It is totally fair to charge for work you've done - but then again, in my opinion, not everything needs to be built with some profit in mind (not talking about this app in particular now).
I think it's really refreshing to find an app that doesn't lock any features behind a paywall or makes using it more cumbersome unless you pay. I'm mostly okay with one-time payments though.
Just because you invested some time into making a project doesn't mean that you absolutely need to make some money to make it "worth" it. Hell, most open-source software is built on free/voluntary labor.
> not everything needs to be built with some profit in mind (not talking about this app in particular now).
I agree, and I make many projects for fun and find it rewarding when others use what I've built. But that is a decision that I make myself, for my own work. I never feel like I have the right to tell others whether they should build something with profit in mind or not.
I understand the sentiment from a user's perspective, I really do.
I have been totally burned out by having to maintain all my free apps in the Play Store though, lately. Even a simple non-internet-using app needs an update every year and needs to comply with new bullshit policies every few months. It has totally changed my opinion on free vs paid apps. I still despise subscription models, but I absolutely understand that there's just no free apps out there anymore. It just costs too much of my time to keep doing it for free.
Agree. I had a free app with 100000 downloads, no ads and 4.5 rating on Play store, it is no longer there because I got fed up with Google's nagging. If I will do free things going forward, I will do them outside closed ecosystems.
It is economically better for google if your free app is gone and someone makes a paid app or an app with ads...
Interesting point. I think that the availability of good free apps on Play Store has a positive effect on the market for Android phones in general. I know it factors into people's decision of phone religion that apps are more likely to charge on Apple's store (even sometimes for an app which is free on Android).
All that said, F-droid is the only one I'll ever love.
Also agree, and would also include paid apps as well!
I had a paid app which was a one time payment and was not doing anything special regarding permissions (no internet, nothing like that), but since it wasn't was bringing much revenue (some 3$-4$ per year), I let the Play Store remove it automatically. I couldn't justify adding the absurd data policies (since I wasn't using any user data) and the cost of updating it regularly.
Sorry for my 100 users, that cannot reinstall the app anymore!
I've actually been talking about the developer's perspective as well - I have a couple of personal projects that I've invested quite a bit of time into but I still don't feel the need to try to find a way to monetize them.
I can definitely see your point though. Maybe an option would be open sourcing your app? (considering it's already free anyway) - that way you could maybe find some contributors to make it easier to keep up with everything.
> not everything needs to be built with some profit in mind
You didn't say this earlier. You said this app doesn't need to be developed with profit in mind.