Alien Blue, stylized as AlienBlue, was an iOS application for browsing Reddit. It was the most popular Reddit client on the App Store at the time.[2] The app featured a wealth of options that tailor the browsing experience to the user. As of May 2016, Alien Blue was no longer available within the App Store on iOS, and has been replaced with Reddit's own self-titled application which is free to download from the Google Play Store and the App Store.[3]

Alien Blue
Original author(s)Jason Morrissey
Developer(s)Reddit
Final release
v2.9.10 / December 20, 2015; 8 years ago (2015-12-20)
Written inObjective-C[1]
Operating systemiOS 7 and later
PlatformiPhone and iPad
Size34.2 MB
Available inEnglish
TypeReddit client
LicenseiPhone: Freemium
iPad: Proprietary
Websitereddit.com/r/alienblue

History edit

Alien Blue's development was started by Jason "Jase" Morrissey shortly after the debut of the App Store. After going through numerous major versions and interface overhauls, the app quickly became the most popular Reddit client on iOS, even beating Reddit's own application, iReddit.

Reddit acquisition edit

Alien Blue was officially purchased by Reddit on October 15, 2014, to replace their aging application as the new official Reddit client.[4][5][6] The app was launched as a separate entry in the App Store with minor UI tweaks and bug fixes, this time listed under the developer "reddit" rather than "Morrissey Exchange Pty." To encourage downloads of the new version, the Pro features (additional functionality unlocked though an in-app purchase), as well as the separate iPad version of the app, were made free for a limited time.[5][7] After shutting down, all premium users of Alien Blue were gifted four free years of Reddit Gold (Reddit's own monthly premium service), set to end around March 2020.[8]

References edit

  1. ^ Chowdhry, Amit (October 16, 2014). "Reddit Launches iOS App Following Alien Blue Acquisition". Forbes. Retrieved June 16, 2016.
  2. ^ Kumparak, Greg (2014-10-15). "Reddit Acquires Alien Blue, The Most Popular Unofficial Reddit App". TechCrunch. AOL. Retrieved 2014-11-12.
  3. ^ Reddit scraps Alien Blue in favor of in-house built iOS and Android apps April 2016
  4. ^ "The Alien Has Landed". redditblog. 2014-10-15. Retrieved 2014-11-15.
  5. ^ a b Clover, Juli (2014-10-15). "Reddit Acquires Popular Reddit-Browsing App 'Alien Blue', Makes it Temporarily Free". MacRumors. Retrieved 2014-11-16.
  6. ^ "Alien Blue Reddit official client". theappzine.com, Retrieved 05 May 2015.
  7. ^ "Reddit buys unofficial iOS client Alien Blue, offers 'Pro' features free for limited time". Apple Insider. Quiller Media. 2014-10-15. Retrieved 2014-11-16.
  8. ^ "r/AlienBlue – Reddit gold for 4 years from AlienBlue?". reddit. 11 March 2016. Retrieved 2018-09-07.