Android app maker Simple Mobile Tools acquired by ZipoApps

Lee Duna@lemmy.nz to Technology@lemmy.world – 195 points –
Android app maker Simple Mobile Tools acquired by ZipoApps - Liliputing
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This REALLY sucks and I have like 10 of these apps on my phone right now because I get everything from F-Droid on my otherwise standard android phone.

F-Droid probably won't accept any builds with adware/tracking in them, so probably we'll just stay on an old version until a fork or alternative comes along. There's also a toggle on my preferred F-Droid manager app (droid-ify) to ignore new versions

If it's open source F-Droid will permit it but warns you of anti-features, at least on first install. I'm not expecting an update now but if they do I can see if F-Droid warns me about the spyware and adverts.

Well, the F-Droid team may in theory permit it, but it's also the F-Droid team that has to actively build and distribute the new version. If they don't feel like distributing a newer version, they can absolutely do that.

I went through and disabled auto updates for them (through fdroid) just in case.

If I got a dollar every time the gallery app I like got sold to a shitty ad company, I would have two dollars. Which isn't much, but fuck Cheetah Mobile and ZipoApps.

Jesus fucking Christ, there's no such thing as a trustworthy android developer at this point

He probably wasn't making enough money to keep it going. Especially since few were donating I'm guessing. And even the tip amount was ltd then €1. That's too low.

This way he gets some money for all his hard work. But it's crap for everyone else.

I find his apps too simple and the dialer had a bug where if you get a call and accidently swipe away the notification, the phone would ring with no way to answer it.

The problem is that the dude started out claiming it was a project for his own satisfaction. Then he tried to monetize later, and now wants to cash out.

Which is fine, that's the way the world works. But the number of developers that make one claim or another and then change their tune later is absurd. It isn't even about the money aspect, it's that the dude switched gears rather than making a realistic plan from the beginning.

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Shit. I used to use most of these apps when my life was more degoogled, but even now I like the gallery a hell of a lot more than other options I've found. Guess it's an opportunity to see what else is out there.

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Sad to see them go, I use their apps every day. Probably they don't really need any updates for a long time, hopefully an open source fork will emerge until then.

Installing from F-Droid prevents sales like this from causing silent "upgrades" to advertising-infested versions.

@kpw

Great, I did get them from F-Droid.