iMore Show #846: How Reddit is Killing Apollo - we chat to Christian Selig

Apollo, Christian Selig on iMore Show podcast
(Image credit: iMore)

For this week's iMore Show podcast, we're joined by Christian Selig, developer of the third-party Reddit app, Apollo, where we recap the last month and what he had planned for the app if Reddit's API guidelines hadn't changed.

Now available to listen on Apple PodcastsSpotifyGoogle Podcasts, and more, Reddit announced changes to its API guidelines, which meant that Selig would have had to pay the company almost $20 million dollars to keep the app running.

After much back and forth, Selig had no choice but to announce that Apollo was being taken off the App Store on June 30, but Reddit's CEO decided to paint Selig in a bad light. In some baffling choices, Steve Huffman had implied that Selig was difficult in conversations, and was almost threatening.

Thankfully, Selig had transcripts and audio files of these very conversations, clearly proving the opposite.

So, we had a lot of ground to cover in this special episode, and we also went into what an Apollo app for iPad would have been like, alongside his experiences at WWDC 2023 earlier in the month.

Scrapped plans and more

Since we recorded on June 14, CEO Steve Huffman has been interviewed by The Verge, and he is still not backing down on his stance from the past few months. In fact, he seems to double down, going so far as to class Apollo as a competitor.

In the show, we chat about, how Selig is doing first of all, and how a bizarre AMA by Huffman on June 9 resulted in a lot of non-answers, and still implying that Apollo was being awkward.

We also touch upon his other app, Pixel Pals, which allows you to take care of a Tamagotchi-like pet on the Dynamic Island using your iPhone 14 Pro and Pro Max, alongside potential plans for it going forward.

Make sure to subscribe to the podcast for more interviews coming soon, alongside expressing your thoughts on the whole situation on the iMore Forums.

Daryl Baxter
Features Editor

Daryl is iMore's Features Editor, overseeing long-form and in-depth articles and op-eds. Daryl loves using his experience as both a journalist and Apple fan to tell stories about Apple's products and its community, from the apps we use every day to the products that have been long forgotten in the Cupertino archives.

Previously Software & Downloads Writer at TechRadar, and Deputy Editor at StealthOptional, he's also written a book, 'The Making of Tomb Raider', which tells the story of the beginnings of Lara Croft and the series' early development. His second book, '50 Years of Boss Fights', came out in June 2024, and has a monthly newsletter called 'Springboard'. He's also written for many other publications including WIRED, MacFormat, Bloody Disgusting, VGC, GamesRadar, Nintendo Life, VRV Blog, The Loop Magazine, SUPER JUMP, Gizmodo, Film Stories, TopTenReviews, Miketendo64, and Daily Star.

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