Daniel Gultsch (@[email protected])
gultsch.social
Google has just removed #Conversations_im from the Play Store because they think we are uploading the user’s contact list. We don’t.

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.

  • poVoq@slrpnk.net
    141·
    10 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.

    • HandlesEnglish
      13·
      10 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.