<![CDATA[Conversations is now permanently available for free on Google Play.]]>Conversations is now permanently available for free on Google Play.

Google doesn’t deserve me and my money anymore.

Link Preview Image
Breaking Up with Google Play: Why Conversations Is Now Free

Conversations, my federated instant messaging client for Android, started out as many traditional open-source projects do: as an attempt to scratch my own itch. Development started in January 2014 in my student dormitory, and within weeks I started dogfooding and using the client as the primary means of communicating with my friends. However, when it came to releasing the app to the public on March 24, 2014—exactly twelve and a half years ago today—it was immediately clear to me that I would at least try to turn my open-source project into a business. While I didn’t invent the business model of making the source code publicly available but charging for the convenience of a compiled binary, it was certainly unusual in 2014.

favicon

Daniel Gultsch (gultsch.de)

]]>https://bbs.spacc.eu.org/new/topic/99c4526d-d3f7-4739-91b4-1e01956f5868/conversations-is-now-permanently-available-for-free-on-google-play.RSS for NodeMon, 09 Nov 2026 21:33:43 GMTThu, 24 Sep 2026 14:48:41 GMT60<![CDATA[Reply to Conversations is now permanently available for free on Google Play. on Fri, 25 Sep 2026 16:53:51 GMT]]>@daniel @Suiseiseki @pepintheshort as somebody who uses Dino on Mobian (on a pinephone), the existence of Conversations on Android directly benefits me, since it allows me to talk to my relatives (who are not crazy enough to be using a linux phone as their main phone like I do, considering the current state of it :D )]]>https://bbs.spacc.eu.org/new/post/https://social.gl-como.it/objects/3e3ce0df-446a-b6a7-1f4b-dca044922464https://bbs.spacc.eu.org/new/post/https://social.gl-como.it/objects/3e3ce0df-446a-b6a7-1f4b-dca044922464Fri, 25 Sep 2026 16:53:51 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to Conversations is now permanently available for free on Google Play. on Fri, 25 Sep 2026 12:07:49 GMT]]>@Suiseiseki @pepintheshort I maintain my position that Linux on Mobile is the ultimate goal but nobody benefits from me stopping work on Conversations before Linux on Mobile is ready. If you want to give a shot Dino already works quite well. There is no long term future in Android.

]]>https://bbs.spacc.eu.org/new/post/https://gultsch.social/users/daniel/statuses/117331595752758962https://bbs.spacc.eu.org/new/post/https://gultsch.social/users/daniel/statuses/117331595752758962Fri, 25 Sep 2026 12:07:49 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to Conversations is now permanently available for free on Google Play. on Fri, 25 Sep 2026 11:58:08 GMT]]>@pepintheshort @daniel Yes, it's available on f-droid gratis, but f-droid does not use a free software SDK/compiler to build things - it uses google's proprietary SDK instead; https://f-droid.org/docs/Installing_the_Server_and_Repo_Tools/#proprietary-non-free-libraries

There is a free rebuild of the SDK available, which is compiled from the SDK source code google provides, but as the free SDK does not correspond to google's proprietary SDK, builds can fail, requiring modifying the program to work with the free SDK - thus fdroid uses the proprietary SDK.]]>https://bbs.spacc.eu.org/new/post/https://freesoftwareextremist.com/objects/e3039d94-3e53-4aab-9bbf-53c836d0009ahttps://bbs.spacc.eu.org/new/post/https://freesoftwareextremist.com/objects/e3039d94-3e53-4aab-9bbf-53c836d0009aFri, 25 Sep 2026 11:58:08 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to Conversations is now permanently available for free on Google Play. on Thu, 24 Sep 2026 20:14:52 GMT]]>@Suiseiseki @daniel hasn't it been available on fdroid for free for ages already?

]]>https://bbs.spacc.eu.org/new/post/https://ieji.de/ap/users/117156477633315995/statuses/117327848587242889https://bbs.spacc.eu.org/new/post/https://ieji.de/ap/users/117156477633315995/statuses/117327848587242889Thu, 24 Sep 2026 20:14:52 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to Conversations is now permanently available for free on Google Play. on Thu, 24 Sep 2026 14:51:19 GMT]]>@daniel google still profits even if you don't put a monetary price on the program you know?

If you want to show google, the way to do so is to not list it on the played store and also work out how to compile the f-droid version without google's proprietary computer.]]>https://bbs.spacc.eu.org/new/post/https://freesoftwareextremist.com/objects/a4ddafce-40f4-4f1f-b6c6-79f44bdf7a1dhttps://bbs.spacc.eu.org/new/post/https://freesoftwareextremist.com/objects/a4ddafce-40f4-4f1f-b6c6-79f44bdf7a1dThu, 24 Sep 2026 14:51:19 GMT