When they rolled out the AI features, I figured, "Cool, the AI is there if people want to use it, but I don't, so I won't." I'm anti-AI but I can tolerate it if need be, so it wasn't a problem because it seemed easy to simply not use. If anything, I was glad that they thought to add modern 2026 features to a super outdated 3rd party app.
But then I found out they're using AI to generate the code itself, which isn't being properly tested before release. They're rolling out updates like every week or two which seems pretty fast. Seriously I've experienced so many visual bugs and crashes. Some features were janky or missing altogether. I made a GitHub account specifically to submit bug reports because I genuinely cared about the project and appreciated the attempt at adding new features and keeping the app up to date. Many of them have been fixed, but the longer I use the app after each update, I realize that there are just new bugs to replace the old ones. Scrolling through comment sections with the "see deleted comments" toggle on can just randomly freeze the app. Switching accounts can crash the app entirely. The theme builder has been rehauled but there are still random colors that show up with no rhyme or reason. A moderation tool I requested got implemented but it just crashes when the button is tapped.
I thought, "Okay, it's a small team. They're working on getting everything together, I should cut them some slack," but I still felt kind of uneasy. I expressed concern with the level of reliance on AI for programming and was reassured by multiple developers that they were looking at the code with a fine-toothed comb before it was implemented. I was relieved to hear that.
But then they started responding to my GitHub bug report issues with ChatGPT... Again, I thought, "Alright, it's a small team with a lot on their plate, and maybe it's their first time doing something like this and they're socially awkward and maybe they don't know how to respond? Maybe English isn't their first language?" I gave them another pass. I figured they're nice people trying their best. I wanted to support them because of that.
But the final strike for me was today, when they released an AI generated passive-aggressive announcement of the second update this month that's just... straight up super smarmy. It's a 4 panel comic strip basically saying fuck anyone who isn't okay with the app being "riddled with AI" (literal quote from a contributor comment), and that their feedback goes in the garbage. Seriously, go look at it. It really makes me miss how down to earth and transparent Christian was. He loved the community and it showed.
This is depressing as fuck. I'm super down about it. Am I alone in feeling this way? I've been using Apollo for years and the community was always optimistic and helpful. I know the new team can't be exactly like Christian, but was I mistaken to think they'd at least try to carry on the spirit and morale of his work?
