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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

#411

Post by kgersen75 »

dTal wrote: post #388
phkahler wrote: post #376

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Better yet, just charge a dollar for the app. Link from the primary website to the app store, so people can buy the right one.

No thanks. If I'm donating to a good cause, I don't want the App Mafia taking a 30% cut. That just reinforces this bad behavior.

so the App Mafia is supposed to host your app for free? provide the bandwidth to download it for free ? give visibility to your app thru search in the store for free ?

at some point someone gonna pay for the datacenters, the wires and all these stuff needed for software distribution.

Try running your own site on your own servers and paying for the data traffic and then do the math.

30% is ok

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

#412

Post by ceph_ »

TazeTSchnitzel wrote: post #393
greggman2 wrote: post #382

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My guess is it's ripe for fraud. Find open source app, put on Google with your donation platform of choice, profit! By requiring government registration my guess is the hope is both that the fraudsters will be caught or dissuaded and if they do make it past the government registration then when the real devs complain Google can say "take it up with the government. They mis-licensed. We just followed their license"

And a non-donation in-app payment isn't open for fraud?

If it was a normal in-app payment it would go through Google. Where it could be tracked, identified as fraud, and stopped.

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

#414

Post by tyfon »

bagacrap wrote: post #224
tyfon wrote: post #134

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I wonder what would happen if you link your your home page and you have a donation link there. How deep does it have to be before they cut you off? Can you link to a page that is only linking to another page where the donation happens? How much extra text would you need to "pass inspection". I find these kinds of arbitrary rules very unsettling. It's definitely time to break up the tech giants. It is odd that they re…

Break up the tech giants? How is that going to result in having 5 Androids and 6 iOSs? The nature of the technology and market is what drives consolidation. It's a testament to the quality of both platforms that we even have two options.

It was a generalised statement of how they now have too much power to decide what can and can not be put on our devices.

And before the "android can sideload" argument, how many normal people are going to do that with all the dark pattern warnings that google displays when you try to enable the feature.

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

#415

Post by benibela »

panpanna wrote: post #212
Pxtl wrote: post #204

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I have to say, I'm really disappointed how few open-source projects are even on F-Droid. It feels like every time I hear about a new OSS android app, I look for it on F-Droid and find it's only on the Play Store.

It's partially on fdroid. It's not always trivial to submit new apps and ensure it compiles correctly on their build servers. Same goes for updates, which can be silently dropped due to any number of tool issues. If you are a front or backend developer please consider investing a weekend or two helping fdroid improve their systems.

E.g. I tried to submit my app to F-Droid, but I wrote it in FreePascal+Lazarus, and they did not want to include it, because they did not have FreePascal+Lazarus installed.

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

#416

Post by strken »

heavyset_go wrote: post #352
jrockway wrote: post #284

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. I contribute to projects that are committed to never locking away features behind licenses or in-app purchases, because most open-source projects in that space eventually went down that route.

You might not have to actually lock anything away. It might be acceptable to "unlock" a theme that you could otherwise just install in some other way, or there might be some other workaround.

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

#417

Post by dessant »

iamleppert wrote: post #400

In an ironic twist, our app that Google supported via Summer of Code was removed. Whoever came up with this policy and started enforcing it at Google is completely tone-deaf, needs to be fired and publicly called out so we can set an example as a community that this sort of behavior will not be tolerated. We have contacted engineering leadership at Google and they are in the process of figuring out who it is internal…

Please share more details about your app and its takedown, it's important to publicly document the issue.

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

#420

Post by michielderhaeg »

I would like to point out how the PPSSPP project circumvents this problem. It's an open-source PSP emulator.

They have the a free version available on the Play Store here: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=org.ppsspp.pps...

They also have a "Gold" version available: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=org.ppsspp.pps...

These two apps are functionally identical, only difference is the logo and that the "Gold" version costs money.

So if you want to contribute some cash to this project, you just buy the "Gold" version. Other open-source projects could adopt this model too to evade this policy.

The price you pay however, is that a part of the money goes to Google. Which is obviously the reason why donation links are not allowed in the first place.

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