https://find-and-update.company-information.service.gov.uk/company/08807876

As mentioned in my original post, the developer account on Google Play did respond to one of the reviews, asking the reviewer to clarify their issues. They would not be asking that if they have abandoned the project completely.

This developer is known for being MIA for long periods of time. Yes, this time it has been extra long.

We don’t know what is going on in their life. They could be dealing with mental health or other personal issues. They could have a new baby. Someone very close to them could have been diagnosed with a terminal illness. They are working on the next big thing that could make them 100 million, and set their family up for life.

The point is, sometimes life gets away from you, and you drop the ball on less important things.

As of 31st March 2024, The company has $1.49 mil of cash in the bank.

Subscription - I totally agree that people who paid for an annual or lifetime subscription should expect at least some maintenance bug fix releases. Otherwise, it would be reasonable for them to get a refund.

Has anyone tried asking for a refund? He does have 2 million in the bank. I imagine the total money he has received from the Lemmy app would be no more than a few thousands.

And you should try out other apps. I heard the name Summit being mentioned by many users on this sub. You can always come back to Sync if/when it gets the necessary updates.

But no one forces you to pay. You chose to do that to support the developer, but it does not mean they owe you.

Fediverse.org reports that Lemmy currently has 484,850.

Backlinko.com reports that Reddit has 97.2 million daily active users in June 2025.

Let’s round those figures up to 500k and 100mil.

Say 5% of Reddit users paid $1 to the developer > 5mil users = $5mil

If my maths is correct, for 5% of Lemmy to donate 5mil to the developer, so they can invest the same time & effort as they did on the Reddit app, each paying Lemmy user would have to pay $5mil / (500k*.0.05) = $200 each.

It would be unreasonable for the developer to expect people to pay $200 to use the Lemmy app. It’s equally unreasonable for us users to expect them to put in the same effort, without the same return of investment. I imagine the developer will invest in more time when the Lemmy user base hit some kind of critical mass.

Thanks for sharing the link to the dev’s company.

I don’t have a finance background. My understanding of the company filing (20 Dec 2024) is that the company income came from investing $719,683 which earned $22,147.

That’s not enough to live comfortably in UK, especially if you have family to look after. The $2 million value of the company would not go very far if they start to spend it instead of investing it. I magine the developer would have to find other sources of income.