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A group of open source Android apps without ads or unnecessary permissions

simplemobiletools.com

61–70 of 173 posts

Re: A group of open source Android apps without ads or unnecessary permissions

#61
post #44
post #42

I am a heavy user of f-droid and avoid these 'Simple' apps. The high level of nag is not just annoying but borders on begging. Having pro versions where you can change colors defeats the idea of open source. I hate bringing the negative energy, but there is a treasure of apps available with f-droid other than these. I am glad they have their own website and wish they just went and did their own thing there.

> Having pro versions where you can change colors defeats the idea of open source Do you have any other ways the developer can make a living? AFAIK the pro features (excluding the closed source 3rd party SDKs) are all open source. You can build them on your own or download it off F-Droid.

I am an oss dev. I make a living at my day job.

Re: A group of open source Android apps without ads or unnecessary permissions

#62

I made a free shopping list app its not open source as ive lost the source...I made this about 10 years ago. Play store basically shadow bans completely free apps from small developers without adverts as far as i can tell. This is the app https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.flabbyfish...

Do you have some evidence of that or is this rather a feeling of yours? (Genuinely interested)

Play store search seems to filter result by location and sometimes even if you type the exact name it does not show you the app and if you visit the link from the developer site it does appear just not on search.

Re: A group of open source Android apps without ads or unnecessary permissions

#63

One of the very few apps I actually paid for. The mental peace that comes with not leaking my data to yet another calendar application alone was worth it. I find this business model lot more sensible than demanding that open-source developers should eternally martyr themselves. You can see the effect of this in the feature set of these applications. If you are the semi-paranoid kind, the following stack of opensource…

While likely not your situation, paying for an app doesn't guarantee it will safeguard your data :x

Re: A group of open source Android apps without ads or unnecessary permissions

#64

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They are completely free and you don't have to pay for every upgrade. They're open source, just get the builds from f-droid instead of the paid play store builds. You can still pay to support the developer.

Maybe this is the root of the problem and contention in this thread. It seems even people who are reasonably technically savvy, as demonstrated by some posts, think that it requires various payments. How did they come to this conclusion?

[deleted]

Re: A group of open source Android apps without ads or unnecessary permissions

#65
post #43

I use the Gallery app and it was really the best, until the developer had to remove the hide/unhide images due to changes in Android 12 :( .

I use the gallery app on android 12 (on a Pixel) and the hiding and unhiding works.

Re: A group of open source Android apps without ads or unnecessary permissions

#66
post #44

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Having pro versions where you can change colors defeats the idea of open source Do you have any other ways the developer can make a living? AFAIK the pro features (excluding the closed source 3rd party SDKs) are all open source. You can build them on your own or download it off F-Droid.

I am an oss dev. I make a living at my day job.

Exactly, if you don't want to develop open source software, just don't do it

Re: A group of open source Android apps without ads or unnecessary permissions

#67
post #44

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Having pro versions where you can change colors defeats the idea of open source Do you have any other ways the developer can make a living? AFAIK the pro features (excluding the closed source 3rd party SDKs) are all open source. You can build them on your own or download it off F-Droid.

I am an oss dev. I make a living at my day job.

Not every developer has a day job.

Re: A group of open source Android apps without ads or unnecessary permissions

#69
post #11

I use the calendar one. Since it went not free, the free version doesn't generate notifications or alerts anymore. I almost missed appointments or meetings because of this. This is planned obsolescence at best. I seriously despise everything about this.

Use the older version you liked then? I somehow feel a sense of entitlement here. Changing a pricing model for new releases has nothing to do with planned obsolescence; planned obsolescence is making something bad so that you have to buy it new sooner. You got it free. The whole concept also isn't a software thing: one can limit a license duration but software doesn't wear and break prematurely. A date-based kill switch might be the closest thing and that's not what happened here.

Re: A group of open source Android apps without ads or unnecessary permissions

#70
post #42

I am a heavy user of f-droid and avoid these 'Simple' apps. The high level of nag is not just annoying but borders on begging. Having pro versions where you can change colors defeats the idea of open source. I hate bringing the negative energy, but there is a treasure of apps available with f-droid other than these. I am glad they have their own website and wish they just went and did their own thing there.

Wait, are you saying even the F-Droid versions nag you? I've never seen that.

I use Simple Mobile Gallery Pro from F-droid and have never been bugged for a rating or upgrade.
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