It's kind of interesting though because a lot of people using 3rd party apps have proven they are willing to pay for a good experience (Apollo had a subscription I think, RIF has a paid tier, etc...). So instead of charging apps for API access, just require all access through a 3rd party app require authenticated users, and those authenticated users must pay a monthly fee to use third party apps.
You don't over burden one single entity with large recurring payments (the app developers themselves), your power users provide revenue, and you can slowly work on your value proposition of "hey we have updated our app to not be as crappy, you can browse reddit for free if you switch back".
You don't over burden one single entity with large recurring payments (the app developers themselves), your power users provide revenue, and you can slowly work on your value proposition of "hey we have updated our app to not be as crappy, you can browse reddit for free if you switch back".