I’ve been on Reddit for years. I’ve used the site long enough to remember when AlienBlue was the best Reddit app on the market. Unfortunately, the company themselves purchased the app, killed it, and replaced it with their current app, which, for the most part, sucks. I was very excited a few years ago when I discovered an app from Christian Selig called Apollo for Reddit that finally made using Reddit fun again.
As I’ve used the app over the last few years, there’ve been aspects of it that stood out to me. With the end of the year right around the corner, I figured that some people may be looking for a new Reddit client for their iPhone, so I wanted to present to you today, five reasons that Apollo is the best Reddit client for iOS.
5. Pixel Pals
I think that Pixel Pals (available here as a standalone app) has to be one of the most interesting use cases I’ve seen for the iPhone 14 Pro’s Dynamic Island yet. While I haven’t upgraded to one of those devices myself, I do have the honor of browsing Reddit with my own furry little friend walking around on the home indicator of my iPhone 12 Pro. At its core, Pixel Pals are Tamagotchi for your Reddit client. In addition to looking cute, they can be fed with food that you find while using the app and also played with. Currently, there are two toys available: the beacon ball and the magic wand. Each Pixel Pal has a friendship level that grows the more you care for it. In addition to being in the app, you can also take your Pixel Pal out of the app via Home and Lock Screen widgets.
Right: Pixel Pals on Home Screen
4. Live Activity Support
Once again, I was quite impressed with how Christian came up with a very unique use for Live Activities in iOS. When Apple first showcased the feature, they gave examples like music playing or waiting for an Uber and getting status updates. I find it hard to believe that anyone inside Apple thought that anyone would think to use this feature to pull the latest comments from a Reddit post. I admit that while I do love the feature, I haven’t used it a lot, though I did use it all throughout season two of Chucky to follow along with the episode discussion thread. Another type of thread that I think this feature could be really good for is following an AMA or r/askredit thread. These can be activated from the comment screen’s ellipsis menu. Just scroll down and tap on Start Live Activity.
3. Remind Me In…
We’ve all been there: you’re browsing Reddit, you find a post that you want to dig through the comments on, but your lunch break is almost over. “I’ll take a look at this when I get home.” you think to yourself, knowing you’ll never remember to come back to the thread and it will be lost forever. Fortunately, Apollo is one step a head of us! Either from your feed or the comment screen of the post, just tap on the ellipses, scroll down, and select Remind Me In…. From there, you can choose a time or date to get a notification to go back to checkout whatever it was you didn’t have time for in the first place.
2. Widgets
When it comes to widgets, Christian really outdid himself. Let’s start with Lock Screen widgets. In addition to the Pixel Pal widgets I mentioned above, the remaining Lock Screen widgets are a combination of fun and functional. The one that is a constant staple on my Lock Screen is Trending Posts set to show me content from r/apple. There’s also widgets that let you check your karma, most recent posts or comment, as well as subreddit shortcuts and how far you’ve scrolled. (Yes, that’s a metric the app tracks now which is really cool.)
When it comes to Home Screen widget, there’s even more to love. One of these that’s a staple for me is a subreddit shortcut that I keep in the Today view with quick access to subreddits that I like to frequently check in on. If you’re someone that prefers a widget full of posts, that’s an option too. There’s also photo widgets! In the past, I’ve been known to keep a wallpaper widget on my Home Screen and I would save any that caught my eye. I’m currently in the process of rethinking my wallpaper workflows due to changes in iOS 16 so that’s one I’m not currently using, but I do plan to bring it back at some point.
1. Customization
The number one reason that Apollo is the best Reddit client for iOS, though, is the customization options of the app. While Christian hasn’t gone as far as letting you set custom tabs on the bottom of the app, there’s plenty of customization settings that you can change in terms of what’s displayed, color themes for the app, and an absolute boatload of custom icons that you can use. The custom icon is my favorite part of the customization of the app, due to the fact that there’s plenty for different times of the year (I just switched out my Santa icon for a gorilla for a while.) The art on these are so beautiful that there’s even a widget that lets you set a jumbo version of a specific icon as a way to quickly get into the app. Here’s a screenshot of six of my favorite icons the app offers (in no specific order).
That about wraps it up for the reasons I think that Apollo is the best Reddit client for iOS. If you’d like to check the app out, it’s available on the App Store as a free download. This version is limited, but the full app is unlockable via an in-app purchase. Here’s a link to the Apollo site that explains the cost and features of Apollo Pro and Ultra. Finally, in addition to being available on both the iPhone and iPad, the app is also able to run on any Mac powered by Apple Silicon.
Dan Stransky 
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