Apollo (app)

Apollo for Reddit, shortened to Apollo, was a third-party Reddit client for iOS. It was developed by Canadian programmer Christian Selig, a former Apple intern. It was released on 23 October 2017. The app ceased operations on 30 June 2023, when changes to Reddit's application programming interface (API) resulted in Selig shutting down the app.

Launch
In October 2014, Reddit acquired Alien Blue, a third-party Reddit client for iOS. Alien Blue was pulled from the App Store and Google Play Store in April 2016; in its wake, Reddit announced its own app. Former Apple intern Christian Selig, seeking to emulate Alien Blue, announced Apollo on 23 October 2017, after two years of development.

Initiatives
He used the app's popularity to raise CA$27,335 for the Nova Scotia Society for the Prevention of Cruelty for his 26th birthday in July 2019.

Reddit API changes and shutdown
On 18 April 2023, Reddit announced it would charge companies for access to its application programming interface (API). Reddit CEO Steve Huffman told The New York Times that the "Reddit corpus of data is really valuable". On 31 May, Selig announced on Reddit that Reddit planned on charging US$12000 for 50 million requests; in April, Apollo made 7 billion requests, coming out to US$1.7 million per month or US$20 million a year. The decision threatened the outlook of Selig, who did not have "that kind of money" nor knew how to pay for it. The API changes took effect on 19 June. The decision to limit access to "mature content" within Reddit's API also affected Apollo.

On 8 June, Selig announced that Apollo would cease development and shut down on 30 June through his Twitter account and a Reddit post. Selig alleged that Huffman told employees that he attempted to blackmail the company for US$10 million. Apollo shut down on 30 June.

Reddit users and moderators widely protested the platform's API changes that forced Apollo and many other third-party applications and clients to shut down. Many subreddits went into "lockdown" to protest the changes. Apollo's users were fiercely resistant in particular to Reddit's changes, with The Verge noting that Apollo became "the central figure in an all-out platform war".

Usage and design
Apollo was created with consideration for Apple's official iOS guidelines for apps, and featured a gesture-based design. Comments from new Reddit accounts could be highlighted to help users spot trolls, and comments from the moderation bot AutoModerator could be hidden. Apollo's text editor was compatible with Markdown. A Tamagotchi-like critter, referred to as "Pixel Pals", appeared above the display cutout of the iPhone 14 Pro and its Max version in the app. For iOS 16, Apollo was updated to support lock screen widgets.

In comparison to Reddit's official app, Apollo did not feature advertisements for non-paying users. However, customizing gesture controls, logging in through multiple accounts, and posting were locked behind a one-time US$5 fee known as "Apollo Pro". For US$1 per month, users could pay for "Apollo Ultra", which features push notifications and custom themes. Notifications were overhauled in May 2022.

Reception
Lifehacker called Apollo the best Reddit app for iOS in 2022. Vice called it the best Reddit app in 2023. TechCrunch called it "beautiful, clean, and modern" in 2017. Vice called it "the best Reddit app".

The Apollo app was chosen as one of Apple's "editors' choice" apps.

Apollo was featured by Apple several times in promotional material for iOS and its App Store, including during its WWDC 2022 and 2023 keynotes, the latter being less than a month prior to Apollo's shutdown.

Popularity
Apollo was consistently one of the most popular third-party Reddit clients. According to Selig, the app had approximately 1.3 million to 1.5 million monthly active users at the time of its shutdown, with 7 billion API requests per month.