yashsingh1/xdaforums huggingface dataset:
[Android Apps and Games] nadir husain:
Please keep us posted Marcel. I really don't want to start hunting for email apps again. And there is none as good as FE
[Android Apps and Games] M66B:
I will, but this feel pretty hopelessly.

This happened before and there is just no discussion with Google possible. If they keep rejecting updates and I can't figure out why, it will be the end.
[Android Apps and Games] M66B:
The balance

The few euros I receive in return for what's being offered and the fun of developing things are no compensation for the thousands of questions I answer every month, for unfair Play store reviews and for stress about unclear Google requirements.

The verdict

I have not reached a conclusion yet, but the question I am asking myself is why I would continue with the project. Maybe it is the moment, with a sick girlfriend, but I currently don't see it.

Alternatives

GitHub only version: 98% of the audience will be lost.

Strip down the app: more bad reviews

Paid support: more bad reviews

Stop answering questions: more bad reviews

Bad reviews will shift the balance only in the wrong direction.

Core problem

Google. There is no sensible way to appeal in case of bad reviews or alleged violations of Play store policies.

People. They are generally pretty demanding and on the other hand everything should be free.

Myself. An old and grumpy developer, who maybe should retired.

Input is welcome.
[Android Apps and Games] Oswald Boelcke:
I don't want to comment on Google and its business schemes; I've my own opinion and therefore I refrain from using anything by them. But I think you should complain with the EU. Google is already in their focus and I'm convinced they collect anything they can get.

By the way, the following link was posted by @Sid32 here in @HootanParsa's MiXplorer thread:

All apk install functions will soon be removed

Could this also affect the FE PlayStore version? I quite often update your FE, the very best email app on the market, when it notifies me. And then I obviously download it from Github, don't I. Looks like Google doesn't like that.

Androidpolice also reported that yesterday:

Total Commander forced to stop letting you install APKs

The dev took action following a Play Store policy complaint

www.androidpolice.com
[Android Apps and Games] M66B:
It takes years until the EU does something, so complaining doesn't help me with practical problems today.

The app didn't update itself from the beginning because this Google policy was waiting to be enforced. So, this shouldn't (you'll never know with Google) a problem in the case of FairEmail.

Thanks for the suggestions.
[Android Apps and Games] mkasimd:
Bureaucratic processes always take time. But if you want to escalate things, I recommend to get in touch with eff.org. Even if they mainly operate in the Americas, they might be interested in a legal action against Google's intransparent policies as well.

There are no ad-hoc solutions for this. But sometimes (though rarely), taking action helps quicker than one believes. It might be worth to give a shot.

Also, if personal support takes a huge toll on you link everyone to this thread and make this a user-forum where you occasionally put input while other users too can explain things. Ratings go down the drain? Let it be, Marcel. Ratings are not as important as your own (mental) health.
[Android Apps and Games] nadir husain:
I agree with the above response.

Also seriously seriously very seriously if you are not happy with what is happening with your app or how you are being treated you should consider selling this app to someone who can maintain it. There is nothing really that is more important than you or your family's health
[Android Apps and Games] M66B:
I am pretty unhappy about the situation and I am considering to pull all my apps from the Play store, close all related XDA threads and going back to anonymity.

The apps won't be sold in any case because in almost all cases this will not beneficial for the users of the app. There are plenty of examples of this.
[Android Apps and Games] M66B:
The appeal resulted in a standard answer.
[Android Apps and Games] M66B:
I have removed all my apps from the Play store and I will stop supporting and maintaining my apps. Google won.

Good luck.
[Android Apps and Games] 30jp:
Hi Marcel,

If I were you I would stop using Google Playstore.

That is 98% of the buyers and I think most of the complainers.

Keep it with Github and F-Droid as it is now, a free and a paid version.

Only update important and necessary things once every 3 months.

So no other colours, fonts or handy buttons.

Also write that clearly here on XDA and Github and don't reply to every post here either.

Keep it to once every 3 months.

Let it go.

FairEmail is and will remain the best email app out there.

I think that gives you the most peace of mind and gives you more energy to support your girlfriend and possibly do other things later.

Give it a year and stick to those rules and then evaluate after 1 year how it went and what it brought you.

The same goes for Netguard.

Sincerely jp30
[Android Apps and Games] M66B:
I won't be coming back, sorry.
[Android Apps and Games] mkasimd:
If you are leaving, that's your decision ultimately. We will be sad about it, but we will also respect it.

However, I'd appreciate it, if you left the GitHub repo and this XDA thread available. So that anyone who wants to can fork the app and then inform the core users here in this thread. Even if it's just about keeping the libraries up to date and nothing else.
[Android Apps and Games] nadir husain:
I am going to use FE as long as I possibly can. Not going anywhere!

Yes I agree - ultimately it's Marcels decision.
[Android Apps and Games] M66B:
@Oswald Boelcke can you please close all my threads. If this implies revoking my recognized developer's title, that's okay.
[Android Apps and Games] Oswald Boelcke:
I'm very sorry to hear this but I'm going to do as tasked. You're leaving a gap not only on XDA but also on every device of all people that care about their (and others) privacy. I feel so bad that Google did succeed - assuming that's the case due to all I've read above.

If you change your mind, just advise - and I hope you're going to change your mind!

I'll inform the Developer Committee who might get in contact with you if required.

Thread has been closed on request of OP!
[Android Apps and Games] Oswald Boelcke:
On special request by PM of OP, Marcel aka @M66B, I have to inform you as follows:

Marcel, I know you can't respond here but personally I hope that this isn't your final decision.
[Android Apps and Games] Oswald Boelcke:
Thread re-opened on request of OP @M66B who allowed me to share his PM with you:
[Android Apps and Games] mrrocketdog:
woo hoo !!
[Android Apps and Games] deechte:
Do you realize Marcel that by your latest actions you're actually hurting the people that have supported you all the way, have downvoted reviews at your request, have overloaded you with compliments day after day, have paid for your app?

Google and the bad reviewers ruin your life, but they're not here, they don't give a sh#t that you stop and even closed the thread.

Me and many others here have in the past replied to your review complaints and advised you to look at the good things, the majority of 5 star reviews, the insanely high average score etc. I've even told you there are courses out there to help transform your thinking and better deal with setbacks. It's all in your mind to improve that.

Now every developer has to deal with Google. They're awful, we know. Every developer complains, rightfully. But they do not all toss the towel. Come on.
[Android Apps and Games] e5e197740b:
So I got the news via Caschys Blog.

I have a question: I bought the pro features of the app via the Google PlayStore.

The app itself is no longer available on the google play store.

I won't try to convince Marcel to change any of that, but is there any way for me to save my status quo?

Precisely, are the pro features just going to work should I ever have to manually install the latest GitHub apk I just saved? Is there a way to transfer the license? Or am I just, "**** out of luck", as the cool kids say, whenever I have to reset or change my smartphone?
[Android Apps and Games] M66B:
I really appreciate all the good words and gestures, but I still haven't found a good answer to the question why I should continue the projects. I felt myself a slave of Google and of all those non stop demanding and judging people for a too long time, which changed into a liberated feeling now.
[Android Apps and Games] M66B:
You can update to the latest GitHub version if you wish. Google Play store purchases can't be transferred because the Play store policies do not allow this.

Edit: Play store purchases keep being valid, so you don't have to do anything.
[Android Apps and Games] nadir husain:
I have paid for the app as you know Marcel. But I also have the pre release version from the play store. If it can only be downloaded via GitHub and it's all the same to you can you please make this a totally free app ? This will help others like me when we change devices. Thanks
[Android Apps and Games] M66B:
https://email.faircode.eu/donate/#free
[Android Apps and Games] quyleanh:
@M66B Thank you very much for maintaining such a great app. I hope you change your mind and continue this project as hobby.

Btw, you guys are on the HN now.

FairEmail stopping development after Google falsely flags app as spyware | Hacker News

news.ycombinator.com
[Android Apps and Games] nadir husain:
Thanks Marcel

Now can you please please come back?

You don't have to develop this app. You don't have to answer questions. Just maintain it , that's all. All your users will know , do know that they are using the best email app around!
[Android Apps and Games] The_Two:
Marcel and FairEmail is not alone with the problems with Google. See: https://www.golem.de/news/total-com...tallation-durch-google-zwang-2205-165492.html

This is realy no good development what Google is doing.
[Android Apps and Games] M66B:
As soon as I have a good answer to the why and how question. I am not sure if there are good answers to these questions.
[Android Apps and Games] nadir husain:
There are never perfect answers to imperfect problems. Life is a compromise- usually one sided. You give a lot more than u get. That's always the way it is.

Enough said!

In the final count what ever you decide just be happy and try to get as much as you give to strive for the perfect balance.

Thanks for everything.
[Android Apps and Games] boldrake:
Dear Marcel, I support any decision you make, and wish you and your girlfriend good continuation. Of course I hope you resume development.
[Android Apps and Games] crendot2:
I'd like to say thank you for giving us quality apps that respect the user.

It is totally understandable you want to focus on things that matter to you most, do that!

Maybe in time you can come back and do it just for the fun of it, if not than not!

You choose to make your apps FOSS and this is a reason why some of us choose to use it. Life happens and someone can carry on, that's the beauty of it.

In our current time it is taxing and time consuming to go against the mainstream.

You helped us in that endeavor and i think many people are grateful.

I'm always thankful for the people that step up, be it to release an foss app or fight against megacorps. Both tasks are draining in its own way. And i can relate to everybody who chooses not to that.

Do what you think is best for you but be reminded that people are thankful for what you did!
[Android Apps and Games] eroldru:
Love your work @M66B. Not only Fairemail, which I use daily, but also the other work you have done. As part of the Software Engineering world, I understand you want to discontinue Fairemail and support you in your decision, although feel sorry, since for the time being is the best email client for Android.

PS: Google is cancer, but none of the corps are better, so cheers to that
[Android Apps and Games] de_Wolf:
I think we shouldn't put Marcel under any more "pressure", let's give him some time off, he just needs to switch off.

He was on duty for FE 24 hours a day. Even when I sent him an email with the priority 'Low' around 10pm, I got an answer a minute after sending it.
[Android Apps and Games] Hexxer:
It is a pity that a one-man project dies. New projects will grow out of the necessities. If it is no longer fun in the end, the exit is certainly the best alternative. For small accounts, K9 is now also usable again and is being developed. Live will go on. Thanks for the work of the last years.
[Android Apps and Games] crypta:
It is a system wide problem.

All apk install functions will soon be removed - Total Commander

And I appreciate that the thread had been opened again.

We need your app!
[Android Apps and Games] difdiffer:
I passed on what happend to InfoManiak. Maybe they will be willing to take over development.

Thanks for a great app nonetheless!
[Android Apps and Games] ferrebam:
Hi, I'm just a simple user but I want to put on record my gratitude to Marcel and the magnificent work he has done. I have paid for every single app (outside of the crap play store) and would gladly do it again.
[Android Apps and Games] M66B:
For the record I will quote the policy violation message:

And the response to the appeal, asking for more information:

The app is definitely not uploading contact info, in any case not in unexpected ways (unless you consider sending the email address as username to the IMAP server as unexpected), there is a privacy policy in the Play store developer console and also available from within the app. I told Google all this, also the time before, but there is simply no dialog possible, and Google doesn't tell either the exact reason.

Edit: removing a link in the change log (!) to Libravatar seems to have fixed the problem before.
[Android Apps and Games] M66B:
One thought would be to go into the Play store developer console and to declare that the app is sending/sharing contact list data.

Given the nature of the project I am refusing to do this under any circumstance.
[Android Apps and Games] deechte:
Of course I cannot tell you why you should be motivated, other than all the compliments in this thread. But I can tell you there's internal motivation (intrinsiek) and external motivation. People that are internally motivated usually keep their motivation easily for a long time. People that are mostly externally (pride, status, money, etc) motivated usually get bored or do need an increasingly bigger amount of external praise to keep going, until it isn't enough anymore.

My - maybe faulty - guess is that you at least once were highly internally motivated to build this project. I assume that given the privacy nature of your product. I don't know if external motivation was or is important to you, but I do know that external DEmotivation has gotten the better of you.

You can disconnect yourself of that easily, because it's external. It's simply making a choice.

Like others have said, leave the bad reviewers alone, don't answer them. Don't even read the trolls. Maybe stop striving to answer every single mail you get, most of them will find their answer online anyway. Or do a standard reply that you are a one man company that cannot personally handle all the requests, with a shortcut to this thread so others can answer the noob questions. Mixplorer's (4,7 star in PS) developer Hootan Parsa usually goes offline for weeks and then picks up the few questions that weren't answered in the thread already. Stop bothering about the app's rating (at least as long as it is above let's say 4), it doesn't have to be almost 5 to be great.
[Android Apps and Games] jdaviescoates:
I just want to chime in here that I'm devastated by the news that Marcel may stop developing/ maintaining FairEmail. I only very recently started using it, but as soon as I did it was clear I'd found BY FAR the best Android email app (indeed, it's better than any open source webmail client too!) and so I immediately paid for the pro version. I now recommend to anyone who'll listen. But now I've read this news and I'm sad. FairEmail (and presumably all Marcel's other projects too) is just SO great it'd be a really massive shame for it to end.

Marcel: if you're still reading, I can't help wondering how many people who use and love FairMail might actually switch to the github version if you're unable to resolve your issues with the faceless bots at Google... possibly enough for you to deem it worthwhile continuing for your hard core privacy-concerned fans like me who are running /e/ OS etc :)

Anyways, hope your girlfriend's health issues aren't too serious and she gets better soon. Thank you so much for all you have done to date.
[Android Apps and Games] zentis:
Netguard is amazing and I'm happy that I donated for it before, I had just started trying out FairEmail and I'm devastated to learn that maintenance and support may stop because of Google being unreasonable.

Marcel, would you be open to continuing with something like Patreon? I would absolutely not mind giving a recurring subscription for the ongoing development and I think many like me would do the same? The good thing is that you can only care about the people who support you monthly and they tend to be much more friendly to interact with.
[Android Apps and Games] jdaviescoates:
+1

Although I'd suggest using https://opencollective.com/ and https://liberapay.com/ over Patreon as they are both nice open source projects themselves :)

There's GitHub sponsors too of course. Marcel already has 41 of those https://github.com/sponsors/M66B

https://comradery.co/ an interesting new project too - no open source afaict, but run by a worker co-op
[Android Apps and Games] M66B:
If my projects were about money, I would considered re-licensing and selling now, but I won't. Selling likely won't serve you anyway, look for example to what happened with AquaMail.

Also, wouldn't money make things even worse? I already felt as a slave after all.
[Android Apps and Games] kr428:
First off, first and foremost: Hope your girlfriend's doing .. reasonably well and her illness is something that can be addressed and cured in a meaningful way. Appreciated to see you taking the time to even respond and get into this kind of communication at the moment, given these circumstances.

As for a different question on that: Do you think there's a chance of other people, FLOSS developers, supporters, ... stepping up helping you / your project(s) in such situations? Looking at that dispute and mess of communicating with Google (remember having been through that several times too, in a previous job), I can pretty well understand this isn't something one wants to do in such moments. Maybe ... helping others growing and maintaining your projects in the future would be an option or a way out too...?

Anyway, wishing you and your spouse all the best in these days. Take care, and thanks for the commitment so far.
[Android Apps and Games] kos25k:
Sad news.Should we uninstall fairemail now?
[Android Apps and Games] pythoner:
Just when i started using it (2 months ago). I even bought it twice. Google and off the website :/

But i get it. Everybody has a limit.

I wish you all the best!
[Android Apps and Games] M66B:
My girlfriend is still pretty ill (a very nasty Adeno virus it looks like, for which I seem to be immune somehow). She is very slowly recovering, is coughing 24 hours/day already for a week, so sleep is a problem, she has sore eyes (she looks like a zombie), here nose is all over red from all the blowing. tl;dr; you really don't want this. She is feeling pretty bad and is rather exhausted.

I only need to watch her and take care of basic things (food, medicine), so I have plenty time to answer questions (which doesn't mean I will pick up the project again).

Realistically seen, I don't see someone(s) picking up this project. Somebody somewhere else was 'proving' that it was a community project by linking to the 32 pull requests, but forgot to mention the other 22,824 commits. I think you need to work long and hard to understand the project and the underlying choices fully.

Besides the Google policy problem, there is one known problem, but the chance it will affect you is about zero. So, for the time being you can keep using the app. It works fine on Android 13 as well (which I do not recommend to install because there are still plenty of problem which will get in the way of your daily routine).
[Android Apps and Games] infinitumomega:
Hey Marcel (@M66B), I am terribly sorry to hear you're leaving these apps. I've been a paying user of FairEmail since 2019. I know working on your own on something highly specialized and specific can become lonely really quickly, so kudos for standing so strong. Further, pairing such solitary with the lack of positive community feedback can be deeply demoralising. Unfortunately, the voices of the dissatisfied few are far louder than they should be, and it doesn't sound like Google has solved the skew of people's opinions towards unconstructive or unbalanced criticism.

If there's anything we can do to chime in on the appeal process, like adding our testimony to what you have already said, then hell, I'll dig through the source code of FairEmail and put my word to it. Alternatively, we could try and get a higher-up at Google to investigate, or we can make some noise in the news. I'm sure there's a journalist eager to cover this story (Hacker News, The Register, The Verge, Tech Republic come to mind). Reaching out to the EFF as proposed earlier is also a great idea.

What still remains though is your question of why you must push on. I don't have any good answers, except that there are some people out here that do appreciate your work and do care.

Regardless of your decision, may you find peace and continue to create and give with dignity and without compromising your integrity.
[Android Apps and Games] nadir husain:
Wishing a quick and complete recovery to your girlfriend

Best wishes
[Android Apps and Games] wolfganp:
Sad to hear the news but at the same time good to see you refocusing in yours and loved ones' health, that's the most important.

I believe many people in here share the same values, and really value the effort and generosity of people that develop something and share it at large lie you, and it feels sad that many others feel entitled to demand or abuse the creator just because they can.

Forget about Goggle, they are just too big and convoluted nowadays that "don't be evil" or "be fair" is already outside of their vocabulary. When it works your way take advantage of it, when not just get out.

Just focus on what's important: the people around you and the community of fellow minders that support you whatever you choose to do. Regain balance. Good intentions always come back, you did an excellent investment in paying it forward for a long time...
[Android Apps and Games] M66B:
I don't think Google will care, or change anytime soon, in any case not in a time frame beneficial for project like this.

For the record, Google is violating EU regulation 2019/1150 without any doubt, especially article 11:

L_2019186EN.01005701.xml

For example 1c: "communicate to the complainant the outcome of the internal complaint-handling process, in an individualised manner and drafted in plain and intelligible language."
[Android Apps and Games] m0d:
App is steadily heading towards that direction.

Do not worry. Someone will come up with a crazy idea with no solution in sight, only for you to figure it out - within a few iterations, that is.

That is being lazy. Also, stops users complaining that they clicked button and all mails were deleted from all accounts instead of one account.

You should contact your provider and see if they need someone to fix it for them.

If all users, with providers that drag behind in terms of correct protocol and security, insist that would be a step in the right direction.

One user already hassled/hassling provider to fix ssl.

So who knows.