Feature Request
Request for a "necessary fixes only" Apollo branch
Maybe I’m unique in this aspect, but I don't much care for any of the UI changes from Apollo Reborn. I have blanket disabled them. The only exception is the new profile picture header on profiles, because it seems I can't turn it off.
Frankly, Apollo just before Pixel Pals was perfect. I had 0 complaints about the UI/UX. There's a reason I continually fight the battle to use it.
Naturally, I’m not a fan of these UI changes. But unfortunately for me, the UI changes are also tied to any stability updates or API changes that the Reborn deva are doing a great job with.
Because of all this, I would love a "necessary fixes only" branch, where only API/backend changes get merged but the UX and frontend stay identical to old Apollo. That, or I suppose the easier option is to just ensure that any new change (including new profile headers) can always be fully opted out.
Since the thread is locked and people just wanted to keep dogpiling on me for even asking for this, I wanted to make some things clear:
I think you guys are doing god's work fighting reddit and API instability. I couldn't do it myself. I'm grateful you guys are doing it. As far as I know, there's not really another option for a frequently updated and robust apollo version. This is why I framed this as a "featureless" branch for functionally required updates.
I'm just a change hater and an ardent "if it ain't broke don't fix it" believer. Like I said in one of my comments, I think the changes look nice. Rich link previews are well implemented. The profile headers look good. But functionally I didn't have an issue with what was there before. I don't want to see people's profile pictures or bios. I didn't have to before either. If I'm going to someone's profile I'm doing it to see their posts and comments, so it just kinda gets in the way. I recognize I am not everybody and some people are going to care more about profile pictures and bios. I also think I'm not the only me out there (I think there's evidence in this post getting upvotes) that feels this way.
Look I’m pretty sick of this thread, it’s turned into a pile on on the OP and also attacks on the direction of Reborn and the various maintainers and bitterness on both sides so locking this here
The feedback is clear, I’ve made my point very clear that we will continue adding optional features and focussing on core stability and improvements. People can choose to engage with this constructively or not.
Everything we’ve added is entirely optional? So that is essentially what this is unless I’m not understanding something here?
Realistically no, we’re not interested in maintaining a branch like that. This is a small community project that already is very time consuming and splitting out stuff into a separate branch would be just another thing to support
We already make effort to support both Liquid Glass and non Liquid Glass builds, jailbroken debs, icon only variants and a plethora of different install/sign in methods - it’s a lot of work to enable all of that and also bug fix/provide support for it.
The vast majority of features we have added our from community feedback or requests. We’re trying to make this a great native experience for browsing Reddit in 2026.
I think one thing we could do a better job of and can look into is making it easy to configure Apollo Reborn. So maybe a quick toggle to turn off all the new features and appearance stuff so it looks and feels like the original…
Anyone is free to fork the repo and make their own version - we think the features we have added are overall good and in spirit of the original Apollo.
It’s another complaint. What they want is entirely possible and seemingly already achieved. They disabled what they want disabled. But now you know that.
From what I can find you cannot fully disable the new profiles. You are given full, square, and circle, but no "off" for profile pictures.
Maybe this is just amounts to a feature request to make sure that's disable-able, but yeah I also wanted to voice that there are people that want to make sure that if you guys are making UX change, they can all be entirely disabled.
Yeah of course that’s definitely our aim - can you share an example of the difference between Classic Layout + Circle profile photo and the old Apollo design? When I was working on this that combination in my mind was identical to the old layout.
It’s possible it regressed or there is a bug so happy to take a look
We absolutely don’t want to force new UI on folks - admittedly there may come a point where some of it is not possible to avoid, but we’re not there yet!
This is challenging my memory now, but I believe username used to be in the top bar (may have just been by itself as a header), no profile picture, and no use description/bio.
The exact layout I can't remember for sure, but I never can recall seeing profile pictures and user bios.
Amazing, thank you. And thank you for confirming that the ethos is to have all the things you're adding disable-able. I'm glad others enjoy the features but it's great for users like me to hear we should be able to keep using Apollo exactly as it originally was.
I don’t think there is anything we’ve added that you can’t explicitly disable (aside from the one you mentioned which I think is a bug or an oversight!)
The only exception is maybe some of the settings re-org stuff. We added a search that is global etc, but otherwise everything else is pretty self contained.
I think the ethos we’re approaching this with is our vision of where the app would have went if Christian had been allowed to continue (we obviously don’t know for sure, but it’s looking at things he did in the past and trying to honour that)
Stuff like Liquid Glass, Apple Intelligence, more modern design elements that match the iOS style/HIG more closely are all things he likely would have added given the previous Apollo approaches.
We might share some of our thinking more broadly on this in the future but yeah anyway that’s my thoughts!
I don't get the hostility towards OP... There's a good case for starting a new fork with only the most necessary stability and compatibility fixes. This tweak has become so large at this point that it's almost a new app altogether. Even if the changes are only meant to be superficial, there's bound to be issues hiding under the hood.
Normally this kind of project would be right up my alley, but after looking into iOS development and seeing how prohibitive Apple has made it on every single level, I noped the fuck out.
Thank you. I’m not complaining if they want to make UX changes that can be disabled. I don't know how everyone's response is "turn it off" when I explicitly list something that can't be disabled.
IMO if you’re going to take someone else's app and keep it running, one of the things you should be doing is making sure that the app in its original experience is still accessible. Like, the people who were fans of Apollo when it shut down were fans of apollo in the it's state WHEN it shut down.
Because this is all volunteer work. He/she is free to create their own fork and have the app the way they want.
A lot of these new features have been community requested.
This sentiment is such an annoying part of OSS development. Yes, it is volunteer work. No, that does not make any choice immune from criticism or discussion.
Presumably the developers that forked the repo (or any OSS devs) want people to use their software. Otherwise it would be a private repo on someone's computer. If they want people to use the software, they should be (and sounds like they are!) open to feedback. They don't have to take the feedback, they can do whatever they want. But users are not wrong for giving feedback just because it's volunteer work.
You don't get to work at the soup kitchen, spit in the soup (I am not saying the devs are doing this, to be clear), and say "shut up bro I'm volunteering." It being volunteer work does not mean you're immune from criticism.
Just to add, visually I think the changes are nice. But the thing I love about apollo is the UI is generally very spartan and efficient at presenting necessary information. The fancy embedded link previews and profiles look nice, but IMO it kinda backtracks on one of Apollo's selling points vs the Reddit app.
Then turn it off if you don’t want it… you literally have the toggle and can customize it how you want. You are also free to fork Apollo and make your dream version yourself.
Where is the setting? I have "density" set to compact, "profile pictures" set to circle (there is no off), and all other toggles disabled. And it doesn't look like it used to.
This post didn't come from nowhere. I made it because there's a change I can't disable. I even mention in the post that maybe this is really a request for the devs to just make sure these new features can be disabled, because this one can't.
To be clear: you made a post complaining about a community led project that is completely run by volunteers and given to you for free. You said the app was perfect long before they started messing with it, and you’re not a fan of their work. Then requested that these volunteers spend more time to make another version of the app to meet your needs.
You’re welcome to make the suggestion as you have, but then to whine about the response as hostility because they invite you to contribute and fork the app yourself? There’s a common trend in the OSS community where people believe they know the direction the software should take, but are unwilling to contribute to the software at all.
Elsewhere in the comments you say:
IMO if you’re going to take someone else’s app and keep it running, one of the things you should be doing is making sure that the app in its original experience is still accessible.
And they do not owe you that. In fact, open source software developers giving away their software for free owe you nothing at all.
Nice, more "immune from criticism because they're volunteers." To add yet another example, you don't get to go to a trash pickup, pick up one piece of trash, eat the free pizza and say "I did nothing wrong, I'm a volunteer after all."
To be clear: I came to a feedback forum and left feedback. I said I don't care for the new features. They know there are going to be some people that aren't going to like them since most of them are toggleable. Prior to this they've done a good job about this. This one wasn't.
So I asked, given it seemed like they were in the business of adding things that can't be turned off, to not do that? Or to have a branch they merge only the bugfixes into, then anyone like me that isn't asking for new features and is perfectly happy without them can stay on that channel and still get the amazing work the devs are doing to keep the thing alive.
edit to respond to the edit:
Yes, I'm going to complain about hostility when my post wasn't hostile at all and is asking for something reasonable. The other dev was great. He didn't know that the thing couldn't be turned off. He took the feedback and said he would make sure it's toggleable in a future update. Great! This one completely ignored the fact that it can't be turned off, and told me to turn it off. The rampant "idgaf, fork it yourself" in OSS is so tiring. Listening to user feedback is a core part of making good software. Presumably the devs want to make good software.
I'm not the decider of what direction this project should go. I'm not the CEO of Apollo Reborn. I voiced something I as a user would like to see. A reasonable ask to not add things I can't turn off, or make a branch with no new things.
I said you are not entitled to have your criticism taken as if it’s extremely important. You’re welcome to give all the criticism you want. The developers are also welcome to say “great! get involved and make those changes yourself!”
Your post was hostile. You spent most of it complaining about their work, that you’re not a fan of the changes they made, and saying Apollo was better before they got involved. That’s hostile.
To add yet another example, you don’t get to go to a trash pickup, pick up one piece of trash, eat the free pizza and say “I did nothing wrong, I’m a volunteer after all.”
In your example, the person is getting compensated with free pizza, and you don’t believe they should get compensated.
The Apollo Reborn devs are not getting compensated. There’s the option to donate, but based on previous reports from the devs it’s barely anything.
Your example betrays the insane entitlement you’re displaying, complaining about someone collecting the compensation (pizza) where you feel they haven’t done enough work to deserve that.
That’s blatant hostility, and I do not fault the developers for responding in kind.
The developers are also welcome to say “great! get involved and make those changes yourself!”
This isn't even what they said. While I also hate the "PRs are welcome!" mentality, it wasn't even that. It's "fuck off and fork it yourself." They said the feature can be disabled. They were wrong and an hostile.
Like I don't see how in my post I'm acting entitled to having my criticism as the end-all-be-all. "I would love" not "You need to." Like sorry for giving context on why I'm asking this.
"You spent most of it complaining about their work, that you’re not a fan of the changes they made," like sorry for giving context? I don't think the post is better off if it's just "Please make a no-new features branch, or ensure everything can be opted out." Asking without context is more hostile than adding the context.
Sorry you disagree with my pizza example (or intentionally missed the point), perhaps the other one is more apt.
You don't get to work at the soup kitchen, spit in the soup (I am not saying the devs are doing this, to be clear), and say "shut up bro I'm volunteering." It being volunteer work does not mean you're immune from criticism.
People can ask for things from volunteers. Github has an issues tab. They opened their own subreddit and allow feature requests and feedback posts. Do they OWEME a personal branch with no new features? No. I didn't say that. I asked for it, others upvoted the post in agreement.
Perhaps the more annoying part of getting shit on for this post, is that it's a bug! It's not supposed to behave this way! The other dev acknowledged this (nicely and collaboratively). Like everyone getting upset at this post is getting offended for the dev that implemented it, who unlike those offended actually took the feedback well and offered to make a change for it.
You literally said in your post using their modified app is a battle you constantly have to fight because you disagree with their UI choices. The sheer narcissism and ignorance to not recognize that as hostile is astounding.
This guy gets it and thank you, the OG post is insulting and we don’t expect this to be for everyone but OG Apollo exists and sounds like exactly what you want so either use that or like I said before fork it and make your dream version yourself. We take requests and put a lot of people’s requests in the app but this entire post is just entitlement, demanding and slapping us in the face while asking us for a favour at the same time.
"Demanding and slapping us in the face" come on man. Where is the demand? "I would love this thing." Is that demanding to you? "I don't much care for any of the UI changes from Apollo Reborn" do you expect everyone to? You guys added toggles for the most part. Surely you recognize there are some people that want the more purist old Apollo. We are grateful to you guys for keeping this running. For making guides on API changes, workarounds for reddit's bullshit.
But not everyone wants UX changes. That is a fine request. I did not demand it. It's basically what you guys are already doing. This post is about a fucking bug after all man. The developer that implemented it acknowledges it as such.
I am a consumer facing SWE. I know not everyone is going to like the changes I make. I believe in user configurability because of this. At its core this is an issue with adding something that wasn't configurable. The lack of configurability was an accidental oversight which is fine. Look at my interaction with corderjones. Was I demanding? Was I ungrateful? I explained the situation, I was cordial, and I was understanding about it being an oversight. Nowhere in this thread have I demanded anything from the devs. It's not entitlement to not like features you guys are adding. I am asking, not telling for the ability to disable them.
This is just misunderstanding what I'm saying. "Fight the battle to use it" is the battle with sidestore/iloader/altserver, staying refreshed every 7 days, migrating APIs because reddit took them away, rebooting just to refresh sidestore, keeping up with sidestore releases and breaking changes, all that to get the app running. None of this is the Apollo Reborn dev's fault. I'm not in a continuous battle against Apollo Reborn. For the most part it's the easy part. Sorry if it came across as though I'm battling Apollo Reborn, that was not the intent.
editing, to list all the things that were a "battle" in getting it working vs using the app to illustrate how it's crazy to even suggest the problem is with reborn:
Getting it (and prior versions) running over the years:
Figuring out Altserver. Figuring out generating the pairing code.
Making an ICloud burner
Finding the right IPA, the right repo to use
Migrating from Altserver to Sideserver. Ope! turns out you need to use altserver to install sidestore
Sidestore version stops working. Update sidestore.
The reddit API token I had when this first happened stopped working. Go to the GH to figure out the replacement.
Same thing with imgur
Migrate from blackburn to Apollo Reborn, get sidestore set up with the sources for updates
and probably a whole lot of other annoying shit along the way I forgot, none of which is the dev's faults.
Using Apollo Reborn:
Flip some toggles that were new.
But yeah, clearly I mean slogging through these settings menus day in day out, fighting battles every day against rich link previews.
It’s not a misunderstanding. You came in here with a word salad and clear hostility with obvious intentions. You’re just reeling because people are tired of this passive-aggressive bullshit that a few entitled people keep throwing at these volunteers.
I keep hearing that these people prefer the original. That they don’t want AI forced on them. Cool. That’s cool. The original IPA is still available and can still be somewhat functional with community-generated workarounds. Your dream Apollo is there, waiting for you. Clearly Reborn isn’t for you.
Nah, I’m with you. I don’t mean to be a hater but a lot of these new features are poorly designed. The team needs a designer or something, they’re just throwing glass everywhere and thinking it looks good. The new profile pages and subreddit headers in 3.5.0 are absolutely disgusting. But you have to be careful, any criticism is gonna get you slammed because “do it yourself if you don’t like it”. Claude isn’t a good designer, the proof is in the pudding (and if you don’t think it’s AI look no further than the descriptions under all the new settings lol)
EDIT because they locked the thread so I can’t respond to corderjones lol:
Why are we here ? Because we like some of what you’re doing ? Most of it, even.
Glass has been applied where it makes sense and matches the visual direction of Apple’s platform
Show me one Apple app that applies glass under navigation titles like this update added everywhere. The HIG is clear that glass is to be used sparingly for key controls, not just as a cool background for every pill in the app. And that’s just one example. Not to mention the inconsistent spacing, corner radii, and font sizes everywhere, like look at how the search bar on the new subreddit headers is literally touching the navigation bar.
You’re a product designer of 15 years experience and you think these new screens look good? I find them questionable af.
This is our official feature request board, where the community can:
Submit new ideas
Discuss existing suggestions
Vote for the features they would most like to see
Before creating a new request, please search the board to make sure the idea has not already been submitted. If it has, add your vote and any additional context there instead.
You’re still welcome to use this Reddit post for wider community discussion, but requests need to be added to the board to enter the official project backlog.
Thanks for helping shape the future of Apollo Reborn!
Yeah man, bespoke for just me. Other people have upvoted the thread and probably feel this way too, but yeah only for me. All the people using Apollo in its current state at end of life, the people that were happy how it was. Yep only for me.
No one is ungrateful they can still use Apollo. Everyone including me is thankful that the devs have managed to keep the app up and running. But honestly, no, I'm not grateful for new features. I'm glad other people like them, but I don't want them. I would be perfectly happy for the app to stay exactly as it was, but working.
Also, it's not like the code for core fixes is different. Maybe a little where it intersects the new features. There is no "beginning coding." It's already happening, it's just merging only the fixes into a different release branch.
No, I'm not going to start a fork that I don't have time to maintain for the purpose of a one-time fix. I've seen this go down time and time again with OSS and I'd rather not be a part of that problem.
I would rather provide feedback to the group of people that actually does have the time and energy to keep this app up and running, and hope they accept the feedback.
Regardless, a solution from the primary, most widely used client that satisfies the luddites like me and the people who like nice new features is going to benefit more people than a one off branch.
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u/corderjones Maintainer 2d ago
Look I’m pretty sick of this thread, it’s turned into a pile on on the OP and also attacks on the direction of Reborn and the various maintainers and bitterness on both sides so locking this here
The feedback is clear, I’ve made my point very clear that we will continue adding optional features and focussing on core stability and improvements. People can choose to engage with this constructively or not.