
Reddit Acquires Alien Blue, the Most Popular Unofficial Reddit App - ajacksified
http://techcrunch.com/2014/10/15/reddit-acquires-alien-blue-the-most-popular-unofficial-reddit-app/
======
britta
I moderate a midsize subreddit where many of the 35k daily readers use Alien
Blue, and this is a bit of a headache because Alien Blue makes it hard to find
the subreddit sidebar, where we list important FAQs and rules. Our sticky post
is dedicated to explaining how to find the sidebar in Alien Blue
([http://www.reddit.com/r/jailbreak/comments/2ic349/how_to_see...](http://www.reddit.com/r/jailbreak/comments/2ic349/how_to_see_the_useful_rjailbreak_sidebar_in_alien/)).

I actually installed a bunch of other iOS Reddit apps to see if I could find
one that supported sidebars better, so that I could officially recommend that
app to my subreddit instead. The other ones didn't support sidebars at all
though!

What I want most is for Alien Blue's tiny arrow buttons that lead to subreddit
sidebars - [http://i.imgur.com/ygWOV91.png](http://i.imgur.com/ygWOV91.png) \-
to be detail disclosure buttons instead, with a tiny "i"
([https://developer.apple.com/library/ios/documentation/userex...](https://developer.apple.com/library/ios/documentation/userexperience/conceptual/mobilehig/Controls.html#//apple_ref/doc/uid/TP40006556-CH15-SW4)).
I believe that icon makes more sense and will help readers realize they should
tap there for sidebar information.

~~~
nissimk
I'm an intermediate level user of reddit. I use the "reddit is fun" app on
android. It took me a long time to discover that the i in a circle at the top
of the screen will bring up the sidebar content.

I have a suggestion, though I'm not sure it is a good one: If the sidebar
contains a certain number of links, or length of text, and the user hasn't
opened it on their mobile app yet, then the app can highlight the button with
flashing or a color to recommend that a user reads it.

I find that there are many subreddits where if you start reading posts without
the sidebar you are really missing out.

~~~
pavel_lishin
> _It took me a long time to discover that the i in a circle at the top of the
> screen will bring up the sidebar content._

Thanks! I never knew.

But I also only use it to read some random entertaining thread as I get ready
to go to bed.

------
spicyj
> One thing to note: if you’ve already downloaded the app, you’ll need to
> download it again — a side effect of them transferring the app from
> Morrisey’s App Store developer account to reddit’s.

I was under the impression that Apple allowed transferring apps between
accounts without wiping out the history…

~~~
eridius
They do. I'm very confused as to why Reddit didn't just go through that
process to transfer the app. It would have saved a lot of people a lot of
trouble.

~~~
craigching
I'm a hobby iOS developer, could you provide a link explaining how you can do
this? I seem to remember reading something about Apple enabling this at one
time, but I don't remember the reference now.

~~~
eridius
I've never had to do it, but I know Apple has an official process for
transferring apps, and I believe they've even made it easier to do these days
than it used to be. Had I the need to do it, I'd probably go looking through
the iTunes Connect documentation.

~~~
koko775
Doesn't apply to iCloud/IAP

~~~
coob
IAP transfers fine - iCloud may be another matter.

------
8ig8
Here's Reddit's official announcement on their blog...

[http://www.redditblog.com/2014/10/the-alien-has-
landed.html](http://www.redditblog.com/2014/10/the-alien-has-landed.html)

...and here's Jase's (the developer's) announcement on /r/alienblue...

[http://www.redditblog.com/2014/10/the-alien-has-
landed.html](http://www.redditblog.com/2014/10/the-alien-has-landed.html)

Android version in the works?

[http://www.reddit.com/r/blog/comments/2jd7wa/the_alien_has_l...](http://www.reddit.com/r/blog/comments/2jd7wa/the_alien_has_landed/claloxv)

What about Windows phone?

[http://www.reddit.com/r/blog/comments/2jd7wa/the_alien_has_l...](http://www.reddit.com/r/blog/comments/2jd7wa/the_alien_has_landed/clam0q4)

iPad version? Do I pay for it?

[http://www.reddit.com/r/AlienBlue/comments/2jdcao/alien_blue...](http://www.reddit.com/r/AlienBlue/comments/2jdcao/alien_blue_241_ipad_is_now_available/clankir)

How to transfer settings to new app.

[http://www.reddit.com/r/AlienBlue/comments/2jdcao/alien_blue...](http://www.reddit.com/r/AlienBlue/comments/2jdcao/alien_blue_241_ipad_is_now_available/clanvxp)

------
smackfu
Maybe they'll dial back some of the quirkyness. I use it, but some stuff that
should be really easy is messy, like subscribing to reddits. And their iOS 8
update (which was the first update in forever) has all sorts of "unique"
interface ideas.

~~~
bitdestroyer
The diagonal post context menu "ribbon" is such an odd design choice to me. I
suppose it's for using it left handed given the context toggle at the bottom,
but still. Seems like something much simpler would also be much more usable.

------
3rd3
They should buy the Reddit Enhancement Suite too.

~~~
captainbenises
I heard they tried but the dude didn't want to move from wherever, ohio to SF.

~~~
peakdarkpattern
You would think the quality of the product already would accommodate a remote
scenario, it's a really worthwhile addition even for casual consumers who do
not actively participate in discussion.

------
mirsadm
I use Alien Blue on my iPad Mini and it is the best Reddit app for iOS that
I've tried. Oddly enough I find the Android Reddit Sync app to be quite a bit
better and easier to use. I say oddly enough because it's probably the only
category of apps where I've found the Android version to be better than the
iOS.

~~~
lockyc
"Reddit is fun" is one of the better Android Reddit apps

~~~
unicornporn
Yeah, nothing I've tried feels better than this app.

------
Terpaholic
You can upgrade to Alien Blue Pro for free this week:

[https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/alien-blue-reddit-
official/i...](https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/alien-blue-reddit-
official/id923187241?ls=1&mt=8)

~~~
mu_killnine
I just bought ABP about two weeks ago. Ugh.

~~~
maccard
Guess you'll just have to live with the fact that you spent half a coffee on
supporting an independent developer to create something you use every day. You
monster.

------
TazeTSchnitzel
Remember when Twitter bought one of the more popular iOS clients, and ever
since, people have just known of it as Twitter for iOS?

I think it'll just become Reddit for iOS. The default, official client. The
one 90% use.

~~~
macrael
Funny though that they didn't change the name to "Reddit"

~~~
TazeTSchnitzel
Perhaps they will eventually.

------
resca79
I love when a company acquires a small app or startup in general. Basically
because it allows us to dream to build something that a big company can
incorporate in some of its famous product or just it will become famous
itself.

After an acquisition like that, I ask to myself :

Does Reddit have smart developers to build a mobile app like that?

Why do they need to do an acquisition to get a good app?

The questions seem trivial, Reddit has great developers, but looking forward
the last acquisition by Apple( that never done before), I think that in the
next future the company employees will be no single person, but startups.

~~~
pradn
They actually also hired the guy who wrote this app.

------
netcan
I wonder if Reddit can, at this stage, have big hairy ambitions for what they
might still become.

Thinking back about 8 or 10 years when "social networks" and online
communities were becoming something obviously substantial there were a lot of
excited ideas about what they would become. Ning's idea of basically extending
forums and creating lots of online communities seemed attractive. When they're
first taking on online communities are exciting. But, they seem to age. It's
almost like being in the same conversation forever.

What can Reddit still accomplish?

~~~
maxmwood
I don't believe Reddit will be the last big social news website but I don't
expect them to accomplish much more. They seem afraid of making changes and
losing users like what happened to Digg.

It leaves the whole market open to whoever else can do a better job. I doubt
anyone is going to leave seemingly overnight like Digg -> Reddit but if
someone was to start small and grow.. there's a lot of room to accomplish
better things.

I'm working on something like this with a couple of others but it's too early
to say whether we'd ever be a viable competitor. There's certainly a
possibility though.

~~~
netcan
_It leaves the whole market open to whoever else can do a better job._

I think social news/discussions/etc. is in weird place where it's not entirely
clear what the job is. I kind of have a hunch that the deterioration many
people feel takes place is a consequence of realizing we're going around in
circles. before you've completed your first couple of orbits you feel like its
heading somewhere, then when you feel like it's not you're disappointed.

If you're working on this are, what are your thoughts on the the centerpiece
of something like Reddit (or HN). I don't think it's a list of links
primarily. Do you?

~~~
maxmwood
Perhaps job wasn't the best word to use but I think you understood what I
meant anyway. As for going round in circles, I think browsing Reddit is like
being stuck in the same conversation day in, day out.

Our centerpiece is the discussion system/self posting. We're still working
towards a mvp so it doesn't offer much more than what Reddit/HN does at this
moment in time.

The site does still revolve around a list of stories, we toyed with the idea
of having a grid-like view but ultimately we think that a list is still the
most efficient way of finding something you want to read. I'm open to
suggestions but I really can't stand are websites that try to be smarter than
the user by trying to anticipate what the user would want to read.

This seems to be often done through really basic methods such as a "What are
you interested in?" tickbox questionnaire. If the recommendations suck the
first time, I'm not going to keep using the site to even begin improving those
recommendations.

I believe the real centerpiece would eventually be the community though.
Hopefully we'd attract a similar level of interesting and thoughtful users as
on HN but cover a wider range of topics.

~~~
netcan
good luck :)

------
rebelidealist
Is Reddit going to make Jason Morrissey move to SF from Melbourne?

~~~
deminature
Non-US employees are apparently not required to relocate:
[https://twitter.com/micheletitolo/status/522531272258621443](https://twitter.com/micheletitolo/status/522531272258621443)

~~~
toomuchtodo
So you can keep your Reddit job by moving outside of the US vs moving to SF?

~~~
burkaman
I don't think that's really feasible, unless you have family in another
country or something. It would be pretty tough to get a work visa so you can
remotely work for a company back in the US.

~~~
jontas
I'm sure you are correct, but thinking about it from the perspective of the
host country, it seems like allowing this might actually be in their best
interests. They get the income/sales/real estate/etc taxes from the new
resident, without the resident taking up a local job that a native might hold
instead.

~~~
toomuchtodo
I'm actually surprised that more countries haven't create specific remote
worker visas; they get all the benefits of having a new citizen (ie tax
revenue) without the work of creating or nurturing local industry to employ
that person.

------
EricBart
I'm probably in the minority, but on mobile I use i.reddit.com

What's the future for that?

~~~
JTon
I'm speculating, but there seems to be a trend among service providers to
provide a native experience for the big 2 (android, iOS) and let the rest use
their service over the web. So perhaps they will continue to support
i.reddit.com for users outside of the big 2 ecosystem

------
untog
Reddit is following the Twitter path, then. I wonder if they'll end up
blocking other third party clients some day.

~~~
mercer
I don't think that's a given. It _might_ be the case, but it's not like one
'bad' example is enough to assume so, or have fears about this.

------
cjbarber
Reddit is a vital product in my life.

Necessary move by reddit. If someone was going to be able to compete with
reddit, and succeed, Alien Blue had a very good shot.

Cool to see reddit making moves since their new round of funding, too.

Semi-related segue: Since this $50mm funding round happened, I've recommended
to a couple people that they apply for jobs at reddit. [1]

Reddit has maintained impressive growth since 2005. I'm expecting them to be
doing very interesting things over the next 5-6+ years.

[1]:
[http://www.breakoutlist.com/reddit/](http://www.breakoutlist.com/reddit/)

~~~
GuiA
Can you expound on the "vital product in your life" part? I go on reddit every
once in a while to read a few silly posts, abd would like to understand how it
is vital to some people.

~~~
ryanfreeborn
Subreddit communities. Particularly the small to mid-size ones. I honestly
think knowing how to use subreddits as a resource is essential to being a
functional user of the Internet. It's a crowd-curated feed of all things
relevant to any particular topic, presented in a way that is consistent and
meaningful.

For example, I'm debating between Android and iPhone for my next upgrade. I
really only want to use iOS if it's jailbroken. So what's the latest jailbreak
news? There are probably some forums or tech blog primers that could give me
the answers I need, but the easiest way to get that info, is to go to
r/jailbreak. Chances are, the sidebar will have everything I need.

You want to get your dad a nice shaving kit for father's day? r/wicked_edge.
Interested in owning a noisy keyboard? r/mechanicalkeyboards. Why doesn't the
guy next to you wash his jeans? r/rawdenim. Just experience your first panic
attack? r/anxiety. What are the essential hip-hop albums I should listen to?
r/hiphopheads. Classical? r/classicalmusic. Jazz? You guessed it, r/jazz.

There are thousands of medium-sized subreddits that cater specifically to one
thing, and the content of those subreddits has all been curated, critiqued,
and discussed by an organic, self-motivated user base. I may only be
interested in the subject-matter for a short time and narrow purpose, but the
community of that subreddit is interested in that subject-matter _all the
time_ , and they've done all the leg-work for me. I know the information I get
will have undergone more review and rigor than almost any other source on the
Internet. As a bonus, the organization of that information is always presented
in the same familiar way, so I don't have to learn a new UI or workflow.

And that's just for using subreddits as one-time information repositories.
You've also got the power of reddit as a newsfeed. Again, I can follow a
subreddit for daily updates on whatever topic I want. This is _so_ incredibly
advantageous to those following sports, TV shows, or news events. ESPN is fine
if I want general sports news, but what if I only want news about my local NFL
team (the Seahawks)? I could follow a Seahawks blog, but then that's just a
few people generating content. Instead, I can go to r/seahawks. There I've got
all the content distilled, updated, and sorted for me: blogs, Twitter posts,
articles from beat journalists, plus all the user discussion in response to
this content.

~~~
gabemart
The thing is though, for every topic I know anything about, the corresponding
reddit communities are _OK_ but certainly not the most authoritative place go
to ask questions or read the latest news. The most knowledgeable communities
still tend to be based around traditional phbBB bulletin boards or other types
of conventionally structured forums.

I use reddit a lot for asking questions because it's a really low-friction way
to find a community that knows quite a bit about a certain topic. But once you
really start researching a topic thoroughly, reddit's structure and voting
system doesn't seem well suited for most discussions, and as a result the
communities that form always seem to have a certain casual quality to me.

I think reddit offers tremendous value, but more because of the potential for
easy discovery of new communities and the potential for community cross-
pollination that results.

~~~
matznerd
I think you are right in terms of forum-based communities having more in-depth
discussions due to the way that in a forum, new replies bring threads back to
the front page, whereas on reddit, after a few days, no one is posting on old
threads. For this reason, I think reddit really shines for communities where
there is time sensitive discussion around news and for getting a perspective
on the latest happenings. So it really just depends on the topic area...

------
epmatsw
Awesome for the developer, totally deserving. Alien Blue is pretty unmatched
IMO, and I've spent forever looking for anything even close to it for Android.
Flow is the closest I've found, but it's not supported any more :( I'd love to
see them port Alien Blue, but I don't think the UX would fit very well on
Android unfortunately...

~~~
rickymetz2
Reddit Sync is a fantastic Reddit client for android. I prefer it to the
actual website.

~~~
epmatsw
Ooh, that is nice. Definitely improved since I checked it out a couple of
years back. I wish it had tap to collapse on comments though. Tap and hold is
okay though.

~~~
bradyo
you can tap on the bar extending from the poster's username to collapse the
comment.

~~~
epmatsw
All that does for me is highlight the comment. Maybe it's broken on the L
Preview?

------
skrowl
Title misleading. "The most popular unofficial reddit app FOR iOS" (which is
1/5th as used as Android).

Presumably there are more popular unofficial reddit apps out there when you
start counting Android.

~~~
tobylane
There are comment chains in random threads of default subs where Alien Blue
and Reddit is Fun users announce their sides, and it is definitely
overwhelmingly AB. It's about 95% those two.

------
MrBra
Just a note to check if there are any like-minded people:

Everytime I approach Reddit, I got a feeling of being overwhelmed by the
interface complexity, to the point that a part of me wants to know more and
finally get to use it, and another part, simply feels frustrated. The latter
has always won so far, even after forcing me to create an account.

It just doesn't click with me. And I don't want to read no freaking 101 guide,
because a clearly done interface needs no guide.

Anyone feels like that?

~~~
burkaman
Is there a particular piece that you find confusing? I've never had any
trouble, and it never really occurred to me that other people might. Upvote,
downvote, click reply to reply to a comment. Scroll down to see more. You can
pretty much ignore everything else if you want to.

~~~
MrBra
For first: all those categories at the top of the page: who creates them? Are
they the most active or are just random or arbitrarily selected?

I go to
[https://www.reddit.com/subreddits/](https://www.reddit.com/subreddits/) and I
see I am automatically subscribed to some sub-reddits and I'm offered the
chance to unsubscribe? Why!? When did I subscribe? I don't even have an
acocount! What the hell are sub reddits anyway?

Then I look to the right and I see: "multireddit of your subscription" ? (my
language)

Ok... I scroll down to half of the page, and among all the headers for news
there is one in bold. Just one. It titles "A subreddit for rage comics and
other memes with a girly slant." It has 97.597 subscribers. But the item just
before it has 234.297 subscribers. And it's not bold. That was the only bold
one in the page. Why.

Let's pick a random subreddit (if they are what I think they are) let's click
on [https://www.reddit.com/r/pics/](https://www.reddit.com/r/pics/) Ok is this
a subreddit? How do I know ? Does this gather pics from all the sub reddits,
or it just that single place where you go posting pics? Is this some sort of
chan-like area then? Why can't I find answers to all these questions just by
looking at the screen!??

Ok, anyway I notice that now we have an "r" in the URL which stands for? Let's
have a guess: Reddit. But it only appears in sub-reddits. Fine. !!!!!!!!!...
Ok let's calm down and not be too picky here... Uhm.. let's see.. I might want
to post a pic. I look to the right, there is a ridiculous amount of small
sized lines of text about posting rules. Ok, well can't you just say "hey
anything depicting violence, abuse, blablabla - same old stuff - is not
allowed here?" Ok, let's leave it for later, let's just see what people is
posting. ...I understand that I am on "popular" selection right now, let's go
to "ALL". No wait, that is not a switch for selecting that. What is it then? I
click it, I get the same thing, and I am not offered any option to see what I
might alternatively get.

Ok let's click one of those categories up above. Let's pick "AskScience". Ok
new graphic. Am I still on Reddit? Yes. But.. there are different rules to the
right? What the? ..Moderators? Is this a forum?

And.. after it's going on like this for a while a voice starts screaming into
my head: "WHY DOES IT NEED TO BE SO COMPLICATED ????" And I usually end up
with the feeling that I am browsing a virtual giant mall which tries to make
everyone happy at the same time. And then I leave.

~~~
burkaman
If you're logged in, I think the ones at the top are the ones you're
subscribed to. If you're not logged in, they might just be randomly selected
popular ones? I honestly have no idea, I never look at it.

Everyone is automatically subscribed to the same default subreddits when they
make an account. If you weren't subscribed to anything there would be nothing
on your front page. The alternative to automatically doing this would be what
Twitter does when you create an account, where they show you a bunch of users
and ask you to follow a few. I prefer Reddit's approach of just signing you up
for stuff that most people seem to like.

I would just ignore multireddits. They aren't particularly useful and you
won't see them very much if you don't use them. In fact I've never even
visited
[https://www.reddit.com/subreddits/](https://www.reddit.com/subreddits/), and
I've had an account for 3 years. I don't even know how you got there from the
front page.

No idea why only some are in bold, I guess the mods of each subreddit had the
option of including bold text when they wrote the summary, and most decided
not to.

Yes, [https://www.reddit.com/r/pics/](https://www.reddit.com/r/pics/) is a
subreddit. It is a single place where you can submit pictures. It is somewhat
similar to a chan-like area in that /r/Games is where you go to talk about
games, /r/news is where you talk about news, etc. Why can't you find answers
by looking at the screen? I mean it says right on the side: "A place to share
photographs and pictures." There is an about page
([https://www.reddit.com/about](https://www.reddit.com/about)) and a help page
([https://www.reddit.com/wiki/index](https://www.reddit.com/wiki/index)) that
explains subreddits, but I think most people tend to figure it out on their
own.

Yeah, /r/ means a subreddit, /u/ means a user. I don't really know why you're
concerned with the URL though, you can get around easily by clicking links and
ignoring URLs, like with most websites.

"ALL" is not all posts in /r/pics, it's all posts in all of Reddit. As you can
see in the top right: "/r/all displays content from all of reddit, including
subreddits you aren't subscribed to. Some subreddits have chosen to exclude
themselves from /r/all." It probably looked the same as /r/pics because the
most popular Reddit posts are pictures.

Yes, subreddits are forums. I guess there are a lot of rules for posting, but
you can easily get a feel for the site without reading any rules by just
looking at the content before you post anything.

I think maybe you're focusing too much on trying to understand every detail
before you look at the content? When you click on "AskScience" don't read
through all the rules, just look at the page. Oh look, a question about how
schizophrenia drugs work, that's interesting, I'll click on that. And there's
a bunch of comments discussing it. You click on "pics", oh cool, a picture of
a protest in Hungary, I'll click on the comments to see what people have to
say about it.

Wikipedia has a million rules about editing and maintaining and vandalizing
and whatnot, but you don't have to read a single one to enjoy the content.
Just look at the front page and click on stuff that is interesting. If you
find that the front page has too many funny pictures and not enough science
articles for your tastes, then start using subreddits. Unsubscribe from
/r/funny and subscribe to /r/chemistry and /r/biology or something. If you're
just in the mood for history, go to /r/history and look at that front page.
Same as with a news site, if you just want to read world news then you click
on the world section. If you want all news then you stay on the front page.

~~~
MrBra
I appreciate the time you took to write this. Of course I could figure out
every single feature if I spent a T time on it. And of course sometimes I've
just used the focus-on-content-only approach. But, my point is that when I
look at it, it just seems too much over-engineered. Maybe UI-wise only? Maybe
feature wise too? I don't know! And if I had to know, it meant that I had to
go through it, which is exactly what I don't want to be required to when
getting accustomed with an environment!

Ask yourself, if you were to implement a new Reddit, would you make it like it
is now? I would simplify it a lot.

Maybe it's not the perfect example but for a complexity-wise comparison,
consider StackOverflow. It is complex and it covers a lot of tiny details.
Sometimes I'm just really amazed at how well every little single feature is
designed. But it never gets in your way. Every "hey-you-should-know-this" only
comes up when really necessary, making a new user's familiarization process a
very progressive experience.

If both those sites were Swiss Army knives, to me Reddit would present itself
with all of its non-standard weird mini-tools opened up, to the point where
while I'd be looking for the one I need, I would be asking myself "why I'm
being told that I need this or that ?", while StackOverflow would show up with
all tools closed, and would still impress me at letting me find exactly what I
need when I need it, and sometimes would even surprise me, showing up a
pleasantly and unexpected augmentated version of that...

I go for the second type :)

------
mmahemoff
Reddit launched their own first app just last month. I wonder if they'll be
closing down AMA now that they've negotiated this deal.
[http://www.redditblog.com/2014/09/announcing-official-
reddit...](http://www.redditblog.com/2014/09/announcing-official-reddit-ama-
app_2.html)

~~~
beefsack
It seems that their AMA app is targeted at non-Reddit users and will coexist
with this new one.

~~~
ajacksified
Indeed, it has a completely different target. In fact, it was built as an
experiment to see what could be built using reddit data without being Yet
Another reddit Browser.

------
frewsxcv
Any word on whether it will be open sourced? I'm satisfied with my current app
I use with reddit
[https://github.com/QuantumBadger/RedReader](https://github.com/QuantumBadger/RedReader)
which is open source

~~~
ajacksified
[https://github.com/alienblue/alienblue](https://github.com/alienblue/alienblue)

~~~
aroman
...hasn't been updated in over four years. It's effectively closed-source.

~~~
ajacksified
Oh, you're right, I didn't even look at the dates :x

My hope's that it gets open sourced, but I haven't heard anything in either
direction about it.

------
needle0
I'm reminded of the time when Twitter bought Tweetie and its developer to make
it its official iOS app. Sure hope it won't follow similar paths.

~~~
bytecoin
What happened ?

------
PiracyIsAwesome
Reddit is complete garbage , filled with heavy moderation from all sides ,
your mods , your admins , your mod bots , and the community of reddit , and
finally the shadow bans designed to waste your time for a LOL.

It's the absolute worst place to post anything you want to say. I don't know
why people keep using it.

Reddit also likes to spam top youtube videos with solicitation attempts to get
people to go to reddit.

------
pknerd
Great. I use Alient Blue day and night on iPad and without any doubt it's an
awesome Reddit Client.

------
hiby007
Congratulations to the developer.

------
aikah
Congrats to Alien Blue,their app is great!

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nitin_flanker
Now Jase can make it even more awesome.

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xasos
Flow is a really good Android reader.

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notastartup
how much was it acquired for? Undisclosed figure of Reddit Gold.

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benatkin
[http://www.paulgraham.com/hiring.html](http://www.paulgraham.com/hiring.html)

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bubble_boi
They should buy [http://www.bubblereader.com/](http://www.bubblereader.com/)
too!

~~~
throwawayornot
this is cool, thanks for sharing!

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craigching
Ugh! Ok, I shouldn't complain, but I originally chose the iAlien app only to
run into the scam that that developer put on by claiming a takedown based on
the name by Alien Blue (IIRC, I'll try and provide a source if someone
requests it) requiring users to buy the new app. I was really happy with
iAlien, but I wasn't going to pay the extortion for the "new" app.

Only about 6 months ago I bought Alien Blue + Pro, now I have to do it again.

It appears that if I get it this week I will probably be able to save $4, so
that's good, but I feel a bit scammed by the iAlien developer that I don't
trust some of these apps anymore. I do trust that reddit is a good thing, so
I'm probably set from here on out.

And, in the end, I know it's only $8, but I hate being scammed, it's the
principle.

Alien Blue is a good app so I'm happy for Jase the developer and I forget why
I originally chose iAlien over Alien Blue now, but hopefully we get some good
advancements in the mobile interface which is my primary means of accessing
reddit.

EDIT: Adding links to controversy here as well:

[http://www.reddit.com/r/AlienBlue/comments/1wk2n3/the_ialien...](http://www.reddit.com/r/AlienBlue/comments/1wk2n3/the_ialien_developer_is_scamming_users_and/)

[http://www.reddit.com/r/ialien/comments/1wbtqe/ialien_has_be...](http://www.reddit.com/r/ialien/comments/1wbtqe/ialien_has_been_removed_from_app_store_please/)

~~~
JustinAiken
iAlien has nothing to do w/ Reddit, they just use the API...

~~~
craigching
Yes, I know that and that wasn't my point. And neither does Alien Blue for
that matter. My point was that I didn't want to pay for iAlien's "new app"
which was anything but a new app. I am happy to pay for new features, but
there weren't any new features and the iAlien developer was claiming he had to
re-submit the app (and require everyone to re-buy the Pro features) due to
(IIRC) Alien Blue claiming naming issues which seemed pretty suspicious to me.

And now I just went to the app store to check on iAlien and it appears to be
available again as iAlien and has been updated. Maybe whatever the problem was
was resolved and it wasn't actually a problem in the first place? I wish
someone who knew what was going on could explain, would be enlightening ;)

EDIT: Nope, there was definitely some controversy:

[http://www.reddit.com/r/AlienBlue/comments/1wk2n3/the_ialien...](http://www.reddit.com/r/AlienBlue/comments/1wk2n3/the_ialien_developer_is_scamming_users_and/)

[http://www.reddit.com/r/ialien/comments/1wbtqe/ialien_has_be...](http://www.reddit.com/r/ialien/comments/1wbtqe/ialien_has_been_removed_from_app_store_please/)

Apparently some iAlien lovers with their head in the sand are harassing me
here ;)

~~~
wingerlang
You are being downvoted because iAlien and their (alleged scam) has nothing to
do with the discussion of the topic, which is Alien blue getting acquired.

~~~
craigching
Well, my point was about trying to choose a good reddit client, making the
(wrong) choice of iAlien (and why that choice ended up being wrong), ending up
with Blue Alien and being happy with it in the end only to find out that I
need to be on high alert to ensure I'm not charged (again) to get the _same
functionality that I 've paid for twice_.

I understand that the scam that was iAlien isn't really anything to do with
Alien Blue (I've mentioned _numerous_ times that I'm now happy with Alien
Blue), but that the quote:

"Our whole philosphy has been to give our users choice. We’ve got the reddit
AMA app, and alienblue coming out… but we really want users to use whatever
they want."

means that it is hard to find the _right_ client for iOS. The point being that
I'm someone who seeks an informed opinion, not making a reddit client (or any
other client) decision lightly, but still got burned. I get the "freedom to
choose", but the fact that iAlien was a scam means that more visibility on the
"bad" actors here would be useful for users.

Apparently I wasn't 100% clear on the issue I was trying to present, and
instead of starting a positive dialog, it turned into "downvote the anti-
choice guy". I just wish that a downvote would require a _reason_ for the
downvote instead of just a "shut that guy down."

