A huge part of having one of the best phones on the market in your pocket, is that you get to stay connected with your favorite online communities. Naturally, with the internet being the internet and you being on it, Reddit is a prime suspect when it comes to making the aforementioned happen.
Half social media platform, half new-age forum, Reddit has it all. Typically, if you aren't too deep into the platform’s culture, you are rarely going to see scandals surrounding the webspace. But back in April, the company shared some planned changes regarding its API pricing strategy.
As in, Reddit was planning to start charging third-party Reddit clients for doing their thing. And if you aren’t a hardcore redditor just yet, then you should know that most redditors prefer third-party solutions by default. They typically offer more customization and features, which is always welcomed, but most of them are also unable to afford the API anymore.
As such, a lot of huge subreddits planned a strike. And going hot off the recent WWDC, the iPhone subreddit is planning to kick things off… with going private indefinitely starting June 11th, as 9to5Mac reports.
Well, maybe not you in particular, but somebody sure did!
So, context! What better way to showcase how big of an issue this is than with an example? Christian Selig — founder of the Apollo App, a fan-favorite third-party Reddit client for iOS — was asked for $20 million per year by Reddit corporate in order to keep the app running. And yes, that is insane. So he made the tough call to shut down the service.
But let’s get back to the “going private” thing for the iPhone subreddit. What does that mean? Well, basically that only approved members can visit and post on there. The shocking twist is that as part of the strike, the mods of the subreddit won't be approving anyone new, so this basically means that r/iPhone is closed off for the time being.
While the strike itself looks to become quite huge, Reddit has made it clear in the past that they will do “what must be done” in order to keep its services active. As such, they may opt to place new moderators on all participating subreddits in an attempt to mitigate the strike. But that sounds like a recipe for a disaster, so we hope to not see it happen.
But beyond that? No further comments have been made as of now. The Reddit community expects Reddit to fix this, but only time will tell if the company is willing to go back on their decision. We do hope that everything gets sorted out in the end, though, because as things are now: Reddit fans are the ones suffering these consequences.
Stan, also known as Stako, is a smartphone enthusiast who loves exploring the limits of Android customization. His journey with mobile tech began with the Nokia 5110 and evolved with devices like the BlackBerry 9350 Curve and Samsung Galaxy A4. Despite his love for Android, he holds equal respect for Apple, considering the iPhone 4s as a significant milestone in mobile tech. Stan started his writing career early, contributing to MetalWorld, and harbors a passion for creative writing. Beyond smartphones, he's interested in photography, design, composition, and gaming, often preferring solo projects to hone his objective thinking. He's also an avid student of open-source technology and consoles, with a special fondness for the Pebble Watch, Arduboy, and Playdate.
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