Hello everyone, after a few days of discussions with Reddit I finally have an update to share on the current situation.
It has been agreed that RedReader falls under the exemption for non-commercial accessibility-focused apps, due to the work that has been done to optimize the app for screen readers, and the app's high level of usage within the blind community.
To summarize:
RedReader can continue to operate as a free and open source app.
There will be no ads, monetization, etc.
I still have concerns about Reddit's current trajectory, and plan to expand the range of sites RedReader is able to access in future.
Short-term plan
In the next few weeks, there are a couple of changes I need to make to the app to comply with the new developer terms:
When users first launch the app, they will be prompted to agree to Reddit's terms and conditions.
Developers other than me who compile RedReader from source will need to provide their own API keys. For individual use, these fall under Reddit's free tier.
This change will unfortunately create an extra hurdle for contributors, so I'll do what I can to make this as simple as possible and I'll write up some instructions for this.
Users who download the app from Google Play are unaffected by this, as those APKs are built by me.
With F-Droid, I will continue to ensure the app is distributed there (I personally use a de-Googled phone), however this will have to be distributed from the RedReader repository rather than the official F-Droid repo (similar to the Alpha version). I'll aim to release more details on this soon, but needless to say, non-Google app distribution channels are still a big priority for me.
So for the most part, we can continue operating under the status quo.
Long-term plan
While I'm grateful to them for granting the accessibility exemption, I continue to think that Reddit is making a big mistake with the broader API changes as a whole, and throughout the discussions with them I've made this clear. I think it's very reasonable to be concerned about Reddit's current trajectory, and nobody can know for sure how long the exemption will last.
I also have concerns about the treatment of other developers, particularly Christian Selig, including the dubious public claims that have been made about Apollo's efficiency.
I spent a long time thinking about whether to continue operating RedReader as a Reddit app under these circumstances, and came to the decision that the app will continue to interoperate with Reddit for the foreseeable future.
Over the last week I've been in touch with the developers of Lemmy, who indicated that they would prefer a slow ramp up of traffic rather than a sudden influx. Similarly, the major Lemmy instances are struggling under the sheer number of Reddit refugees right now.
While I hope the accessibility exemption will continue indefinitely, nobody can guarantee that it will. Even in the the worst case scenario, the exemption at least grants us some breathing room to see how the situation develops.
My long-term vision for RedReader is to restructure the app to more easily support other sites, including Lemmy, and perhaps others such as Tild.es and Hacker News. Before the API changes were announced, I was already considering adding RSS reader functionality to the app, and I think it would be cool to work with some kind of "open forum protocol" which would allow a variety of websites and apps to interoperate with each other through a uniform API.
We will continue to prioritize accessibility in the app, while also continuing to serve the userbase as a whole.
Thank you
Finally, I want to thank everyone in the community for your messages of support, and the nearly 200 contributors who have written code for RedReader over the last decade.
To those who have worked so hard on RedReader's accessibility features, I'd like to offer an extra big "thank you", as without your contributions, the app wouldn't have been granted this exemption.
Despite my continuing reservations about Reddit's current direction, and regardless of what people will say about their motivations here, I am pleased that they've taken into account the fact that RedReader is free and open source, and serves a purpose for users in the blind community.
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