F-Droid exploring to include paid apps, in-apps, subscription, and ads in app
A streamlined and sustainable app deployment approach with Mobifree | F-Droid - Free and Open Source Android App Repository
Thoughts?
I feel it's good and bad at the same time.
Good that you will have an alternative to the play store.
Bad because it erodes trust when money starts being the main motivator to do things.
I don't think this can end well if they go through with it. Another Playstore isn't needed - we ran away from it looking for an alternative. Another one will come along.
They should create P-Droid for that. Leave F-Droid as free.
I think paid apps are a good idea, in-app payments arent
Isnt the only reason to use f-droid foss apps? Like, if you want shitty apps with ADS and subscriptions, you might as well just use aurora store
They support donations. The problem is when you force it. Also ads have lots of negative side effects.
I think the donation model is fine
https://blog.thunderbird.net/2023/05/thunderbird-is-thriving-our-2022-financial-report/
Good. Developers should be paid for their work.
YES. So many good apps that get abandoned. Donations are all well and good but I suspect they only really pay well for the high profile apps. If a paid app will keep a Dev motivated to keep it updated I am all for it.
Subscription apps can go fuck themselves though. (Charge me for the upgrades instead).
The fact of paying should only be done via donation not a obligatoire payement to access the service
This article is about Mobifree https://f-droid.org/en/2024/05/24/mobifree.html As far as I can see F-Droid mentions that it will be a contributing partner :
For more than 14 years, F-Droid has been developing solutions which act as pieces of the alternative mobile ecosystem puzzle. So it was a natural fit for F-Droid to become a contributing partner in the broader Mobifree project.
F-Droid playing a role :
F-Droid will play a major role in this project, tasked with creating a decentralized distribution system for developers to deliver apps to Android users.
Help to create the NGI funded project Mobifree :
F-Droid is one participating organization who has joined forces to help create this new mobile ecosystem. However, additional input, expertise, inspiration and work will be needed in order to break the traditional framework established by Big Tech. From community outreach to legal support, from developers, to researchers and end users, we welcome all forms of support.
I don't read that F-droid will force ads on F-Droid on users any time soon. I can imagine F-Droid will continue to exist as it is but I could be wrong.
OP and many others didn't spend a few minutes reading the post, and jumped into the bandwagon.
Hopefully they rethink this. I think adding a simple donation method for applications within FDroid would be beneficial and would support developers, but creating another for profit market for apps with the shitty subscriptions, paid apps, etc goes against the goals and spirit of FOSS
i agree with being able to pay devs directly in the store esp with some sort of privacy barrier, i pay, they don't need to know who I am but ads... why why why
If they want and find it necessary, they can, but I will no more give them support. The donations principle is good, but force them or anything else is really bad. The only way of offering a subscription is when proposing an other service than the app, as example a support with full-time people or an hosted service with their servers...
Where do they say they're considering ads in app? Or you mean with developers including ads in their apps, not in f-droid?
Anyway, I am strongly in support of donationware as the model for compensation of developers. It allows all users to pay what they can whilst not discriminating against those who can't pay.
There's a lot of donationware that receives very substantial donations, and have more money than they would have had had they charged a small flat fee per user. I would never buy software except video games (just because there isn't a particularly expansive foss game suite and pirated games don't automatically update), but I have donated substantially more to foss projects than they could ever charge for their software.
I know free here means freedom not gratis, but I think paywalling software in any way is discriminatory and contrary to promotion of the commons, which is a big part of why I support foss.