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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

#481

Post by X6S1x6Okd1st »

greggman2 wrote: post #382
tolmasky wrote: post #367

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sure, but why ? If the rules clearly said "no chess games", one could say "that ends the discussion of why chess games are denied", or you could further ask "but why are no chess games allowed?". Is it because Google plans on having their own Google-Chess someday and thus is preemptively preventing competition? Is there a technical or regulatory reason chess games aren't allowed? That's the question (at least for me)…

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"

If they repackaged the app, gave it out for free, but changed the donation link how would that violate the license?

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

#483

Post by z3t4 »

TomMarius wrote: post #475
martin_a wrote: post #434

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You misspelled "Where it benefits Google, no matter whether it's fraud or not".

I am okay with that. No one is forcing anyone to use the Google service.

You are forced to use either Apple or Android or a Windows PC to acces many services that are essential to modern life. Android would probably be the cheapest option. So if you do not want to use Google services you would have to pay premium. For many people it is not an option.

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

#484

Post by themacguffinman »

anchpop wrote: post #353
manojlds wrote: post #118

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I thought this was a Apple only thing and Google doesn't do this. For example, you cannot buy Audible books frim iOS apuo but can from the Android app.

You can, but I don't think you're supposed to direct your users to put their credit card info in, that all needs to be handled somewhere outside the app (with a message like please sign in on our website). Which seems very blatantly anticompetitive to me. Now that I think of it, Uber has you put your credit card in. I'm not sure why that's allowed

It's allowed because Play Store in-app billing is only required for digital goods & services fulfilled by the app, not physical goods & services fulfilled outside your device. Uber isn't selling you app functionality, they're selling you the physical service of transportation, so they're exempt.

Quote from policy [1]:

Developers offering products within another category of app downloaded on Google Play must use Google Play In-app Billing as the method of payment, except for the following cases:

- Payment is solely for physical products

- Payment is for digital content that may be consumed outside of the app itself (e.g. songs that can be played on other music players).

[1] https://play.google.com/about/monetization-ads/payments/

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

#485

Post by carlallison »

chrisseaton wrote: post #214
Vogtinator wrote: post #95

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That way google gets a cut of the donation.

What’s wrong with that? They’re paying to host and review the app and create the platform it runs on.

It's arguable since it's "donation" so one may expect to get the full donation instead of 30% cut by google but one may argue what exactly is (or isn't) a donation.

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

#486

Post by tolmasky »

bdcravens wrote: post #466
tolmasky wrote: post #367

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sure, but why ? If the rules clearly said "no chess games", one could say "that ends the discussion of why chess games are denied", or you could further ask "but why are no chess games allowed?". Is it because Google plans on having their own Google-Chess someday and thus is preemptively preventing competition? Is there a technical or regulatory reason chess games aren't allowed? That's the question (at least for me)…

Their house, their rules.

Right, but I’m outside their house, asking others who are standing on the sidewalk with me, why they think they have these rules.

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

#487

Post by chrisseaton »

carlallison wrote: post #485
chrisseaton wrote: post #214

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What’s wrong with that? They’re paying to host and review the app and create the platform it runs on.

It's arguable since it's "donation" so one may expect to get the full donation instead of 30% cut by google but one may argue what exactly is (or isn't) a donation.

I’m not sure why you’d expect to not pay a fee. Google’s expenses are the same for apps that take a charge as those that take a donation. Credit card processors charge the same fees on donations.

A donation doesn’t magically make everyone else work for free.

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

#488

Post by catalogia »

diminoten wrote: post #478
catalogia wrote: post #465

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Balking at the difference between 30% and 3% is just as silly to you as balking at the difference between 3% and 0%?

Yes, because the balk is at the concept not the amount.

Busting somebody's balls because they're not abstracting away something as significant as 27% seems unreasonable. It shouldn't surprise you that somebody who dislikes giving 30% to apple would be proportionally less concerned about giving 3% to Visa.

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

#489

Post by TomMarius »

z3t4 wrote: post #483
TomMarius wrote: post #475

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I am okay with that. No one is forcing anyone to use the Google service.

You are forced to use either Apple or Android or a Windows PC to acces many services that are essential to modern life. Android would probably be the cheapest option. So if you do not want to use Google services you would have to pay premium. For many people it is not an option.

I am not and I am not using neither Apple, Android (I am using the FOSS version, I guess that does not count as Android in this case) nor Windows and I am not missing anything, and I'm not frugal in this sense (most of my friends consider me a guy living in the future). And I am not paying premiums. I simply prefer web apps over native apps, it's a breeze with PWAs.

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

#490

Post by gbear605 »

X6S1x6Okd1st wrote: post #481
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"

If they repackaged the app, gave it out for free, but changed the donation link how would that violate the license?

I suspect OP was referring to the non-profit status given by the government as “the license,” not the license of the source code.
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