{"id":18223,"date":"2022-03-02T21:56:42","date_gmt":"2022-03-02T21:56:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mailinvest.blog\/index.php\/2022\/03\/02\/google-blocks-foss-android-tool-for-asking-for-donations-the-register\/"},"modified":"2022-03-02T21:56:42","modified_gmt":"2022-03-02T21:56:42","slug":"google-blocks-foss-android-tool-for-asking-for-donations-the-register","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mailinvest.blog\/index.php\/2022\/03\/02\/google-blocks-foss-android-tool-for-asking-for-donations-the-register\/","title":{"rendered":"Google blocks FOSS Android tool \u2013 for asking for donations \u2022 The Register"},"content":{"rendered":"

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StreetComplete, a free Android program designed to help people to contribute to OpenStreetMap, was blocked from Google’s Play Store merely for urging users to donate money to the app’s development.<\/p>\n

According to StreetComplete<\/a> developer Tobias Zwick, the software store’s semi-automated approval system rejected<\/a> StreetComplete for suggesting people donate money to the code’s maintenance and improvement. Why? Because Play Store apps mustn’t<\/a> accept other payment methods.<\/p>\n

In an issue<\/a> he opened on the project’s GitHub repository last month, Zwick noted:<\/p>\n

Some app vendors bypass the Play Store altogether, of course, requiring users to sideload their app \u2013 but you need to have a strong incentive, such as needing it<\/a> for a COVID test result.<\/p>\n

StreetComplete used to ask users in its “About” page if they’d like to donate, and offered direct links to GitHub Sponsors, Liberapay, and Patreon, through which netizens could give funds. The Play Store approvals folks rejected that, said Zwick, and so it was replaced with a simple link to the app’s homepage on GitHub with an explanation that you can donate from further links from there \u2013 but that was rejected, too.<\/p>\n

\"streetcomplete<\/a><\/p>\n

A screenshot of StreetComplete from the project’s GitHub page<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Ultimately, the project resolved the issue by removing the link and explaining in a dialog box from the “About” app screen that it can’t link to any donation system. “The dialog still kind of fulfills its purpose because it kind of makes clear that it is indeed possible to donate (somewhere),” wrote Zwick.<\/p>\n

Zwick added he “didn’t want to be overly salty in that message because the goal of this dialog is to inform users about that they can donate, not to get users upset about Google.”<\/p>\n

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