December 2023
We Need Open Source Mobile Apps
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Today I was looking for an android app for scanning documents. I look on
F-Droid and find a single one, last updated 3 years ago, it was not usable.
I look on the Google Play Store, all the apps have in app purchases and some
have ads. The monetization of software as simple and ubiquitous as a document
scanner is disgusting. On desktop there is always a plethora of free and open
source solutions to common problems, why not on mobile?

1. You have to pay to publish apps on Google/Apple App stores.
      The Google Play Store has a single, one time payment for a developer
  account. I do not remember exactly how much but it was no more than £100. The
  Apple App store charges approximately £90 a year for an account, which may
  publish multiple apps. Apps could be published on a third party app store,
  but realistically this will greatly limit number of users.
      While this cost is significant, I do not believe it is unreasonable for
  donations to cover it. Especially if a single account was used to host a
  collection of software, not just a single application.

2. Developing for mobile is difficult/not fun.
      Mobile devices are more "locked down" than the desktop counterpart. This
  means developers are significantly limited in what technology they can use to
  build applications. Like coding in rust? Good luck writing a mobile app in
  that! Developers also end up having to rewrite parts (if not all) of the
  codebase in different languages to support both Android and IOS. Java on
  Android and Swift on IOS for example.
      Mobile app development frameworks do give developers some more options,
  but in my experience they are often difficult to work with. I had to deprecate
  an app I wrote for a local food bank because I was unable to migrate it to a
  newer version of Flutter.


To fix this issue, a single group must develop a COLLECTION of free mobile
applications.
    It is paramount that a single group takes responsibility for the
development of a range of mobile applications. This reduces cost for
publishing on app stores, means a consistent aesthetic can be enforced, and can
reduce work as common problems need only be solved once.