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The 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 tr

The 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?

sniuff 7y ago
Open source app can be compiled and installed without Google play store. If you are hosting on their platform, you adhere to their rules, you are not paying monthly for your free app download bandwith and storage do you ?
- icebraining 7y ago
  That doesn't mean you can't question (and even criticize!) the rules or their application.
- acollins1331 7y ago
  Wow great point. Now why the hell can't they have a donation link?
  - Spivak 7y ago
    Because you can't use Google's store as a sales funnel without giving them a 30% cut. It doesn't matter if you're a company taking payments or an individual accepting donations.
    - ViViDboarder 7y ago
      Wrong. You can’t even use Google with giving them a 30% cut since donations are prohibited from Google Payments.
    - BlueTemplar 7y ago
      I'm not a lawyer, but aren't sales and donations quite different? For instance donations tend to have negative taxes...
      - 0xEFF 7y ago
        Not unless your entity is 503(c) tax-exempt which is explicitly allowed by Google. These “donations” are more like tips, which are treated as taxable income. I don’t see the problem here. The outrage in this thread seems more about people wanting a different set of rules for OSS and possibly avoiding income tax than anything else. If there are a different set of rules for OSS, then that just makes it easier to abuse the platform. Google’s policy seems fair to me.
        rleigh 7y ago
        "Tips" might well be taxable income. But that doesn't automatically entitle Google to a cut of them. Talk about a greedy land grab.
        BlueTemplar 7y ago
        Hmm, yeah, I guess that if we want patronage to become a viable economic model, then it will have to be taxed at some point... Since I mostly give to (AFAIK) tax-exempt entities, I didn't think of this... But neither seems to have Google ! While the global license/patronage debates are already a decade old, and we have seen new companies get started and even established in this sector (Patreon). For instance this "donations" page only seems to cover non-profits ? https://www.google.com/nonprofits/offerings/google-donation-tools/ https://www.google.com/nonprofits/offerings/google-donation-...
- zAy0LfpBZLC8mAC 7y ago
  > you are not paying monthly for your free app download bandwith and storage do you ? Do I have that option?
segfaultbuserr 7y ago
The strangest fact is, those donation pages only have some links, there is no in-app payment. I don't understand what Google is thinking about when they banned donations... Wait. I suddenly understand something I've seen previously... There is a workaround! You simply upload two versions of the app, the free edition and the supporter edition. The support's edition is a paid app. You can ask the users who want to support you to install the paid app in your free app. The program itself is still 100% free and open source, there is no functionality restrictions in the free app, the donation notice can be turned off - just as a way to encourage donations. And it's nothing against the rules of the store.
- ekianjo 7y ago
  A paid app means Google gets to claim some revenues out of it.
- missosoup 7y ago
  > I don't understand what Google is thinking about when they banned donations. They're thinking that they're a monopoly and can do whatever the hell they want without needing to justify themselves?
  - segfaultbuserr 7y ago
    As far as I can tell, probably!
  - nyolfen 7y ago
    hazarding a guess, i’m assuming people tried using off-platform payments described as donations to sidestep play store payments
    - deleted 7y ago
      [deleted]
    - segfaultbuserr 7y ago
      Yes. This is what I suspect. But knocking out all donations using a big ban hammer is not acceptable here, it should be decided on a case-by-case basis. For example, a standard I can think of, is distinguishing donations and payments that influence the functionality of the application/service, and those that have no effect.
usrusr 7y ago
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 payment optional".
- dmix 7y ago
  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.
  - black_puppydog 7y ago
    Well, throw them a couple of bucks a month, they have a donation button on their homepage ;)
  - st1ck 7y ago
    But the design is fine, at least with dark theme. For me, the UX is better than Play Market.
  - sundarurfriend 7y ago
    Someone started a G-Droid project[1] with the goal of being a better local client for F-Droid. It's not a full replacement yet, but has many additional features and a better UI. Hope it takes off and perhaps gets integrated into the main client some day. [1] https://gitlab.com/gdroid/gdroidclient/ https://gitlab.com/gdroid/gdroidclient/
giancarlostoro 7y ago
Seems to have happened to AndOTP: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=21269542 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=21269542 This is ridiculous. May as well only publish open source apps on F-Droid and similar.

sniuff 7y ago

Open source app can be compiled and installed without Google play store. If you are hosting on their platform, you adhere to their rules, you are not paying monthly for your free app download bandwith and storage do you ?

icebraining 7y ago
That doesn't mean you can't question (and even criticize!) the rules or their application.
acollins1331 7y ago
Wow great point. Now why the hell can't they have a donation link?
- Spivak 7y ago
  Because you can't use Google's store as a sales funnel without giving them a 30% cut. It doesn't matter if you're a company taking payments or an individual accepting donations.
  - ViViDboarder 7y ago
    Wrong. You can’t even use Google with giving them a 30% cut since donations are prohibited from Google Payments.
  - BlueTemplar 7y ago
    I'm not a lawyer, but aren't sales and donations quite different? For instance donations tend to have negative taxes...
    - 0xEFF 7y ago
      Not unless your entity is 503(c) tax-exempt which is explicitly allowed by Google. These “donations” are more like tips, which are treated as taxable income. I don’t see the problem here. The outrage in this thread seems more about people wanting a different set of rules for OSS and possibly avoiding income tax than anything else. If there are a different set of rules for OSS, then that just makes it easier to abuse the platform. Google’s policy seems fair to me.
      - rleigh 7y ago
        "Tips" might well be taxable income. But that doesn't automatically entitle Google to a cut of them. Talk about a greedy land grab.
      - BlueTemplar 7y ago
        Hmm, yeah, I guess that if we want patronage to become a viable economic model, then it will have to be taxed at some point... Since I mostly give to (AFAIK) tax-exempt entities, I didn't think of this... But neither seems to have Google ! While the global license/patronage debates are already a decade old, and we have seen new companies get started and even established in this sector (Patreon). For instance this "donations" page only seems to cover non-profits ? https://www.google.com/nonprofits/offerings/google-donation-tools/ https://www.google.com/nonprofits/offerings/google-donation-...
zAy0LfpBZLC8mAC 7y ago
> you are not paying monthly for your free app download bandwith and storage do you ? Do I have that option?

segfaultbuserr 7y ago

The strangest fact is, those donation pages only have some links, there is no in-app payment. I don't understand what Google is thinking about when they banned donations... Wait. I suddenly understand something I've seen previously... There is a workaround! You simply upload two versions of the app, the free edition and the supporter edition. The support's edition is a paid app. You can ask the users who want to support you to install the paid app in your free app. The program itself is still 100% free and open source, there is no functionality restrictions in the free app, the donation notice can be turned off - just as a way to encourage donations. And it's nothing against the rules of the store.

ekianjo 7y ago
A paid app means Google gets to claim some revenues out of it.
missosoup 7y ago
> I don't understand what Google is thinking about when they banned donations. They're thinking that they're a monopoly and can do whatever the hell they want without needing to justify themselves?
- segfaultbuserr 7y ago
  As far as I can tell, probably!
- nyolfen 7y ago
  hazarding a guess, i’m assuming people tried using off-platform payments described as donations to sidestep play store payments
  - deleted 7y ago
    [deleted]
  - segfaultbuserr 7y ago
    Yes. This is what I suspect. But knocking out all donations using a big ban hammer is not acceptable here, it should be decided on a case-by-case basis. For example, a standard I can think of, is distinguishing donations and payments that influence the functionality of the application/service, and those that have no effect.

usrusr 7y ago

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 payment optional".

dmix 7y ago
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.
- black_puppydog 7y ago
  Well, throw them a couple of bucks a month, they have a donation button on their homepage ;)
- st1ck 7y ago
  But the design is fine, at least with dark theme. For me, the UX is better than Play Market.
- sundarurfriend 7y ago
  Someone started a G-Droid project[1] with the goal of being a better local client for F-Droid. It's not a full replacement yet, but has many additional features and a better UI. Hope it takes off and perhaps gets integrated into the main client some day. [1] https://gitlab.com/gdroid/gdroidclient/ https://gitlab.com/gdroid/gdroidclient/

giancarlostoro 7y ago

Seems to have happened to AndOTP: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=21269542 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=21269542 This is ridiculous. May as well only publish open source apps on F-Droid and similar.