Breaking Up with Google Play: Why Conversations Is Now Free(gultsch.de)
693 points by ezst 17 days ago | 288 comments
tl;dr: The developer of Conversations, a paid federated XMPP client for Android, is making the app free on Google Play after years of frustration with Google's opaque review process, arbitrary rejections, and 14-day update delays that endanger security patches. Having secured grant funding through 2029 (via NLnet and the EU), he's no longer economically dependent on the ~1000 EUR/year in Play Store revenue and is pushing users toward F-Droid, where the APK is now built reproducibly and signed with his own key.
HN Discussion:
  • ↑Google's poor support and slow reviews, not the tax itself, are the real problem
  • ↑Big tech customer support is universally broken with no accountability
  • ↑Play Store's onboarding requirements (phone verification, DUNS, business docs) are hostile to small devs
  • ↑Android is becoming increasingly locked down against sideloading and user control
  • ↓Author is inconsistent by still featuring Google Play links and could just lower the price instead