F-Droid exploring to include paid apps, in-apps, subscription, and ads in app

Blaze@lemmy.zip to Android@lemdro.id – 191 points –
A streamlined and sustainable app deployment approach with Mobifree | F-Droid - Free and Open Source Android App Repository
f-droid.org

cross-posted from: https://r.nf/post/1771956

Thoughts?

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No thank you. This is a slippery slope.

If you want devs to make apps without any monetization you're limiting the number of devs that will develop for your platform.

Free only means you only allow passion projects that people work on as a side project or only the developers rich enough to have retired already.

Nobody who is struggling to get by can spend all their time developing a free app that has 0 monetization.

So they monetize on Google Play.

If you care about breaking Google's control of Android you should cheer on another paid marketplace, especially one out of the clutches of Amazon.

If you want devs to make apps without any monetization you're limiting the number of devs that will develop for your platform.

So?

The point of fdroid is not to have evil pieces of shit injecting their apps with spyware and ads.

Developers deserve to be paid for their time though...

Sure for many it's nothing but a hobby and they're happy to create something for free. But that doesn't mean every developer needs to do the same.

And yes ads are a privacy nightmare and putting them into your app is bad. So either you only use apps from hobbyists or you pay for access (whether that be a set price for a finished product or a subscription for a service).

Paid apps are fine. I'm generally not OK with in-app purchases, because the overwhelmingly majority of them are abusive microtransactions.

Allowing ads is not OK. Privacy is a massive issue, but even without privacy concerns all ads are malicious.

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F-Droid is literally just a repository. Linux manages it just fine to have repo driven "store" apps.

Cryptomator is available on F-Droid but you still have to purchase a license to use it, although the dev has to maintain all the licensing and payment infrastructure which can be a roadblock for some.

Free means freedom not cost.

The problem with online payments is that they compromise privacy and require use of proprietary software and centralized servers

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