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Open-source apps removed from Google Play Store due to donation links

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Re: Open-source apps removed from Google Play Store due to donation links

#291

A general comment: the need of the hour is to educate the billions of 'ordinary' computer users about the basics of software, privacy, security and trust. We must not fall into the narrative being parroted around off-late that considers end-users as pretty much dumb content consumers who should not be expected to ever know even the minimum about the underlying tech and therefore every decision needs to be made for th…

I know plenty about software, privacy, security, and trust.

And I'm happy with these stores and couldn't care less about your cyberpunk libertarianism.

This isn't 1984. The moment they seriously misbehave, the law will come at them, and customers will leave. Therefore they don't.

You're indulging in fantasies because you would like to believe that what interests you is all-important. That's normal: all epidemiologists belief we should talk about the flu a lot more.

But it's just a tiny slice of what matters. So don't disparage people as stupid just because they spend their energy and time with more important things than recompiling kernels.

Re: Open-source apps removed from Google Play Store due to donation links

#292

I am not sure why it needs to be called a donation. Just let the in-app purchase unlock some cosmetics in the app like games do. You weren't going to deduct the donation from your taxes anyway. I am curious how this ends up working out. Google takes a cut of the donations now... but the process of buying is probably easier. So maybe it will increase donation revenue, and make it easier to support free software. (Taki…

Open source developers shouldn't be forced to lock away additional functionality in their apps, or resort to special tricks just to be able to receive donations for their projects.

Google could make a positive impact by introducing new features that help users seamlessly fund their favourite open source apps, right from their Google accounts. GitHub has recently introduced a similar initiative called GitHub Sponsors [1].

> Taking a step back; it is pretty weird to have apps opening links to web pages that take your credit card number.

There is nothing weird about accepting payments outside of Google Play, and it is allowed if the payment does not result in buying a product that is used within the app. Buying a movie ticket, or operating an online store with a third-party payment processor are perfectly fine use cases which are allowed on Google Play.

[1] https://github.com/sponsors

Re: Open-source apps removed from Google Play Store due to donation links

#293
post #275

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's absolutely true. To install apps without user prompt on Android, you need INSTALL_PACKAGE permission. Guess what? You cannot use that permission on third-party apps (meaning any app installed by the user, in opposition to apps that are pre-installed on the ROM), since it's for first-party apps only. The documentation backup this claim: https://developer.android.com/reference/android/Manifest.per... Without tha…

May be you're right but many people don't need automatic updates. I'm using iPhone and I don't update apps automatically.

Still not quite comparable. On iOS it takes 1 to n clicks to update n apps (click “update all” or “update” on each app). On a non privileged install of f-droid it takes at least 2n+1 clicks (“update all” to download the new apks, then “update” and “install” on each app, more clicks if any permissions changed).

Re: Open-source apps removed from Google Play Store due to donation links

#294
post #242

I like the way that the author of Simple Mobile Tools [0] made donations. Applications are free and open source, but there is a paid app Simple Thank You [1]. That's also how I was thinking about doing "donationware" on a mobile app store. Side note: They are also available on F-Droid. [0] https://play.google.com/store/apps/collection/cluster?clp=ig... [1] https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.simplemobi.…

How is that better than just having an IAP donation through Google? Either way Google is taking their cut right?

Re: Open-source apps removed from Google Play Store due to donation links

#296

Google Play In-app Billing does not support donations [1], so open source developers should be allowed to link to their own donation pages. Google Play policies do not spell out that linking to donation platforms such as Patreon is forbidden. Disallowing developers from using in-app billing for donations, while also barring them from linking to external donation platforms, puts open source projects in a difficult pos…

> (...) puts open source projects in a difficult position, and appears to be overly hostile towards funding open source development.

This is the problem of developing free software on a non-free platform. They have absolute control of your work under their own terms, no matter how ridiculous they are. I never understood why the google play store is a socially acceptable idea for free software developers.

Re: Open-source apps removed from Google Play Store due to donation links

#297

I am not sure why it needs to be called a donation. Just let the in-app purchase unlock some cosmetics in the app like games do. You weren't going to deduct the donation from your taxes anyway. I am curious how this ends up working out. Google takes a cut of the donations now... but the process of buying is probably easier. So maybe it will increase donation revenue, and make it easier to support free software. (Taki…

> "Just let the in-app purchase unlock some cosmetics in the app like games do."

Doesn't Google take a whopping 30% cut of the purchase price for both in-app purchases or direct purchase of the app itself? That's a pretty big bite out of the donation.

Re: Open-source apps removed from Google Play Store due to donation links

#298

I am not sure why it needs to be called a donation. Just let the in-app purchase unlock some cosmetics in the app like games do. You weren't going to deduct the donation from your taxes anyway. I am curious how this ends up working out. Google takes a cut of the donations now... but the process of buying is probably easier. So maybe it will increase donation revenue, and make it easier to support free software. (Taki…

Open source developers shouldn't be forced to lock away additional functionality in their apps, or resort to special tricks just to be able to receive donations for their projects. Google could make a positive impact by introducing new features that help users seamlessly fund their favourite open source apps, right from their Google accounts. GitHub has recently introduced a similar initiative called GitHub Sponsors…

Completely agree. I do not want to restrict any users.

Annoying how hard it is to be independent of FAANG control.

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