**TL;DR: Do not sell the app, sell the service**
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TL;DR: Do not sell the app, sell the service
After reading all the comments, I am a bit confused.
Based on my understanding, this a self-hostable, privacy friendly app, that does not contain a libre license, as you plan on monetizing it.
First of all, the primary reasons of opting for libre software are privacy and freedom. So, the lack of such license can be considered a red flag.
Second, a lot of privacy conscious Android users download their apps from services like F-Droid, that have strict rules against closed-source. So, trying to sell a privacy solution on Play Store does not sound like a good business model.
Tips for monetizing a libre service:
- The client should have a libre license. You code running on the user's device should be verifiable.
- Charge for your STUN/TURN server.
- Sell the server blob. Sandboxing apps on a Linux system is far easier (to prevent them from accessing the internet and potentially leak data).
There are apps that are even available on F-Droid, and similarly monetized. Some examples, that I use, are: Bitwarden, Mullvad, Telegram and Tailscale.
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TL;DR: Do not sell the app, sell the service
After reading all the comments, I am a bit confused.
Based on my understanding, this a self-hostable, privacy friendly app, that does not contain a libre license, as you plan on monetizing it.
First of all, the primary reasons of opting for libre software are privacy and freedom. So, the lack of such license can be considered a red flag.
Second, a lot of privacy conscious Android users download their apps from services like F-Droid, that have strict rules against closed-source. So, trying to sell a privacy solution on Play Store does not sound like a good business model.
Tips for monetizing a libre service:
- The client should have a libre license. You code running on the user's device should be verifiable.
- Charge for your STUN/TURN server.
- Sell the server blob. Sandboxing apps on a Linux system is far easier (to prevent them from accessing the internet and potentially leak data).
There are apps that are even available on F-Droid, and similarly monetized. Some examples, that I use, are: Bitwarden, Mullvad, Telegram and Tailscale.
thanks for the advice. perhaps you have some tips of where i might have done something incorrectly in a previous attempt at open source and libre software. this could be a whole discussion, but i will try to be brief.
https://github.com/positive-intentions/chat
i optimistically started with the aim to get grant funding for a novel approach to secure and private communication using p2p tech. after countless rejections im dont think i should presue that direction.
so then i thought to create something competative in the space of file-transfer. the app would be is a simplified version of the chat app and with less complexity in exchange increased stability. thats that app mentioned in the parent post. mi might not work as privacy solution, but it could still be competative in the tools for file-transfer if i can get it to nice stable polish that can work with massive file-sizes.
i briefly looked at how to get it on the f-droid store and there were details like moving things to gitlab. i then decided to push back indefinately in favor of focusing on the the file-transfer project.
if anyone want to help me with getting the chat app to the f-droid store, some initial changes can be found here: https://www.reddit.com/r/tauri/comments/1j6g71h/is_there_any_examples_out_there_of_a_tauri_app_in
im not entirely sure i have a service to sell. my efforts are on the PWA. the service i can sell is to provide the native build because people wont want to compile thier own. its a shot in the dark with the Play store, but im curious to see what happens.
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TL;DR: Do not sell the app, sell the service
After reading all the comments, I am a bit confused.
Based on my understanding, this a self-hostable, privacy friendly app, that does not contain a libre license, as you plan on monetizing it.
First of all, the primary reasons of opting for libre software are privacy and freedom. So, the lack of such license can be considered a red flag.
Second, a lot of privacy conscious Android users download their apps from services like F-Droid, that have strict rules against closed-source. So, trying to sell a privacy solution on Play Store does not sound like a good business model.
Tips for monetizing a libre service:
- The client should have a libre license. You code running on the user's device should be verifiable.
- Charge for your STUN/TURN server.
- Sell the server blob. Sandboxing apps on a Linux system is far easier (to prevent them from accessing the internet and potentially leak data).
There are apps that are even available on F-Droid, and similarly monetized. Some examples, that I use, are: Bitwarden, Mullvad, Telegram and Tailscale.
Can't see anyone replacing my on-device p2p libre apps with an app/service only they control. Try taking payment before making something no one asked for.
This isn't about OP. Lots do this worse than OP.