I was using Jerboa up until now and am now using Sync because I used it for Reddit.
…and that’s it. I don’t understand why this gets so much talk. There are so many options. Just use something. We all want Lemmy to grow so I don’t see the problem.
This. I’ve been using Jerboa ever since making the switch to Lemmy. There wasn’t much of a learning curve and it basically does what I want, so I’m happy with it.
Me too, I have no idea where the complaints about Jerboa are coming from. I mean, it shows posts and comments, how radically different are these alternate apps? They all look the same to me!
There’s some slight functionality differences and maybe some customization: for example, Relay had swipe controls which were pretty nice.
I wish they’d just fix the bug when pressing backspace to edit comments.
Seconded. Jerboa is much better than
lookoutliftoff which I also tried, but the backspace bug is irritatingAt least the inbox isn’t permanently unread now
I started off using jerboa. Just installed sync to see what the fuss is about. At the core it’s pretty much the same. One thing sync does better, at least on my phone, is smoother loading/rendering of content. There were times id actually use Lemmy web instead.
With that said, my favorite reddit app Boost, is working on a Lemmy client too. So I’m looking forward to that as well.
Am I ditching jerboa? No, not yet.
I put this in a other thread, but am genuinely interested in getting feedback.
I’m currently on Jerboa and downloaded/installed sync yesterday. As a former RIF user, I don’t have a horse in this race. I am more familiar with Jerboa, but find the overall feel of both (admittedly, without a lot of use), to be pretty comparable.
That said, I kind of like some of the ideas in Jerboa more? For example, tap to minimize comments and their children on Jerboa is quite a bit faster. I’m kind of sad that both make selecting some of the text in a comment hard and miss the dedicated RIF collapse/expand comment tree button. Jerboa also matches the font size of everything else in my UI better than Sync. For example, the font size of this reply and my keyboard are the same in Jerboa. In Sync the in-app font size is quite a bit smaller.
At the end of the day, I think that both apps are going to be largely comparable for a fairly casual user like me. I bet both offer more functionality than I’m using, but so far I don’t feel like I’m missing anything.
You can customize both those options in Sync. I had the same initial issues, but you can switch comment collapse to single tap as well as increase font size.
Sync is very very customizable.
Will have to try customizing it, thanks for the pointer. I’m still not sure what benefits it beings other than a somewhat smoother UX though.
As a former RIF user I like the way the comments look on synch better. Reminds me or RiF
Indenting in jebora does leave something to be desired, lol. I’ve gotten some good pointers, will have to keep trying sync.
I am exactly your use-case. Was using RIF, then I’ve been using Jerboa up until Sync was released. I never used Sync for Reddit.
My opinion on the two differs from yours, however. Sync seems SO much better than Jerboa to me. Yep, the font was small but I was able to embiggen it. Everything else seems faster and more intuitive. Jerboa was so buggy for me.
deleted by creator
Jerboa was a bit buggy initially, but the only bug I’ve experienced recently was trying to expand hidden comments in a post with a ton of comments. That caused it to crash. It is slow to load some days, but I’ve been caulking that up to a slow instance. I could see how an app could work around that problem by not loading the slow instance but that seems… non ideal? Better CX sure, but it means different users would see different content based on what app they’re using.
Another killer features Sync has that (AFAIK) no other Lemmy android apps currently have:
-
long pressing a community in the community list drawers will open that community in a new activity windows, essentially the android equivalent to open in a new “window”. Use your phone’s app switcher to switch between these “window”. There is even an option to allow you to open posts in a new window as well. Very handy if you want to write a comment while looking for some information in another thread, or if you’re on a tablet and want to pin multiple sync windows on the screen.
-
Sync will open links to a lemmy post natively instead of in an embedded web browser. Basically solve one of the most complained issue about linking in Lemmy.
-
deleted by creator
I’ve tried a few apps (Liftoff, Wifwif or whatever it was called, and now Sync). I’ve not stuck with any of them, despite the fact I used RiF and later Boost both for years.
They just feel too early stage. Eg, Wifwif was super sluggish and I accidentally cancelled multiple long comments I typed up by trying to scroll, which is a big oof. With Sync, I noticed the comment hierarchy was messed up and when I went to post about that, I couldn’t do it from within the app because posting isn’t supported yet (feels like a big thing to be missing).
So for now, I’m still just using the website. And not with the PWA, because support for multiple tabs is really great and avoids weirdness with scrolling when going back.
Side note: why do literally no apps support tabs??? Number zero feature request I’ve ever had, for every single app. I even noticed that Sync has a long press to open posts in background, but it’s only for posts and it is rather convoluted cause it’s more like opening a second instance of the app. The back button goes to my Android home screen (not back to Sync) and it is hard to navigate to what you just opened.
Mobile Chrome’s tab groups feature is absolutely amazing. I hate using “normal” tabs anymore, cause the tab groups having the tabs accessible at the bottom of the screen is unbeatable.
I’ve been using Liftoff but Sync feels a lot more polished except what it does with the comments sometimes - showing child comments with no parent. Liftoff would show the parent comment so I don’t know what’s up with that.
Long time RiF user but no LiF 🤷♂️
Most of us were like that, but the sudden excitement we all had for the app release caused a counter-surge of people annoyed at our excitement and sometimes exaggerated statememts, which caused a lot of us to dig in our heels against the backlash in defence.
Add to that a user base used to no ads and no fees, with a user base who is okay with either, you’ve got the perfect ingredients for the mud soup we’ve found ourselves in.
Because third party apps are literally the point that drove a lot of people to Lemmy in the first place. It’s classic selection bias.
I don’t understand why this gets so much talk
Because proprietary software is unethical.
Reminds me of the persecution complex people have about vegans. Like, they’re actually right and you kind of have your head up your ass.
Damn… But i like hamburgers!
-Sent From SyncForLemmy™
but bacon
smh
As my vegan brother said, “if God didn’t want us to eat cows, they wouldn’t be so slow and delicious.”
I never thought I’d be in an environment where FOSS user is the majority demographic.
I feel like I’m hanging out in a crypto community where Bitcoin maximalists are the majority… I hate it.
Join us, you know in your heart that you want to 😈
I ended up getting banned from /r/Bitcoin, I might end up getting banned from /c/linuxmemes
That’s a badge of honor, I bet you did something right.
Yes, arguing too successfully against them 🙃
Wait you weren’t joking? What do you mean you’ve been seeing bitcoin maximalists?
No, I’m saying the FOSS maximalists act exactly the same as Bitcoin maximalists and that kind of closed mindedness is just bad for whatever these people like (open source software and crypto in their cases) as it just pushes people away.
You wouldn’t convince people to try a hobby you like by sending the weirdo that insults anyone that doesn’t like that hobby to talk to them… Well the weirdos have a platform now and they’re loud as fuck and they’re part of the group that’s in majority so they get tolerated!
Heck, I was just arguing with one that called those who use closed source software “closed source cucks”…
Use Linux too but know exactly what you mean. This kind of people are fucking annoying and drive other people away
I remember being like that as a teen. Unfortunately, Linux has had an air of elitism around it for a long time, possibly since its inception.
thats a perfect description. even the linux subreddit wasn’t this rabid about Foss
And now they’re stuck on the ever-worsening platform while it gets better every day here
We should probably start emailing all the Lemmy devs, client devs, etc. and shaming them for using GitHub since it’s not open source and open source options for source control are available. /s
I mean, there is Gitlab.
For real? Is it free tho?
Free and -source are not the same thing.
I know that, I was just wandering if there are FOSS alternatives to GitHub, which are also free in price.
Unless you’re an independently wealthy jackass, I’m not sure how you can attack non-FOSS software users. I am a software engineer and I get paid to write software. I write some code for fun at home too and if people use any of my projects Im delighted. But if you want bug fixes and reliability and consistent new features and updates to apis and I have to listen to your bullshit complaints about how XYZ is better, you bet your ass I’m gonna charge for that.
It’s like a baker making bread who gives out a few loaves for free at first. You don’t get to complain if 100s of people show up demanding free bread and he starts charging them. Maybe communism is a system that demands people work for free, but elsewhere you’re entitled to whatever wage the market will bear.
The bread analogy dies at the same point that the piracy argument dies. It isnt truly stealing to make a copy of something… and it doesnt cost a developer more effort the more people that download their app.
Yes i would download a car.
Years ago, I came to the conclusion that the right way to support yourself being a software company was to provide service, not software. I also believe selling software licenses to for-profit companies is a good strategy. Bug bounties are fine too.
Point is, I think there are plenty of ways software developers can make a living without being closed-source or nag-ware. Most companies do not want their employees spending time fixing bugs in software, and many are fine paying reasonable licensing fees as long as their software group is satisfied with the service - which mainly happens when said IT group isn’t having to spend too much time messing with it.
You are right, but I see no reason why you couldn’t sell Libre software. People never have to pay for software, they choose to do it. It doesn’t matter if the app is proprietary or not.
I’m reminded that in the past every release of a software (at least the major ones) would be a single paid-for release. Obviously the google play model inhibits that kind of sensible monetisation straegy for now (I think).
Think photoshop before, the model that clip studio pro has ‘reverted’ back to (I support it, but I can’t help but remember that time when they bombed twitter with adverts with a deal - that’s money that didn’t go towards development).
I read your name as rustic titties, and I have never been more disappointed in my whole life…
Disappointed tit.
milkmaids>>>
-medieval males
The Free Software movement has nothing to do with price. It’s about freedom. We deserve to have the freedom to control our own devices. Proprietary software takes that away, so it’s unethical.
It’s shame, if only the ideology wasn’t born in an anglophone country maybe this common misconception would have never been a thing in the first place.
LIBERTÀÀÀ!!
My… Friend… Wanted to know where he can download foss because he couldn’t find it in the Google app store …
FOSS is Free Open Source Software. All Lemmy apps except Connect and Sync are FOSS.
Thank you very much. Gosh my friend is sooooo dumb
Fdroid, and maybe obtainium (for easy github downloads) are your friends in case you didn’t know.
You can download FOSS from the same people you download RAM from.
Waiting on the FOSS 2.0 update to drop first
You wouldn’t download a car, now would you
Would if i could.
Time to wipe his computer “by accident” and run that Linux install program.
He will use Arch BTW
I ❤️ this idea
Jerboa users would find this very funny, if they could see it.
Literally the third post I see from Jerboa for Lemmy this morning.
Saw this within 30 seconds of switching to Liftoff after Jerboa just crashed lmao
😡 I see you right now, punk.
/s, well, I mean I’m using Jerboa but I’m not actually trying to be angry lol
Can we talk about something else
I don’t think I’ve ever been part of an online community that was this much into Linux. I mean I get it, great open source operating system to stick it to the corpos, but it feels like only a certain slice of Reddit came over and it isn’t fully representative of the main Reddit population.
Then again we were mostly united about the 3rd party app thing, which a lot of Redditors didn’t really care about (otherwise more would be here).
It’s basically Reddit from ten years ago.
Fortunately I haven’t seen any of the nasty communities yet, but they just might be more hidden.
In other posts, people are. :)
Scroll past the ones you don’t want to see, or even block the entire community. You have a lot of control.
Sure. How’s your day going?
Oh no more ways to enjoy the fediverse. Oh no the thousands of users of sync for reddit might come here now oh no this is a disaster!
Been using jerboa since it dropped, was using lemmur before that and jerboa is definitely brtter. Waiting on infinity though.
Same here. Infinity is here and I’m using it now
I’ve been a Lemmy about 2 weeks and I’m practically radicalized for FOSS. I’m about to custom install Arch Linux and burn a Sync user at the stake.
I can’t tell if your joking. I also didn’t really care that much about open source software before coming here, but now I find myself searching out for open source replacements for the stuff I’m already using.
I’ve been here almost a month and I don’t know what FOSS is, and at this point I’m scared to ask.
Free and Open Source Software
Great, next step is to memorize the GNU GPL off by heart
I wiped Arch and installed Fedora, am I doing it wrong?
This is all sounding a bit insular. I’m happy with the tech stuff but let’s not turn the entire site into a discussion about a specific app or two.
It’s a discussion about ethics. Proprietary software is unethical.
Username checks out
I bEt yOu HaVe a wIFi cArD iN yoUr phOnE
I’m using Sync for lemmy
edit: I tried it these days and I don’t like it, I’m switching back to the webapp
The amount of shilling Sync receives makes me worry that something is up with it. It’s not normal that I even believe some bots and sock puppets are involved. I’m not touching it with a long stick until someone does some proper security analysis on it. I’m not dumb to fall for peer pressure. Good luck, guys!
Nah man, it’s just good.
(I don’t use it btw)
FOSS for Lemmy
It’s just very popular - I used it for reddit. It had a lot of installs on play and was recommended often on reddit.
I’m not touching it with a long stick until someone does some proper security analysis on it
How would that happen? It’s proprietary software, we don’t have access to the source code. And that’s the whole point. We can’t verify what it does and we can’t modify it.
The alternative is Free/Libre Software. That’s what Lemmy is, Jerboa and many others. Their authors publish the source code and let their users study it, modify it and distribute it. Because they are not trying to hide anything from us. That’s the ethical way to make software.
Security analysis doesn’t require the source code. TikTok was repeatedly analyzed without it being open source.
Perhaps you are right, but it’s way more difficult, takes a lot of time and requires a different set of skills. If there is spyware in it, it would be illegal to remove it and distribute a patch for other users. So even if you find something, there is not much you can do about it.
It’s not very practical to add spyware into Libre Software though, because it wouldn’t be hard to find and it would be very easy for users to remove it.
It’s just good. I used it for years, and even bought the Pro version of the reddit app. The main feature for me is the performance. I don’t have a high end phone and Sync are the only one with a consistent scrolling performance (no dropped frames).
Same.
Tried Jerboa… wasn’t a huge fan, now I’m using Connect
That’s funny. I hated how Connect refused to play nice, and moved to Jerboa.
My only complaint with jerboa is that it keeps forgetting my login details.
I use a password manager. I don’t know what my lemmy password is. I just know it’s really long, so logging in requires owning up a second app, searching for lemmy, copying my password, going back to jerboa, and then going through the login flow.
KeePass2Android has a software keyboard with integration with the pass DB and it detects what app you’re typing into (and websites too with browsers using the right API), and you can put the app name in the password entry to have it autofill
That was happening to me for a while, but not anymore. IDK if an update fixed it. Try updating and then restarting phone?
I’ve been using for about three weeks now. I have not been experiencing this issue.
I think that’s your instance ending your session.
As long as we can all agree that the people using the web UI are fools and/or masochists
(sent from Infinity)
I’ve used Jerboa, Connect, Liftoff, Sync, and Infinity. The mobile site is still my favorite.
Whatever gets you off, friend!
Yeah man, whatever throats your goat
This is the first mention of Connect I’ve seen. I like it.
The web UI still have two features no other apps (afaik) currently have: autocomplete when mentioning someone’s username (useful for e.g. summoning bots), and selecting comment language (useful for replying to posts that somehow marked as English-only, and the server’s language auto-detection somehow think your comment is not written in English and rejects it)
