In a blog post published on his personal site, the developer of Conversations, a federated instant messaging client for Android, announced that the app will now be distributed free of charge. According to the post, Conversations began in January 2014 as a personal project to scratch his own itch, and he released the first public version on March 24 2014. At that time he tried to turn the open‑source effort into a business by charging for the convenience of a compiled binary while keeping the source code openly available. Over the following decade, the app became his primary source of income, with revenue streams that evolved from paid development contracts and consulting to grants and funding from organizations such as NLnet and the European Commission. The developer notes that Play Store revenue had been a surprisingly steady source, once describing it as paying his rent, and that it regularly amounted to more than 1 000 Euro per year—equivalent to 15 % of sales taken by Google. However, his relationship with Google deteriorated over time. He cites frequent and often incomprehensible app‑update rejections, two removals of Conversations from the Play Store, and long review periods that have worsened in the past year. At the time of writing, he had been waiting 14 days for an update to be reviewed, a delay he argues is dangerous because Google treats security updates the same as feature updates. Frustrated by the lack of human support despite the fees paid, he described the arrangement as a toxic relationship sustained only by economic dependency. Over the years, his income shifted increasingly toward grants, giving him secure funding through at least the end of 2029 and confidence that further opportunities will arise. Although Conversations had always been available on the alternative repository F‑Droid, he initially avoided promoting it to steer users toward the paid Play Store version. As his sentiment toward Google soured, he began linking to F‑Droid, and it eventually became the primary distribution channel. The F‑Droid build is now produced reproducibly and signed with his personal key. Declaring that he is no longer economically dependent on Google Play revenue, he states that Google does not deserve his money and that he is done with the platform’s gatekeeping. Consequently, Conversations will be offered free of charge, with distribution handled mainly through F‑Droid and direct APK downloads from his website. The post concludes with a dismissive farewell to the gatekeepers, underscoring his decision to break away from Google’s ecosystem.
