Buying Native Alpha Plus outside Google Play Store

[MountainX]

I don't have or want Google Play. However, I would be happy to make a donation to enable the paid features on the version I can download from here. Some other Android apps support that. There are various mechanisms, such as a license file.

As it stands now, I can't use your app, I can't send you money, and you don't have me as a happy user. I'm sure I'm not alone. I'd like a way to send you money for the paid features without using Google. Thank you

[tg5hKVHPyX]

I was about to make an issue for this as well. I hope the developer sees this. Cryptomator is a good example for a paid android app.

[cylonid]

First, I fully understand where you are coming from and the moment I published the paid version on GP I knew such requests would come.

Still, you have to understand that this is a one-person hobby project and the current user base of this app does not justify investing money and working hours in setting up my own distribution channels just to make 10 or 20 users happy.
If you think it is as easy as putting up my PayPal somewhere and sending hotlinks to APKs over e-mail - sorry, it isn't, at least if you want to operate professionally and obey laws.

Users who (like me) do not use Google services on their phone have two options for getting Native Alpha Plus:

• Buy the app on Google Play Store using a dummy account+prepaid credit card and download the app with Aurora

• Compile the app yourself. It's FOSS.

If in a few months there are thousands of non-Google users willing to pay for a fully supported version of Native Alpha Plus with auto-updating I'll re-think this thing but currently my focus is on getting the app better.

EDIT: I edited the title and pinned this issue, I hope you don't mind.

[MountainX]

...just to make 10 or 20 users happy.

OK, but... Those 10 or 20 users you have who want to pay you directly now are likely the kind of early adopters who help a new product grow rapidly. The approach you are taking usually means the project never gets the enthusiasm behind it to hit the big user numbers. That's my experience, anyway.

[cylonid]

Those 10 or 20 users you have who want to pay you directly now are likely the kind of early adopters who help a new product grow rapidly.

Unlikely, at least if they don't run a large tech YT channel or news site 😄 Also, if someone starts using Native Alpha now, he/she is almost two years late to being an early adopter.

I didn't say this will never happen but it is low-prio at the moment. I don't agree that the success of an Android-only project depends on being able to buy it off-store - while 95%+ of Android users never installed an app from any other source than GP. I support the general idea but we're talking about a niché here, maybe a growing one but a niché nevertheless. Even the majority of custom ROM users still install Gapps.

[quwepiro]

@cylonid maybe you could put a PayPal, Liberapay, etc. link in the Readme. Then others like me could sponsor your project.
Currently, I have to admit that I built the pro version on my local machine. But for me, it feels more like "stealing" your work.

[m1chj]

Native Alpha is mainly being used by privacy enthusiasts yet the only way of supporting you is through google which is absolute nightmare when it comes to privacy. A solution is to make a dummy google account. How do you do that since you have to provide your phone number and verify it via SMS code? Saw your app being recommended a couple of times on r/degoogle or r/fossdroid lately so I think you're wrong about the niche/10 or 20 people/95%+ and I'm yet another voice telling you to reconsider. Also think about becoming available in other app stores and offer Plus version in Samsung's Galaxy Store and Huawei's AppGallery

[citizenserious]

Today I tried connecting my old phone with a google account to buy the app, I was able to skip the cell number part.
But I still can't buy it, because the google play store page tells me my old phone is not compatible. I just hate google so much...

[dustinkerstein]

@cylonid have you looked into GitHub Sponsors? That might cover some of the legal / regulatory concerns.

I just came across the app today and wanted to say how much I appreciate your work on this project. It's going to be an important and helpful tool for me (and many others). Thank you.

[Maythesaucebewithyou]

Firstly, thank you for your hard work on the app.
I would like to add another vote for a paid version outside of Play (I previously bought the Plus version on my old account, but having since started the privacy journey I've closed this). Unfortunately I don't have the skills to compile the app, and I'd like to avoid a payments profile on my dummy account.
This is a cheeky suggestion I appreciate (and likely you've considered it), but another option is to make the Plus version available on F-Droid.

[savvyyyyy]

+1 for paid version outside google play. Thanks for the amazing app!
Which source do we compile from to get alpha plus if you don't mind me asking ? Thanks

[DarkCrypt]

MountainX had the best option in the initial posted issue. Pay in app to unlock Plus features. You could have 1 build instead of 2 and it'd be easy for anyone to upgrade at anytime.

You can also still utilize Google Play as your main distribution channel since those pieces of shit have a monopoly. I understand this reasoning.

Unfortunately, Native Alpha Plus has been uploaded to Google Play for over a year and Google Play users don't seem to be very interested in handing you money for the added features. Good thing there's plenty of time for growth.

Let's see some overall download stats(at the time of this comment):

• Native Alpha on GP = 50,000+
• Native Alpha on GitHub = 27,750+
• Native Alpha Plus on GP = 100+

Not too bad for a hobby project. I wonder how much these numbers could change if it was a serious project? Strategies always change outcomes.

[citizenserious]

Cool, that's not gonna happen...

[ivan-avalos]

Look, cylonid, people here are trying to give you money. You made something good, people want to support your work, and that's about it. You don't need to spend a huge amount of time setting up your own distribution channels. A donation link would be more than enough, and it's something that a lot of free-software projects already do, so I hope you reconsider. :)

[llight3]

I wonder if itch.Io would work? I buy a few other hobby projects on there and it would take the issue of how to keep uptodate and shipping the apk out of your hands.

[milesmcclane]

I too want to be able to pay you for the full version of the app, but dont use nor will ever use google on my phone. I very much hope you can come up with a way of enabling it. Its a shame it's not as simple as supplying an unlock key once a payment has been made via PayPal or something.

[perseidmu]

It seems like cylonid has abandoned this issue, despite people literally standing here with their wallets open, just ready to throw money at them. The response that this is a hobby, and not a professional project is interesting, as is the requirement to use the Google Play store...when cylonid admits to actually not using Google on their cellphone.

I understand the mentality of having a paid app, of course. But there are different ways to do it than only offering it through a service that you, yourself, claim to not support, but actually ARE supporting by way of giving them a cut to have it posted in their store! What's more, the Plus version's user base is actually probably limited based on it solely being available in the Play store, so how beneficial is it even to have it there? Why even have a Plus version at all, if it only has 100+ users or whatever? The Plus features could easily be incorporated into the standard version, in that case!

cylonid mentions that making the Plus version available isn't as simple as setting up a PayPal and emailing APKs, but actually, it is. Or nearly as simple--like, a website where the paid version is hosted, but you have to pay to download it. All the solutions posted here are also feasible, if cylonid would actually consider any of them. I suspect, though, that now, 2 years on, there actually is no hope. No one has heard from them on the matter since September 2022, when the issue was pinned. Both the standard and Plus versions are available, and have been updated as recently as this month. So, while they said, 2 years ago, that they "didn't say that it would never happen," it's basically as good as never going to happen as it's so "low-prio" that they stopped caring about the issue at all or reading the comments a long time ago.