Google has just removed #Conversations_im from the Play Store (gultsch.social)

submitted 9 months ago by lemmyreader@lemmy.ml to c/opensource@lemmy.ml

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Keep small scale open source alive. F-Droid ftw! And consider to donate to Daniel as developer of XMPP software. See also :

Here is some important context you need to understand Quicksy:

· It’s not successful at all. The user count has stagnated at just under 1,500 for years.

· It’s very expensive to run. While Quicksy doesn’t have that many users it has a good amount of registrations. Sending SMS is really expensive. There are months in which I’m paying ~100 Euro for server cost + SMS. I receive a few donations that reference Quicksy alongside Conversations but nothing close to 100 Euro / month.

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[-] halm@leminal.space 23 points 9 months ago

Sounds like some desk jockey found a vague issue with Quicksy's privacy policy and decided to look at what else the same dev had on the store? It's not like Google has anything to fear from FLOSS XMPP apps in terms of market shares.

To a project lead like Gultsch this must be terrifying, two apps ban hammered within days 😕

[-] poVoq@slrpnk.net 13 points 9 months ago

All the other Conversation based messengers where hit with a removal on the same (wrong) accusation as well weeks/months ago.

I think only Cheogram managed to appeal it so far and Monocles is still fighting the bureocracy.

P.s.: use F-Droid and convince friends and family to use it as well. The Playstore is a maleware distribution channel with abusive corporate rent extraction.

[-] halm@leminal.space 13 points 9 months ago* (last edited 9 months ago)

use F-Droid and convince friends and family to use it as well. The Playstore is a maleware distribution channel with abusive corporate rent extraction.

This right here, always.

Although I steer clear of the Play Store, I'm sure developers want their apps to be visible on it because of the massive display window it is. Although Quicksy, Conversation and, indeed, XMPP as a whole never got a lot of mainstream traction, getting booted off Google's platform won't help them any.

I would really love something like these abrupt removals to cause more people to abandon the Play Store in favour of F-droid (and other compatible repos, natch). That would require an entity with a much larger user base than XMPP apps switching to F-droid exclusively, though.