Just link to:
http://www.google.com/search?q=wireguard+donate
Problem solved.
Open-source apps removed from Google Play Store due to donation links
371–380 of 579 posts
Re: Open-source apps removed from Google Play Store due to donation links
#372Google 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…
> 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 position, and appears to be overly hostile towards funding open source development. Google Play has been very clear about this[1]: > Fund solicitations > Examples: Donation solicitations from parties without a valid 501(c)(3) tax exempt status…
It's pretty obtuse to only permit 501(c)(3)s.
Likely this is Google avoiding additional regulatory complications/KYC. It's cumbersome to prove you're not enabling money laundering or funding terrorist organizations if you're an arbitrary money sink.
But I'd expect better than Google, a business with an astounding $836B market cap. They could just buy a company that primarily handles this sort of money flow (e.g. Streamlabs)
Re: Open-source apps removed from Google Play Store due to donation links
#373Ah yes, the multi-billion dollar megacorp trying to prevent goodwill donations. Dear regulators: BREAK UP GOOGLE.
To play devil's advocate, I'm sure Google's intent is to prevent garbage apps from spamming or tricking users into paying money and the resulting PR backlash from having an app store full of shady apps. As evidence of this, Google does allow donations if the publisher is a 501(c)(3) (see https://support.google.com/faqs/answer/75724?hl=en ).
Nothing like opaque, zero due process take downs which change day-to-day unexpectedly until you wake and find your app is no longer in the Play Store.
There has to be a better way to handle these sorts of things.
Were they even notified beforehand?
Re: Open-source apps removed from Google Play Store due to donation links
#374We merged a similar thread, "AndOTP Removed from the Google Play Store Due to Donation Link", into this one. Perhaps we'll update the title to cover both. https://github.com/andOTP/andOTP/issues/396 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=21269542
Hmm, any idea how Google automatically catches a donation link? I feel like there's so many ways to do it that they must only be catching a handful.
Re: Open-source apps removed from Google Play Store due to donation links
#375The very same thing happened to manyverse (android ssb client) the other day. Got de-listed, resubmitted without donation page, now it's back up. How google tries to claim any sort of support for open source is beyond me. What open source app doesn't need a donation link? Those approved and funded by google don't, okay. But other than that?
Oruxmaps even had a donate version that went through proper Google channels when the free version was forcibly removed either for a donation link in the app that was incompletely removed from the Play store build variant or because of a donation link on the product website. It never came back, now the paid version on Play is effectively a billboard "you could save those dollars by going over to F-Droid where we are p…
This is good news for F-Droid.
I just wish F-Droid had a better design but I guess that's just the nature of OSS. It always looked a bit shady and out-of-date, which probably hurts it's popularity.
Re: Open-source apps removed from Google Play Store due to donation links
#376Earlier quoted context omitted.
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…
>Open source developers shouldn't be forced to lock away additional functionality in their app The additional feature can just be text that says thanks for the money, feel free to give us more money in the future.
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.
Re: Open-source apps removed from Google Play Store due to donation links
#377Earlier quoted context omitted.
> 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 position, and appears to be overly hostile towards funding open source development. Google Play has been very clear about this[1]: > Fund solicitations > Examples: Donation solicitations from parties without a valid 501(c)(3) tax exempt status…
It's pretty obtuse to only permit 501(c)(3)s. Likely this is Google avoiding additional regulatory complications/KYC. It's cumbersome to prove you're not enabling money laundering or funding terrorist organizations if you're an arbitrary money sink. But I'd expect better than Google, a business with an astounding $836B market cap. They could just buy a company that primarily handles this sort of money flow (e.g. Stre…
It's understandable that they want to process payments only for registered organizations, but that still does not explain why are open source apps being taken down for linking to an external page that lists ways to support projects.
Re: Open-source apps removed from Google Play Store due to donation links
#378Earlier quoted context omitted.
They're trying to prevent money laundering.
I don't see how this makes sense -- if someone wants to launder money, why would they need to find a donation link to their external donation system inside an android app? I'm pretty sure they just want their cut.
Yup, I pretty much read it as this: "if you are operating an open source project then you should use ads for funding instead of donations or introduce paid features/upgrades so that we get a cut"
Re: Open-source apps removed from Google Play Store due to donation links
#379Earlier quoted context omitted.
For the same reason microsoft had to give you an option for the preinstalled browser. As soon as you get a certain threeshold you become a monopoly, which essentialy means you controll who does business in that sector. It should never be allowed to be a distributor as well as the owner of a marketplace. It's the same problem with amazon marketplace and other similar things. EDIT: Formatting
Not exactly. Being a monopoly is fine. Google is a monopoly in search for example. It's not fine when you use that monopoly power to either stifle competition (like what MS did), or to demonstrably harm the consumer (very hard to prove). Just because Google Play is a monopoly, it doesn't mean that it's illegal or should be fined. Especially since there are other options, like amazon's app store, or manual installatio…
A monopoly is not defined as a 100% market share though. I'd argue the playstore is the way to distribute apps on android, and realistically a monopoly.
Wether or not the "software distribution" and "payments processing" aspects of the playstore are separate markets/products is (in my mind) up for debate. If they were then google would be using it's distribution market penetration to push its payment processing business.
Then there's the argument that the way they selectively seem to cut off smalltime donation-based software does harm users overall, although it is a systemic harm, not individual, or at least that would be (as you said) very hard to prove.
Re: Open-source apps removed from Google Play Store due to donation links
#380Earlier quoted context omitted.
Oruxmaps even had a donate version that went through proper Google channels when the free version was forcibly removed either for a donation link in the app that was incompletely removed from the Play store build variant or because of a donation link on the product website. It never came back, now the paid version on Play is effectively a billboard "you could save those dollars by going over to F-Droid where we are p…
This is good news for F-Droid. I just wish F-Droid had a better design but I guess that's just the nature of OSS. It always looked a bit shady and out-of-date, which probably hurts it's popularity.
Well, throw them a couple of bucks a month, they have a donation button on their homepage ;)