Relay was (yup) one of the third party apps that survived the API-calypse. But this sort of model is unsustainable in the long run, given that the competitor (the broken native app) is free and unlimited.
The obvious future monopoly of the broken native app is bad for the platform in the long run, given that Reddit always sucked off ideas from third party apps; and now there's no incentive whatsoever to make it better, after Reddit Inc. killed the better competitors.
I use Reddit quite frequently. Spez (the Co-owner) ist just trying to be like Mark Zuckerberg. He thinks he can do whatever he thinks is necessary for profit. He could really care less about his fan base, or users on the site.