      deeplyembedded
      Link Parent
      I checked out Lemmy for the first time today, and it seemed like a lot of memes and mean comments. And not even mean comments in an intelligent way, a lot of comments calling someone "stupid." I'm...

      I checked out Lemmy for the first time today, and it seemed like a lot of memes and mean comments. And not even mean comments in an intelligent way, a lot of comments calling someone "stupid."

      I'm a FOSS person. Lemmy was a bummer.

      11 votes
      1. [2]
        dave1234
        Link Parent
        It seems to me like the surface-level Lemmy communities are generally immature in the way the front-page subreddits were. Reddit had some real gold when you dug beneath the surface and found the...

        It seems to me like the surface-level Lemmy communities are generally immature in the way the front-page subreddits were. Reddit had some real gold when you dug beneath the surface and found the smaller, niche communities. However, I don't think Lemmy has been around long enough to really establish those yet.

        Hopefully they'll come with time.

        10 votes
        1. Very_Bad_Janet
          Link Parent
          I find the gold in the tech and science related communities. I think building the list of communities you follow helps a lot. ETA: I haven't used this, but this might help you find topics you're...

          I find the gold in the tech and science related communities. I think building the list of communities you follow helps a lot.

          ETA: I haven't used this, but this might help you find topics you're interested in:

          https://www.search-lemmy.com/

          4 votes
      2. Very_Bad_Janet
        Link Parent
        I'd suggest following specific communities and then just going straight to your follow feed (I'm on kbin where this would be called your "Subscribed " feed). I'd also block the communities you...

        I'd suggest following specific communities and then just going straight to your follow feed (I'm on kbin where this would be called your "Subscribed " feed). I'd also block the communities you find annoying or that obviously don't apply to you (I only speak English so I block other language communities; I also block the meme communities that flood the feed). I dip into the "All" feed occasionally for some discovery. Mostly it's a good experience.

        3 votes
    3. misk
      Link Parent
      This thing keeps coming up on various occasions and while I don't think regular Lemmy user is a FOSS die-hard, that crowd certainly holds a lot of sway in forming opinions in Lemmy communities....

      This thing keeps coming up on various occasions and while I don't think regular Lemmy user is a FOSS die-hard, that crowd certainly holds a lot of sway in forming opinions in Lemmy communities. Unfortunately I believe this could relegate Lemmy to obscurity.

      The issue became painfully evident during Threads federation discussions. Some blog post on Google and XMPP history made rounds on Lemmy which seemed to be enough for everyone to form their opinion. I've seen Embrace Extend Extinguish term used for everything that's wrong with big tech, mostly in wrong context and definitely odd reasoning on how to fight it. There's plenty of EEE attempts like what's going in Chrome right now but what is essentially accepting emails from Meta ain't it.

      It's weird because I'd estimate that regular Mastodon user is way more tech, privacy and open source oriented but they also seem way more pragmatic in their approach. There are Mastodon instances that preemptively defederated Threads but there are plenty that didn't. With Lemmy I don't know of a single instance that stated outright that they have no problem federating with commercial instances.

      5 votes
    4. Roundcat
      (edited )
      Link Parent
      Honestly, I would prefer if lemmy and kbin stopped trying to be reddit and embraced being its own thing. They're definitely trying hard to recreate the environment that they left behind, but in...

      Honestly, I would prefer if lemmy and kbin stopped trying to be reddit and embraced being its own thing. They're definitely trying hard to recreate the environment that they left behind, but in the end it was a very specific, privacy minded, and moderation focused group that led the exodus out of reddit, and the people who followed were the ones who found those aspects more important than the memes and communities they left behind.

      This has basically led to 4 types of users on lemmy: the rebuilders, the open source wizards, the extremely political, and the queer folk, with some overlap between them. The rebuilders are the power users and mods that left reddit who are trying recreate the communities, and often end up producing most of the content. The open source wizards were either the people there before the redditors, or the techies who took issue with the API and moderation changes and saw it as a threat. The extremely political are the leftist, right wingers, and tankies who were there before everyone else, and more or less established the bones everyone blissfully plays around on. The ml in the lemmy.ml stands for marxist lennonist, lemmygrad and explodingheads are some of the oldest instances that everyone ended up defedding from once the redditors joined, and beehaw basically wants to be tildes on steriods. Then there are the queer folk who are all over fediverse, and are mostly twitter and reddit refugees who left to establish their own safe zones, with Blahajzone being the most well known.

      I can imagine lemmy can be extremely alienating if you are not deep into one of these camps, and there are definitely clashes between these groups with each other and the new redditors. In the end I think trying to recreate reddit is a fools errand, but there is definitely potential there to make something different, to be its own platform with its own soul. Its the parts of lemmy the feel the least like reddit that I enjoy the most.

      4 votes
    5. pete_the_paper_boat
      Link Parent
      It'll have the same growing pains as Mastodon. Mostly being filled with either the oddball, or Mastodon enthusiast that talks about Mastodon on Mastodon.

      It'll have the same growing pains as Mastodon. Mostly being filled with either the oddball, or Mastodon enthusiast that talks about Mastodon on Mastodon.

  3. [6]
    FeminalPanda
    Link
    Will try this out along side 3Cheers

    Will try this out along side 3Cheers

    13 votes
    1. [5]
      talklittle
      Link Parent
      Same. Sync for Lemmy looks and feels incredible, and I have huge respect for the dev, ljdawson. We've been through a lot as (friendly) rivals making Reddit apps, but due to the competitive nature...

      Same. Sync for Lemmy looks and feels incredible, and I have huge respect for the dev, ljdawson. We've been through a lot as (friendly) rivals making Reddit apps, but due to the competitive nature of our relationship we couldn't openly communicate all the time. It feels great to be able to support each other now.

      Similarly it's nice to use both Tildes and Lemmy as they scratch different itches.

      44 votes
      1. [4]
        Drupe
        Link Parent
        Gosh, I wasn't even aware that you had released your Tildes app as well! As an ex-RIF user, it feels like Christmas to install both Sync for Lemmy and your new Tildes app on the same day. I will...

        Gosh, I wasn't even aware that you had released your Tildes app as well! As an ex-RIF user, it feels like Christmas to install both Sync for Lemmy and your new Tildes app on the same day. I will install it right away, I'm excited to try it out!

        Sync feels absolutely amazing so far. I also really like both Summit and Thunder for Lemmy, which both somewhat remind me of RIF. But none of those are as refined right now as Sync, so that will be my app of choice. The only other app that I still want to try is Boost for Lemmy, which I'm also really excited for. I always used RIF, but I always admired Boost for Reddit as well.

        I also really like the combination of using both Lemmy/Kbin and Tildes. I feel like Tildes is my new online "home" for having nice discussions about certain topics. It's distraction free and I'm not prone to wasting a lot of time here. A perfect place for me to use as my "main community".
        Kbin and Lemmy are more similar to (old) Reddit. Those are great for if you want more (frequent) content or a home for specific niches.
        As a result, I've been wasting a lot less time on these platforms compared to my previous Reddit-usage, while having a more positive and rewarding experience.

        19 votes
        1. [3]
          Very_Bad_Janet
          Link Parent
          I'm also really enjoying Tildes for contemplative, mellow discussion and interestinginsights, and kbin/Lemmy for frequent posts, memes, and Reddit-ish comments. I also dip into Squabbles a bit but...

          I'm also really enjoying Tildes for contemplative, mellow discussion and interestinginsights, and kbin/Lemmy for frequent posts, memes, and Reddit-ish comments.

          I also dip into Squabbles a bit but I'm not sure it's for me. They are having a rebrand on Sunday with a new name (new URL?) and new look. There is also apparently some drama there already about trolls and appropriate reaction to trolls and it puts me off slightly. I prefer a chill atmosphere- real life is stressful enough.

          6 votes
          1. The_God_King
            Link Parent
            Yeah, I am finding that the parts of reddit that tildes is missing are the parts of reddit I didn't really give a shit about anyway. I like the in depth discussions that are actually thought...

            Yeah, I am finding that the parts of reddit that tildes is missing are the parts of reddit I didn't really give a shit about anyway. I like the in depth discussions that are actually thought provoking and useful.

            The only down side really is how little of it there is. I wish there was more of an active user base.

            5 votes
          2. smithsonian
            Link Parent
            Yeah, it's really disappointing. I was really enjoying Squabbles, but the overall mood and sentiment has really been going downhill the last couple of weeks.

            There is also apparently some drama there already about trolls and appropriate reaction to trolls and it puts me off slightly. I prefer a chill atmosphere- real life is stressful enough.

            Yeah, it's really disappointing. I was really enjoying Squabbles, but the overall mood and sentiment has really been going downhill the last couple of weeks.

            4 votes
  4. [7]
    ChthonicSun
    Link
    I'm glad it's back, but I'm not going to lie, not being able to restore my purchase of the original app and the one-time price being 10x more expensive than the original is ludicrous to me....

    I'm glad it's back, but I'm not going to lie, not being able to restore my purchase of the original app and the one-time price being 10x more expensive than the original is ludicrous to me. Somewhat disappointed in that regard, I hope Boost will be more reasonable.

    13 votes
    1. [2]
      DefaultWizard
      Link Parent
      I might sound incredibly biased with this but realistically, the dev needs money. This app (and sync for reddit before it) is their full time job so they need some form of either subscriptions or...

      I might sound incredibly biased with this but realistically, the dev needs money. This app (and sync for reddit before it) is their full time job so they need some form of either subscriptions or higher cost one time purchases to keep going.

      9 votes
      1. dave1234
        Link Parent
        Yeah, I'll pay the new price to remove ads if I end up using Lemmy regularly. I'm not enthusiastic about how expensive it is, but I got far more than my money's worth from Sync for Reddit over the...

        Yeah, I'll pay the new price to remove ads if I end up using Lemmy regularly. I'm not enthusiastic about how expensive it is, but I got far more than my money's worth from Sync for Reddit over the years, and it's a very polished app. I'm sure Sync for Lemmy will be the same.

        3 votes
    2. [4]
      Sheep
      Link Parent
      There is a new beta update that allows you to pay ~20 dollars to remove the ads forever (need to click on the user icon to see it). I understand it's still a lot but I also get the dev is likely...

      There is a new beta update that allows you to pay ~20 dollars to remove the ads forever (need to click on the user icon to see it).

      I understand it's still a lot but I also get the dev is likely expecting 10 times less users than before so the pricing was likely adjusted accordingly.

      8 votes
      1. [3]
        ChthonicSun
        Link Parent
        I get that, but it's still a lot specially in my currency, it's not prohibitively expensive but makes me seriously consider if it's really worth the price, whereas the old one's 2 bucks or so was...

        I get that, but it's still a lot specially in my currency, it's not prohibitively expensive but makes me seriously consider if it's really worth the price, whereas the old one's 2 bucks or so was a no brainer.

        If I keep using Sync I'll probably just keep using the basic version and block the ads.

        4 votes
        1. [2]
          JawnZ
          Link Parent
          I believe the developer mentioned on the sync (...whatever a community is called on lemmy) that he's working to adjust pricing based on local currency

          I believe the developer mentioned on the sync (...whatever a community is called on lemmy) that he's working to adjust pricing based on local currency

          4 votes
          1. Claidheamh
            Link Parent
            It's called a community. :)

            whatever a community is called on lemmy

            It's called a community. :)

            1 vote
  5. [3]
    EmperorPenguin
    Link
    I used it for a bit, but on any Lemmy posts about Sync I saw swarms of people worrying about Sync collecting tracking data, and saying the other existing Lemmy apps weren't doing that. Is there...

    I used it for a bit, but on any Lemmy posts about Sync I saw swarms of people worrying about Sync collecting tracking data, and saying the other existing Lemmy apps weren't doing that. Is there any truth to that?

    5 votes
    1. [2]
      franklyshankly
      Link Parent
      Sync uses Google Admob and CrashLytics to display ads and collect telemetry. You need to pay a subscription fee to remove these anti-features. Ads and telemetry are absent from the majority of...

      Sync uses Google Admob and CrashLytics to display ads and collect telemetry. You need to pay a subscription fee to remove these anti-features. Ads and telemetry are absent from the majority of other Lemmy clients like Liftoff, Connect, Thunder, etc. So Sync is quite poor in regards to privacy compared to the other options right now

      17 votes
      1. [2]
        Comment deleted by author
        Link Parent
        1. whs
          Link Parent
          I see in a comment in their lemmy community that the app doesn't initialize the ads SDK if you pay for the ads free version. Another commenter mentioned that a free-paid separate app variants...

          I see in a comment in their lemmy community that the app doesn't initialize the ads SDK if you pay for the ads free version. Another commenter mentioned that a free-paid separate app variants might not perform well in Play Store.

          I wish there's a separate app variants though, for easier privacy audits by end users, and also that it would allow for family sharing (even though nobody in my family really use any link aggregators)

          3 votes
  6. [2]
    4imble
    Link
    I just gave this a super quick try. initial thoughts I quite like a lot of it. Things I'd change are... The abundant whitespace across the top until you scroll seems wasteful and I couldn't work...

    I just gave this a super quick try. initial thoughts I quite like a lot of it. Things I'd change are...
    The abundant whitespace across the top until you scroll seems wasteful and I couldn't work out how to add new feeds.

    4 votes
    1. Drupe
      Link Parent
      There seem to be a lot of options to customize the app, including the whitespace across the top. Go to settings > General (under Appearance) > Untick "Expanded Toolbar"

      There seem to be a lot of options to customize the app, including the whitespace across the top. Go to settings > General (under Appearance) > Untick "Expanded Toolbar"

      13 votes
  7. [3]
    ku-fan
    Link
    I tried this but the font for the discussions is so tiny I can't even read it. I tried changing the font size in the settings but it appears to make no changes to the font size of the comments on...

    I tried this but the font for the discussions is so tiny I can't even read it. I tried changing the font size in the settings but it appears to make no changes to the font size of the comments on a post.

    Unfortunately this makes the app unusable for me.

    3 votes
    1. [2]
      ChthonicSun
      Link Parent
      Gotta change the base font size in general options. I had the same issue with original app and this one.

      Gotta change the base font size in general options. I had the same issue with original app and this one.

      6 votes
      1. ku-fan
        Link Parent
        Thank you. There are so many settings it was hard to find this.

        Thank you. There are so many settings it was hard to find this.

        4 votes
  8. randomguy
    Link
    I just downloaded it and it feels amazing. Enormous surge of activity on Lemmy after this app got public shows why no reddit alternative will ever have any success without having great mobile app.

    I just downloaded it and it feels amazing. Enormous surge of activity on Lemmy after this app got public shows why no reddit alternative will ever have any success without having great mobile app.

    3 votes
  9. [6]
    AndreasChris
    Link
    Has anyone done a thorough comparison of Sync for Lemmy and Jerboa for Lemmy yet?

    Has anyone done a thorough comparison of Sync for Lemmy and Jerboa for Lemmy yet?

    2 votes
    1. [3]
      Krawler
      Link Parent
      I feel sorry for Jerboa, everyone keeps making posts (mainly on Lemmy) pining for Sync, or Boost, or Rif (yo talklittle, theres enough time in your day to make apps for two platforms right? :D)......

      I feel sorry for Jerboa, everyone keeps making posts (mainly on Lemmy) pining for Sync, or Boost, or Rif (yo talklittle, theres enough time in your day to make apps for two platforms right? :D)... But Jerboa doesn't seem to get much love at all, despite being what I think would have been one of the first Lemmy apps that appeared?

      I've tried a lot of clients (not Sync yet!) on Lemmy and currently like Jerboa the most. So it's got one fan at least.

      10 votes
      1. admicos
        Link Parent
        I think it's the second one ever, and is maintained by one of the main devs (althrough they just merge PRs from others now that they're busy with Lemmy itself)

        despite being what I think would have been one of the first Lemmy apps that appeared?

        I think it's the second one ever, and is maintained by one of the main devs (althrough they just merge PRs from others now that they're busy with Lemmy itself)

        2 votes
      2. MyriadBlue
        Link Parent
        I've been very happy with jerboa. Voyager is nice, but too much flash. I like the clean and compact look of jerboa.

        I've been very happy with jerboa. Voyager is nice, but too much flash. I like the clean and compact look of jerboa.

        1 vote
    2. habanhero
      Link Parent
      Sync is far more polished, usable and customizable than Jerboa. My impression of Jerboa (before Sync came into the picture) was that while decently designed, it is full of bugs and rough edges...

      Sync is far more polished, usable and customizable than Jerboa.

      My impression of Jerboa (before Sync came into the picture) was that while decently designed, it is full of bugs and rough edges that I just couldn't get over. I ended up using Voyager / wefwef (which I love) before switching to Sync.

      7 votes
    3. randomguy
      Link Parent
      You can't even compare these two that's how far ahead Sync is.

      You can't even compare these two that's how far ahead Sync is.

      3 votes
  10. [3]
    TheDiabeetle
    Link
    Any recommendations on a Lemmy instance to join? I joined .world when 3rd party apps first got shut down, but Lemmy was still in a weird place at the time.

    Any recommendations on a Lemmy instance to join? I joined .world when 3rd party apps first got shut down, but Lemmy was still in a weird place at the time.

    2 votes
    1. Very_Bad_Janet
      Link Parent
      No recs but this site lists all of the Lemmy instances, I believe (or at least the most popular). You can check each out get the lay of the land. https://lemmyverse.net/

      No recs but this site lists all of the Lemmy instances, I believe (or at least the most popular). You can check each out get the lay of the land.

      https://lemmyverse.net/

  11. Zealousideal_Fox_900
    Link
    WOOOO! Can't wait to get it on my devices.

    WOOOO! Can't wait to get it on my devices.

    1 vote
  12. [3]
    Anyway6501
    Link
    I haven't been able to find a reason or answer to this anywhere else, so I'll try here- has anyone else dealt with absolutely insane resource utilization on Android with Lemmy? Any instance I try,...

    I haven't been able to find a reason or answer to this anywhere else, so I'll try here- has anyone else dealt with absolutely insane resource utilization on Android with Lemmy? Any instance I try, the phone gets hot, data use skyrockets, and I can watch the battery discharge like a stopwatch. Within a couple of minutes, the browser will lock up and I'll have to smother the device with a pillow (power cycle) to get it to respond again. Any ideas?

    1 vote
    1. [2]
      dave1234
      Link Parent
      Are you using Sync for Lemmy when you have that problem? Or was this when browsing the Lemmy web UI in your web browser? Either way, I haven't encountered that kind of problem. For my web browser...

      Are you using Sync for Lemmy when you have that problem? Or was this when browsing the Lemmy web UI in your web browser? Either way, I haven't encountered that kind of problem. For my web browser I'm using Firefox for Android.

      1. Anyway6501
        Link Parent
        Haven't tried any apps yet, just Firefox mobile. I'll have to try Sync I suppose.

        Haven't tried any apps yet, just Firefox mobile. I'll have to try Sync I suppose.

  13. johan
    Link
    Would like to share Infinity for Lemmy: https://codeberg.org/Bazsalanszky/Infinity-For-Lemmy/releases/tag/v0.0.7 I used Infinity for reddit and it's essentially the same. I'm sure there are still...

    Would like to share Infinity for Lemmy: https://codeberg.org/Bazsalanszky/Infinity-For-Lemmy/releases/tag/v0.0.7

    I used Infinity for reddit and it's essentially the same. I'm sure there are still plenty of bugs but I really like it.

    Open source, available on F-Droid, for now through izzysoft: https://apt.izzysoft.de/fdroid/index/apk/eu.toldi.infinityforlemmy

    1 vote