Christian Selig

iOS indie developer behind Apollo for Reddit, Pixel Pals and Juno

@ChristianSelig Canada74K followersMobile App Makers Browser Extension Makers

About Christian Selig

Christian Selig is a Canadian independent iOS developer best known for Apollo, the beloved third-party Reddit client he built and ran on his own. After a stint at Apple, he unveiled Apollo in 2015 and launched it on the App Store in 2017, where it grew to well over a million downloads and became a reference point for polished, native iPhone app design.

In 2023 Reddit introduced paid API pricing that Selig estimated would cost Apollo around $20 million a year. He publicly documented his conversations with Reddit, and the app shut down on June 30, 2023 — a moment that became a flashpoint for the indie developer community and the wider Reddit protests.

Beyond Apollo, Selig has shipped playful and practical apps including Pixel Pals, a virtual pet that lives in the iPhone's Dynamic Island and widgets, the Safari extensions Amplosion (which redirects AMP links) and Achoo (an HTML viewer), and Juno, a YouTube client for Apple Vision Pro that he pulled from the App Store in 2024 after YouTube raised concerns. He writes candidly about indie development on his blog.

Products by Christian Selig

Apollo for Reddit

apps.apple.com

shutdown

Award-winning third-party Reddit client for iPhone and iPad, shut down after Reddit's 2023 API pricing changes.

Pixel Pals

apps.apple.com

Virtual pet game that lives in the Dynamic Island, widgets and StandBy.

Amplosion

apps.apple.com

Safari extension that redirects Google AMP links to the original web pages.

Achoo

apps.apple.com

Safari extension and app for viewing and inspecting a page's HTML on iPhone and iPad.

Juno

christianselig.com

shutdown

YouTube client for Apple Vision Pro, removed from the App Store in 2024.

Christian Selig's journey, 2015–20246 milestones · self-reported

First product
Launch / milestone
Started 2015

2015Launch: Announced Apollo, a new Reddit app for iPhone
2017First product: Launched Apollo on the App Store
2021Launch: Released the Safari extensions Amplosion and Achoo
2022Launch: Launched Pixel Pals, a pet that lives in the Dynamic Island
2023Milestone: Shut down Apollo on June 30 after Reddit's API pricing made…
2024Launch: Launched Juno for Vision Pro and later pulled it from the App…

Timeline

2015 — Announced Apollo, a new Reddit app for iPhone.
2017 — Launched Apollo on the App Store.
2021 — Released the Safari extensions Amplosion and Achoo.
2022 — Launched Pixel Pals, a pet that lives in the Dynamic Island.
2023 — Shut down Apollo on June 30 after Reddit's API pricing made it unviable.
2024 — Launched Juno for Vision Pro and later pulled it from the App Store.

How Christian builds

Only work on things you genuinely care about.
Native, detail-obsessed design is a competitive advantage for indies.
Be transparent with users when a platform changes the rules.

Christian Selig FAQ

Who is Christian Selig?

Christian Selig is a Canadian indie iOS developer who created Apollo for Reddit, Pixel Pals, the Safari extensions Amplosion and Achoo, and the Vision Pro YouTube app Juno.

Why did Apollo for Reddit shut down?

Reddit introduced API pricing in 2023 that Selig estimated would cost about $20 million per year at Apollo's usage, so he shut the app down on June 30, 2023.