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AnkiDroid: Google Play no longer allowing Open Collective donation link

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Re: AnkiDroid: Google Play no longer allowing Open Collective donation link

#81

Post by lmz »

dataflow wrote: post #54
neilcj wrote: post #47

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> the payment processor (who deals with sales taxes rather than income taxes) should worry about the taxability of the transaction rather than the tax status of the recipient A donation is not a sale of a good or service. This is not a question of sales tax collection.

I didn't say it's a question of sales tax collections. I said a payment processor deals with sales taxes. In this case they clearly have to exempt this transaction from sales tax in order to support it, when other transactions through their system do get sale tax applied. So the mere fact that they have to deal with sales taxes in general is likely to introduce additional complications for them even here , in cases w…

Google don't even process the donations do they? It is a link to an external donation page.

Re: AnkiDroid: Google Play no longer allowing Open Collective donation link

#82

Post by dataflow »

realusername wrote: post #75
dataflow wrote: post #69

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> What would be "really bad" for you? "Block[ing] every Android app whose developer hasn't registered with Google, signed their contract, paid up, and handed over government ID. Every app and every device, worldwide, with no opt-out" ...would be "really bad" in my view. Which is probably exactly why they worded it that way, despite knowing fully well they are (rather blatantly) lying. They literally explained how to…

> "Block[ing] every Android app whose developer hasn't registered with Google, signed their contract, paid up, and handed over government ID. Every app and every device, worldwide, with no opt-out" Personally for me, a fake convoluted opt-out is the same as no opt out so we're already there. Even Fortnite failed to distribute outside the Play Store, if they can't despite being famous, well you can't.

> Personally for me, a fake convoluted opt-out is the same as no opt out so we're already there.

Convoluted, yes, but fake? Aren't you just repeating the same lie? That means it looks like it bypasses the verification but doesn't actually do so. What are you basing that off of?

Re: AnkiDroid: Google Play no longer allowing Open Collective donation link

#83

Post by brainwad »

devsda wrote: post #40
brainwad wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You can install from other stores (AnkiDroid is on F-Droid, for example), or from direct file download on Android already. The problem is rather thay most users just use the store preinstalled on their phone as part of Google's deal with OEMs to bundle Google Play Services. So either you follow Google's rules, or you lose all the users who don't want to leave the walled garden, even though they can.

When do we stop this instinctive response of "well you can still do it in an only slightly convoluted way" everytime a corporate does something bad. Windows added ads - well you can disable them, if you don't like it. Chrome brought up mv3 - well you can still use mv2, it is only optional. Reddit locking subreddits behind login wall - well there's always old.reddit Android moving everything to playstore - there's alw…

The "convoluted" way is/was the default in the absence of a monopolist app store. Before centralised app stores, users downloaded or bought boxed software ad-hoc and installed it on their computers from installation archives, just like you can install apps from APK files on Android. If you banned Google from preloading their app store, isn't that what we would revert to?

Re: AnkiDroid: Google Play no longer allowing Open Collective donation link

#84

Post by ta8903 »

tremon wrote: post #21
dev1ycan wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

app stores always seemed dystopian to me

To me it's not really the concept of the app store that's dystopian, it's not that different from a deb or rpm repository. What is dystopian is the level of control the OS vendor maintains over the entire ecosystem.

>it's not that different from a deb or rpm repository

The difference is that the default app stores require you to make an account to be able to use them. This would rightfully be considered insane on desktop OSs, yet is considered normal for phones.

Re: AnkiDroid: Google Play no longer allowing Open Collective donation link

#85

Post by brainwad »

dataflow wrote: post #14
Flimm wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Google is making it increasingly difficult to freely install software from app stores that they don't control and tax. Quoting https://keepandroidopen.org : > Starting in 2027*, a silent update, nonconsensually pushed by Google, will block every Android app whose developer hasn't registered with Google, signed their contract, paid up, and handed over government ID. > Every app and every device, worldwide, with no opt…

> Google's "escape hatch" is a trap door >> Wait 24 hours >> Pick "allow temporarily" (7 days) or "allow indefinitely Geez. I don't like what they're doing either but this fear-mongering is not helping your cause. So the "trap door" here is just that you can't buy a phone and immediately start loading apps from unverified developers onto it until 24h have passed? Of all the hills we could be dying on, that's the one…

> So the "trap door" here is just that you can't buy a phone and immediately start loading apps

I'm sorry, I thought I owned the phone I bought, and had a right to decide what software I want on it whenever I want.

Re: AnkiDroid: Google Play no longer allowing Open Collective donation link

#86

Post by KingMob »

qbit42 wrote: post #56
Forgeties79 wrote: post #49

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Actually old reddit doesn’t work that way anymore lol you must login or use crappy reddit, which is exactly to your point though! They will just keep making it harder and harder until you simply can’t, but by then so a few people will be “opting in/out” that they’ll argue nobody wants the ability to toggle that anyway.

I think the old reddit redirect extension gets around this somehow, that has worked for me lately (occasionally with some toggling of the extension). Although maybe it's best to just use less reddit tbh

You don't always need an extension to use old.reddit.com, it's an actual setting if you're logged in.

The real problem is that old.reddit.com and its ecosystem are all becoming worse and worse. Just off the top of my head, things like image galleries, message notifications, RemindMe bot, RES, /r/random, etc all have various problems and breakage.

Re: AnkiDroid: Google Play no longer allowing Open Collective donation link

#87

Post by brainwad »

ta8903 wrote: post #84
tremon wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

To me it's not really the concept of the app store that's dystopian, it's not that different from a deb or rpm repository. What is dystopian is the level of control the OS vendor maintains over the entire ecosystem.

>it's not that different from a deb or rpm repository The difference is that the default app stores require you to make an account to be able to use them. This would rightfully be considered insane on desktop OSs, yet is considered normal for phones.

Also apt supports multiple repositories and you can add your own. The Play Store app only supports Google's app repository and doesn't interoperate.

Re: AnkiDroid: Google Play no longer allowing Open Collective donation link

#88

Post by 2Gkashmiri »

Ajedi32 wrote: post #78
renegat0x0 wrote: post #55

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think there are more and more apps on f-droid. On my end the experience was more pleasant on f-droid than on Google. On f-droid I had to manually push some things, in repositories. That I solved in a week or so. On Google end I had to verify my account. Which was not easy feat. - had to provide my ID several times, because it got rejected multiple times - I uploaded driving license - the verification process was st…

From a user perspective I think F-Droid is really good too, mainly because it only allows FOSS apps by default, which cuts out a lot of the BS you see in Play Store apps. You can go download a random, no-name app from F-Droid and be very confident it does what it says on the tin and won't be riddled with ads or spam you with notifications.

Thats the only reason for at least me to use f droid and I have for the last decade I think.

It "just works".

As opposed to play store apps requiring "play store services" meaning having to sign into play store. It refuses to do so on a FOSS principle so I am literally cut off from a lot of apps.

Aurora store helps but apps that "require play store services" don't work.

Re: AnkiDroid: Google Play no longer allowing Open Collective donation link

#89

Post by NoboruWataya »

dataflow wrote: post #77
NoboruWataya wrote: post #65

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The policy is far from clear cut, and even having read your comments I am still not sure what you think it's trying to say. The policy suggests that an app may lead users to another payment method where the payment is a "tax exempt donation". What tax, specifically, are you suggesting a donation to OSC is not exempt from? You mention sales tax, is it the case that donations are not exempt from (ie, are subject to) sa…

The mere fact that they have to avoid dealing with sales tax here (unlike their typical transactions) is clearly extra complication for them. So you can understand that sales tax being 0% (thus "not taxable") can make things harder, not easier. Having to deal with bookkeeping or paperwork for tax deductions could also make things harder. In any case, whether you think these are easier or harder, and regardless of whi…

If you can't use their systems for a donation with a sales tax rate of 0%, then per the policy that means you can route users to alternative payment methods for those transactions. So by your reasoning, if donations to OSC are not subject to sales tax, then what the app is doing should be okay.

(As an aside, I have no idea if donations to OSC are subject to sales tax, but I would be surprised if they were given there is no sale or supply happening, and no one here seems to have suggested they are.)

> In any case, whether you think these are easier or harder, and regardless of which cases should be supported from a business perspective, their policy page (at least the one that I'm reading) very clearly says you can't use their system for such donations.

I disagree, because it uses the loose term "tax exempt donations", and nobody, it seems, can agree on whether that means exempt from income tax (ie, recipient does not need to pay income tax on it), exempt from sales tax, or deductible for income tax purposes (personally I think this is likely what it is intended to capture, and the only real basis on which to distinguish between 501(c)(3) and 501(c)(6) organisations, but in fact is the least supported by a literal reading).

Re: AnkiDroid: Google Play no longer allowing Open Collective donation link

#90

Post by 2Gkashmiri »

devsda wrote: post #40
brainwad wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You can install from other stores (AnkiDroid is on F-Droid, for example), or from direct file download on Android already. The problem is rather thay most users just use the store preinstalled on their phone as part of Google's deal with OEMs to bundle Google Play Services. So either you follow Google's rules, or you lose all the users who don't want to leave the walled garden, even though they can.

When do we stop this instinctive response of "well you can still do it in an only slightly convoluted way" everytime a corporate does something bad. Windows added ads - well you can disable them, if you don't like it. Chrome brought up mv3 - well you can still use mv2, it is only optional. Reddit locking subreddits behind login wall - well there's always old.reddit Android moving everything to playstore - there's alw…

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They banned "VPN"

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Then came arrests.

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Street level checks. Police literally stop you roadside and check your phone for VPN.

This is happening in 2026. RIGHT NOW.

I talked to some officials and "oh you know what happened in Delhi blasts? They were using signal. If we had only caught them before".

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