Related
So I see a bunch of folks around xda mentioning, even recommending applanet.
i`m certainly not opposed to free but I just cant figure out why they want permission to access to log in credentials when installing the app.
Would anyone smarter then me like to give their two cents on this?
TainT said:
So I see a bunch of folks around xda mentioning, even recommending applanet.
i`m certainly not opposed to free but I just cant figure out why they want permission to access to log in credentials when installing the app.
Would anyone smarter then me like to give their two cents on this?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
hmmm. I don't remember it asking me for credentials....I got the apk and installed it, and it launched......maybe it used my stored credentials? hmmm. I did not give it too much thought as I have 2 google accounts. 1 for junk and another more serious. They could hack the junk one all they want.
Lemme clarify. When you install the app. The permissions page pops up telling you applanet wants (among other things) permission to access your account credentials.
Very few apps I have seen need this level of access.
Sent from my SGH-T849
Just buy apps!
Pirating will stop/stall development for the best and new apps in the android market. Support them, this will give you more pleasure with your tablet in the end.
Kwart1001 said:
Just buy apps!
Pirating will stop/stall development for the best and new apps in the android market. Support them, this will give you more pleasure with your tablet in the end.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Agreed ... baring in mind that there are apps on the Market that require really suspicious permissions as well, regardless of whether they are free or not. It's probably worse with APKTor, which is not designed towards secured downloads
Kwart1001 said:
Just buy apps!
Pirating will stop/stall development for the best and new apps in the android market. Support them, this will give you more pleasure with your tablet in the end.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I support many developers by buying apps. I didn't start this thread to be lectured by you.
I wonder why someone so opposed to pirating is even here?
Sent from my SGH-T849
TainT said:
I support many developers by buying apps. I didn't start this thread to be lectured by you.
I wonder why someone so opposed to pirating is even here?
Sent from my SGH-T849
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You other guys aren't even reading what he's written
"The permissions page pops up telling you applanet wants (among other things) permission to access your account credentials"
As in - when you install an app from the market, it tells you what it's going to access on your phone and asks for your OK. He's asking why an app would want access to your credential information portion of the phone (as opposed to just SD Card Contents, etc). He hasn't said ANYTHING about trying to pirate apps!
BTW, I've never seen one ask for that.
TainT said:
I wonder why someone so opposed to pirating is even here?
Sent from my SGH-T849
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
By that you mean what? That people opposed to pirating apps shouldnt read threads by people that do?
Im also opposed to pirating. Yeah, if the app is free and you cant get it, then ask the dev for the apk, but knowingly taking a paid app without giving a donation or any recognition to the dev is wrong.
Just my opinion.
Sent from my GT-P1000
What I meant was. Why would someone with such high morals be on a site dedicated to circumventing software limitations imposed by others.
Having said that. Everyone is entitled to their opinion and since the awkwardness of the apPlanet apk changed my mind about installing it I don't even see a need to continue those thread.
BTW. Some apps are ridiculously expensive and I still don't see a reason to pay upwards of $20 dollars to a group of investors just to find i still can't edit word documents.
Sent from my SGH-T849
There is a big difference in "circumventing software limitations imposed by others" on a device you have bought and own and blatant pirating of apps
So, everyone on xda has no morals? Im sorry, but thats a ridiculous statement. People on here mod free apps, or they will mod paid if you have proof youve paid for the app. No roms have paid apps in them unless theyre put in by mistake and then theyre taken out.
And yeah, there are ridiculously priced apps (navigation for £40 - £80) but people do buy them.
Sent from my GT-P1000 using XDA App
TainT said:
What I meant was. Why would someone with such high morals be on a site dedicated to circumventing software limitations imposed by others.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Applanet is a warez source - this site has a very strict policy *against* warez, which is probably why the "hacking" aspect of it is tolerated.
There's one other thread on XDA concerning Applanet and it got shutdown immediately.
BTW. Some apps are ridiculously expensive and I still don't see a reason to pay upwards of $20 dollars to a group of investors just to find i still can't edit word documents.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That still doesn't make stealing an application right though does it? Don't forget that you have 24 hours from making your Market purchases to uninstall and get a refund if it doesn't suit your needs.
Regards,
Dave
I though this subject was not about pirating but more about why an app asks for some rights.
btw applanet is not only for pirating it also provides free apps unavailable on the market.
in addition it seems to not providing anything anymore the last past days....
There's supposedly a new release coming soon, and they're fixing the server end of it as well.
I think what it boils down to is if you're uncomfortable with the permissions an app is requesting, then don't install it. Better safe than sorry right?
Actually its only 15 mins to return the app. Still its better than ios
Sent from my GT-P1000 using XDA App
AppPlanet is a warez app.
We don't do warez here. XDA is about getting the most from your device, not about screwing people over.
Closed.
I have no idea where this topic should go so im putting it here.
Ill start off by saying this: I'm a fifteen year old kid with no money, and sometimes I pirate apps. This isn't about piracy like where should i go for it etc. Because i know that is against the rules. I don't have any way to buy apps or i would, im poor and i don't have a credit or debit card to use. So devs aren't losing money by me pirating. And i know its wrong and i shouldn't do it. Its just the only way to get things sometimes.
If you're still reading and haven't already reported me, here is my story.
Last night i was just messing with my phone, playing games and talking to friends. My phone randomly rebooted and started going into a bootloop of sorts; it would start up and i could get to the homescreen but it was almost unresponsive and i was getting a lot of force closes. I couldn't figure out the issue so i did a backup and a data wipe, planning to restore from TitaniumBackup.
That's when i figured out the problem. My sD card had been completely wiped, all 14 gigs of music, videos, important documents, pictures, apps, everything. It was all gone and replaced with 1037 pictures of a penis with a smiley face drawn on it, captioned "**** you mobilism stop stealing from droidfanz" which i have no idea who mobilism is or what droidfanz is.
I ran recuva on the card hoping to find my files somehow but it only found 3000 more of the pictures along with lots of random pictures of porn and concerts and people jumping off of houses onto mattresses.
I guess im mostly making this thread as 1. A shoutout to mobilism, droidfanz, whoever else caused this to say, you're an ass. Piracy is wrong but there are lots of things you could do that aren't going to destroy my life by deleting all of my personal documents. If i had the ability to buy your apps then i would.
2. A notice to other people... Don't pirate. At least be careful because some developers would rather destroy you than just make it so you can't use their app or something.
That's it. Ban me if you want, i figured i should at least get this out there to warn people. Im going to be trying to restore my life for the next few days anyways.
Sent from my SCH-I500 using XDA App
Good you deserved this. You stole apps from devs which is like taking there life. It only seems fitting that a dev returns the favor. Hope you learned. Also invest in a pre load debt card so you can legitimately purchase apps. Being broke is not an excuse for piracy and sure as hell wouldn't stand in court. Look at it this way .99 cents for an app or thousands in fees cause you got caught pirating.
Sent from my futuristic phone
Wow, that's crazy.
Mobilism and Droidfanz are, to the best of my knowledge, warez sites.
Sounds like maybe Droidfaz people are loading files that look like applications, but really are malicious files over to Mobilism in some sort of a war.
Those malicious files could have been further distributed to wherever you go the file from.
I dont agree with you ironlood.
Firstly, fighting fire with fire is not a solution. If someone is doing something wrong, it does not mean that you should do something worse. Revenge is only allowed if it is equal, not worse than the original offence.
Secondly, the OP does not even know if this happened due to a rogue application by a Dev or some hacker at Droidfanz try to get back at mobilism. Its interesting looks like two underground piracy outfits clashing. (I dont know what these sites are, but thats what it sounds like).
I'm not saying piracy is allowed, but lets just not be too anal not to allow extenuating circumstances (although I am not saying this particular case is).
OP, next time stick to free apps only. There is nothing you cant live without.
Wow. I certainly don't pirate apps because I'm a faithful Android fan and truly appreciate the work of the developers. We give them hardly anything for their work so the spare change you pay now and again is well worth it. Sometimes I donate even more after I buy their apps.
That being said, I don't want any chance of this happening to my phone because I downloaded a rogue app that made it to the market or was shared in the community. If someone does that to me, I'll sue them only because I can't physically beat the f*** out of them.
You shouldn't pirate though, bro. Pirate from big corporations like Microsoft as they inflate their prices and can afford it. Don't pirate from the college student who's starving and worse off than you!
bongd said:
Wow. I certainly don't pirate apps because I'm a faithful Android fan and truly appreciate the work of the developers. We give them hardly anything for their work so the spare change you pay now and again is well worth it. Sometimes I donate even more after I buy their apps.
That being said, I don't want any chance of this happening to my phone because I downloaded a rogue app that made it to the market or was shared in the community. If someone does that to me, I'll sue them only because I can't physically beat the f*** out of them.
You shouldn't pirate though, bro. Pirate from big corporations like Microsoft as they inflate their prices and can afford it. Don't pirate from the college student who's starving and worse off than you!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
lol Its like saying steal from the RICH they won't mind it!
Piracy Is Piracy.
But please don't give me the crap that all of you guys are saints...YOU ARE NOT!
@OP That was a very peculiar "virus". The thing i don't understand that doesn't a virus NOT need superuser permissions(ROOT) to access your system??
Money for an Android mobile and a 16 GB SD card but no 99 Cent to buy an app? That's ridiculous.
And that wasn't done by the developer. You caught a Trojan...
Sent from my HTC Desire using XDA App
Did you know that if you walked in a store and stole a shirt, you would get arrested? I'm pretty sure that it wouldn't matter if you were rich or poor and whether or not you could afford it. You got what you deserved.
edisso10018 said:
Money for an Android mobile and a 16 GB SD card but no 99 Cent to buy an app? That's ridiculous.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This is true. You obviously could afford to buy apps if you wanted to, you just don't want to because you can get them for free.
Just for the sake of conversation.
Why is it ok to violate your TOS as well as abuse your carrier by getting around their bandwidth usage requirements and tethering options but piracy off applications is wrong?
Who decides what is right and wrong in this situation? The danger to android isn't merely fragmentation, it is the wild west nature of open source and whether developers will continue to contribute at such a rate knowing that there is no law or protection in place to keep their work as financially viable.
These are topics that android will have to deal with and sort whether it is by google or by the community coming to some sort of developer support agreement.
Really is neat watching an industry find its way. I just hope it doesn't get lost in the process.
thanks for sharing about your misfortunes and hopefully you learned from it! Best of luck!
edisso10018 said:
Money for an Android mobile and a 16 GB SD card but no 99 Cent to buy an app? That's ridiculous.
And that wasn't done by the developer. You caught a Trojan...
Sent from my HTC Desire using XDA App
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That isn't ridiculous. More like my parents saved up to my me a phone as a birthday present, it was free with the special Christmas deal from US Cellular and it came with the card. Both the phone and card were actually free for my parents to buy and were a birthday present for me, we're just paying for the plan and I still have no money to buy apps.
backwoods99 said:
Just for the sake of conversation.
Why is it ok to violate your TOS as well as abuse your carrier by getting around their bandwidth usage requirements and tethering options but piracy off applications is wrong?
Who decides what is right and wrong in this situation? The danger to android isn't merely fragmentation, it is the wild west nature of open source and whether developers will continue to contribute at such a rate knowing that there is no law or protection in place to keep their work as financially viable.
These are topics that android will have to deal with and sort whether it is by google or by the community coming to some sort of developer support agreement.
Really is neat watching an industry find its way. I just hope it doesn't get lost in the process.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I agree. All the people telling me I deserved it.... yeah you are probably right, I shouldn't have done it but you can't say I'm taking money from the dev because no matter what he isn't going to get money from me because I don't have any to give.
And I'm sure you've all stolen music or used a tethering app or something that isn't legal.
sageDieu said:
And I'm sure you've all stolen music or used a tethering app or something that isn't legal.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Get a job. You had this coming, as far as I'm concerned.
The whole penis thing might be a little extreme but i guess you deserved it.
What comes around goes around, you steal apps and now you lost everything. Being broke is not an excuse for being a douch-bag and stealing apps. I don't think telling a judge I was broke so I stole it would be a good defense. Not to mention you "stole" an item that is not something you need to live like stealing food not that that is ok either. I hope this was a lesson learned.
sageDIEU, fair play to you for openly telling your story.. you've probably learnt your lesson anyway now, although your reasons are more than dubious (still doesn't make it right in my opinion, just because I've not got the money now or ever to buy a ferrari, doesn't mean I can just go and pinch one)
The only issue I have, is that some developers expect you to pay for a product that has no decent demo. There's plenty of people producing crap apps for android and other OS's and expecting money for it. I've already paid for quite a few apps that have turned out to be a complete waste of money. I'd rather try an app (by whatever means) and then I'll gladly pay the developer for his work if it's a good product, if it's not, it doesn't stay on my phone and the developer won't get my dough.
Just about everyone uses a hacked app for whatever reason in their life. I don't judge anyone for doing so, but you should never ever keep important files on just 1 storage location. You can always lose/break it.
Learn from this!
Try searching for undelete/unformat software. Maybe you will be able to recover some of it. Good luck..
adhikarb said:
lol Its like saying steal from the RICH they won't mind it!
Piracy Is Piracy.
But please don't give me the crap that all of you guys are saints...YOU ARE NOT!
@OP That was a very peculiar "virus". The thing i don't understand that doesn't a virus NOT need superuser permissions(ROOT) to access your system??
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Corporations rob consumers, they're the only ones I would not feel bad about when it comes to pirating. I don't need commercial apps from huge corps most of the time though, outside of an OS. There are usually freeware versions which are better and have direct support from the developer. I'd rather have a free app with customizations and bug fixes from direct developer correspondence than a commercial app from a huge corp in most cases. Wouldn't you?
And **** off with the saint comment. I'm not elitist. I just think if a hard working Joe does a good job, I'd rather commend him instead of some money grubbing corporation. This is a tight community. And would you rather give a friend money or a stranger money? I'd rather give a friend money, any day of the week. Especially if they've developed an app that I use EVERY SINGLE DAY and only paid a dollar or two for!!!!
You guys are so ****ing cheap. End of story. I hope your phones get hacked. There's absolutely no reason to ***** about a dollar or two here and there for an app that you'll use day in, day out.
All of you people giving analogies of 'pirating' with 'stealing' do not know what an IP is. That analogy is WRONG.
Also, you really think rooting your phone and installing custom roms is not a violation?
hav0c said:
Just about everyone uses a hacked app for whatever reason in their life. I don't judge anyone for doing so, but you should never ever keep important files on just 1 storage location. You can always lose/break it.
Learn from this!
Try searching for undelete/unformat software. Maybe you will be able to recover some of it. Good luck..
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Agreed, and I doubt you were punished by the developper you stole apps from.
You should really be carefull on what you install, especially on those uncontrolled warez sites.
Dear fellow XDA-ers,
What do you think of the following link:
www.ebay.co.uk/itm/270904716829?ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1423.l2649
Sent from my HTC Sensation XE with Beats Audio using Tapatalk
kaleavi said:
Dear fellow XDA-ers,
What do you think of the following link:
www.ebay.co.uk/itm/270904716829?ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1423.l2649
Sent from my HTC Sensation XE with Beats Audio using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Personally, I'd never send my phone to anyone. I'd say thats a reasonable charge for the service, but what if he bricks it? Better yet, what if he KEEPS it?
ChaZnsc said:
Personally, I'd never send my phone to anyone. I'd say thats a reasonable charge for the service, but what if he bricks it? Better yet, what if he KEEPS it?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Actually, is it right to give this kinda service?? Its like making money off all the hard work of devs and chefs for yourself.
Sent from my HTC Sensation XE with Beats Audio using Tapatalk
WTF
he got positve feedback too!!!!!
how lazy are ppl to send a phone to an unknown android developer to root them phone???
he could even be fair in asking money to unleash the beast... but DA**! it's so easy and cool o it yourself...
by the way.. that's the world
stremax said:
he got positve feedback too!!!!!
how lazy are ppl to send a phone to an unknown android developer to root them phone???
he could even be fair in asking money to unleash the beast... but DA**! it's so easy and cool o it yourself...
by the way.. that's the world
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes this is one weird world..
Sent from my HTC Sensation XE with Beats Audio using Tapatalk
Well, he's just offering a service. I don't see why we should blame him. I'm the kind of hacker interested in tweaking my phone. I'm sure other people don't care.
In other field (cooking for example), I'm sure I'd be considered as a lazy bastard. I bet many people around here are in the exact same situation.
In economics, we call that preferences and we take those as data, we don't judge them. Let them be free.
Shrat said:
Well, he's just offering a service. I don't see why we should blame him. I'm the kind of hacker interested in tweaking my phone. I'm sure other people don't care.
In other field (cooking for example), I'm sure I'd be considered as a lazy bastard. I bet many people around here are in the exact same situation.
In economics, we call that preferences and we take those as data, we don't judge them. Let them be free.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The problem is he is making money off of work that is not his. This right here is the main reason developers are starting to keep things to themselfs and select freinds and not releasing it to the public.
Guys when you see something like this just report it to the site.
Meh...as long as they offer a legit service, why not?
How many times a day do you pay someone else to do something for you?
Sent from my MB865 using XDA App
I wonder how Stallman would answer to that...
Sent from my Nexus S using XDA App
This is pretty much the same as people paying to get their PSPs, DSes, PS3s, Xboxes or anything else, hacked/modified. He's not selling the mods and roms, he's just selling his service. I feel that it's okay.
This reminds me of people who sell instructions with rooting tools or xbox, wii, psp mod files that they have found online for free but this guy isn't actually selling the free software he made sure he mentioned you are buying his services which would be rooting and hooking up the phones for lazy asses who don't want to take the few extra minutes to google the stuff they need (which I think is half the fun; getting to know about my phone and seeing it do stuff that the manufacturer says can't be done...) but anyway it's their money if they want to pay for something that can be easily done I guess that's on them. BUT I would think better of the seller if these tools he is using were developed by him instead of using the tools that other developers had put alot of time and work into and the developers themselves give it away because that's what they love to do and aren't getting a dime for all of the work they've done and then the help they freely give when answering our questions over and over for people like him to turn around and profit off of their hard work that they aren't even profiting off of. It makes me so grateful that most people are not like this seller. He really is profiting off of other people's hard work that he got for free which is totally greedy and all of that kind of stuff.
Thank you to all of our devs who put alot of time into helping us make our phones beyond awsome!
I was thinking of sending him a message and ask him which rom and tools does he use or if would he use or a screenshot for a specific phone just to be nosy.
People make money off others hard work every day. It's called Capitalism.
Don't hate because this guy is making money off of others ignorance.
dk-v1 said:
People make money off others hard work every day. It's called Capitalism.
Don't hate because this guy is making money off of others ignorance.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah well it doesn't fly here. You use the work of others and charge for it and things happen. One should never steal a hackers work lol
And a great example of why some of the greatest mods are no longer posted publicly and only shared privately between trusted developers.
As far as I know, developers usually allow such uses. I'm sure they are well aware of the possibilties offered by their licences. I personnaly use a BSD licence for most of my programs and encourage those behaviors.
Sent from my Nexus S using XDA App
zelendel said:
Yeah well it doesn't fly here. You use the work of others and charge for it and things happen.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
When your car breaks down, do you bring it to a mechanic?
Sent from my MB865
dk-v1 said:
When your car breaks down, do you bring it to a mechanic?
Sent from my MB865
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No I don't personally. There is a big difference. They are not using someone else hardworking that is given away for free. There are rules you agree to when you join the site. And that includes asking to use the work of others. And no developer will allow someone to make money off of a tool they give away for free
the ONLY way i could see what he is doing as ok is if he was donating a portion of the profits to the devs of the work he uses.
zelendel said:
And no developer will allow someone to make money off of a tool they give away for free
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This is just wrong. You should learn what free software is (not as in free beer but as in free speech).
Sent from my Nexus S using XDA App
Shrat said:
This is just wrong. You should learn what free software is (not as in free beer but as in free speech).
Sent from my Nexus S using XDA App
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I know what it means. Been doing this for many years. You should learn what respect is. That is what developers deserve and it is not given when you steal their free software to charge for.
In the end this has been covered many times. If someone is charging for the work of others then report them and they will be banned from here. As for other sites just report them as these devices are released with free licences charging for them is illegal.
Thread closed
Hi
Does anyone know any good ways to make money online / (get a job) ?
Any help will be appreciated
Yup. Drop shipping. I've done it myself and you can earn a lot of money, but it's HARD work! If you're smart like me (just kidding) you can do it without using a single penny.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Drop_shipping
Another way is to start your own company. Find something your good at (web design, IT, graphics, programming, even physical stuff like sewing) and sell it online. It's slow (trust me I'm doing it right now). But once it picks up you will make good money.
Another option is writing for blogs. Sites like about.com pay up to $500/month. Not a whole lot but that + another job is pretty nice
When you say Another way is to start your own company can you suggest any free or good companies to get the website up?
Also when you say I could blogs can you suggest any good sites?
Thanks for the replies
You could always develop ROM-s. Doing something useful for the community and getting some money through donations. It's not an easy way to get rich, though
Please use the Q&A Forum for questions &
Read the Forum Rules Ref Posting
Moving to Q&A
You can offer simple services on Fiverr for about $5 each.
Also, you can start promoting clickbank campaigns through a blog, website, ect..
Become a picker and sell on ebay
Sent from my HTC_A510c using XDA App
SHOGUNRISK said:
When you say Another way is to start your own company can you suggest any free or good companies to get the website up?
Also when you say I could blogs can you suggest any good sites?
Thanks for the replies
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Do you mean hosting and stuff? Or design? Free hosting is easy, domains are never free, and free design is normally crappy.
I don't want to start advertising for companies on the forums and have the thread closed so PM if you want some links to some good places to start.
As for blogs. Goolge's own Blogger will give you a free blog, If you like tech you can volunteer to write for techalertsupport (good way to get your name out there), YouTube is a great place to - setup a channel for reviews and the sort. I started one and it's not even overly active but once I started putting Ad's on it I actually make some decent money from it.
I would suggest trying different things and going with the one you like the best. I tried focusing on one thing from the beginning and that was a mistake. It didn't take off and I had to go start something else all from scratch. If you start a blog, YouTube Channel, and Small Company (like Design for example), you can always drop the ones that aren't making any money.
As far as a company goes I don't know what the laws are in you country, but in Canada you can start a company with no license as long as it's under you name and not a company name.
Another good place to advertise is craigslist and Kijiji. I get most of my clients from there, and it's free to use.
---------- Post added at 03:02 PM ---------- Previous post was at 02:58 PM ----------
Android311 said:
Become a picker and sell on ebay
Sent from my HTC_A510c using XDA App
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Or if you know how to bid well you can get stuff ON ebay for cheap and sell it for profit ON ebay I know someone that did this, worked pretty well for them.
Youtube videos are also a great way to make money, as you're bound to get views. And money comes from advertising Google ads - you'll need an Adsense account to do so.
Yes that's true!
Sent from my HTC_A510c using XDA App
I should correct my earlier post a bit: You CAN get a free domain if you are in Canada. A bunch of companies (Rogers, Google, some others) came together to help small businesses. Their site is www.gybo.ca. I forgot all about it, but it's what I used for my site
The internet is full of money. I personally flash cdma phones to diff carriers for a living. We root rom ect ect.
Sent From Space Using My ICS Flavored Sensation
Wow that's pretty cool! Since you mention that, is it possible to use a sprint phone on virgin mobile network?
Sent from my HTC_A510c using XDA App
Hey Shogunrisk!
First you have to read some articles and decide whether what kind of style for you to earn as much as possible. Here's a hint and of course, this is tested and still working but it's for you to find out and why don't you try it. And here's the article that helps me a lot! www.yourtopreview.com
It sure is
Android311 said:
Wow that's pretty cool! Since you mention that, is it possible to use a sprint phone on virgin mobile network?
Sent from my HTC_A510c using XDA App
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Sent From Space Using My ICS Flavored Sensation
I just need to vent. I'm a fairly active developer for the android platform. I've created a number of kernel patches and applications that I have released at no charge to the community for about 10 or so devices.
All this I do in my "spare time", which I have very little of because I am a full time professional student who takes on 32 credit hour semesters.
Recently, since my 1994 geo prizm is literally falling apart and I was hoping to scrounge together a little bit of money to get a new car so I don't end up stranded on my way to class, I decided to release a paid application. Fastcharge / Force AC toggle which allows you to toggle on and off the force AC feature. A feature which I have personally implemented and released source patches for on a number of devices.
Not only in every thread where I released the patch on a device did I write up how to toggle the feature through the command line, but I also stated that I also implemented a toggle into my completely free application that you can also download from the market, IncrediControl.
In good faith and knowing how annoying licensing is, I elected to not include licensing in my application. This is a huge regret.
Within a couple days of releasing the application to the market I googled it to see if anyone was talking about it. One of the first links was to a piracy site where a user was requesting the widget, to which another user obliged and posted the apk to a filesharing site. Doing something I never though I would have to do, I filed a DMCA takedown request, which was answered quickly and the app was taken down. Monitoring the thread, every single time a link gets taken down, another user requests the app and the original user reuploads it, most recently to 11 different sites.
So now, after filing dozens of takedown requests. This user has decided to unzip my apk, change out the artwork, and now is going around releasing it as his own work.
Really, all this to avoid paying $1.50 (only ~$1 of it actually going to me) to an individual whose yearly income is low enough that he doesn't have to file taxes?
This disgusts me.
This is even worse than the 50% "order cancellation rate" that the widget has. I'm not stupid, I know exactly what users are doing, but yet initially I was willing to ignore it. But this has gone too far.
What is even the point of pissing off a developer so much that he is considering saying screw the platform all together? It doesn't even make sense. We, the developers improve your devices, generally at little or no cost, and this is how we're repaid. With ~50% of current users of the application having pirated it. To avoid paying just over $1.
Now before someone even counters with the "my area doesn't support paid applications" argument I've actually gladly GIVEN the widget away to a number of users who casually mentioned in the release threads that they couldn't download it for this reason. Not to mention, everyone knows there are apps that unlock the market in these areas to be able to purchase apps.
How much more generous can a developer be than to provide source code patches for a feature, provide information on how to toggle the feature, provide a COMPLETELY FREE way to toggle the feature, and then charge a measly $1.50 for a secondary, slightly more convenient way to toggle.
Yet he's repaid like this .
Of course, this must suck for a developer like you. Unfortunately, it seems to happen more and more often, and all I can really say is:
I would gladly pay a few bucks for an application like IC or BootManager. That BootManager seemed really interesting, but we can't buy apps from the Play Store without CC (and as a 16-year old, I don't have one). I asked the developer if he accepted Paypal, but he didn't.
Don't get me wrong, and this is not an attack to you personally: developers, if you made something really nice, and people will like it, 70% of the people will gladly pay for it, just make sure you allow them to.
Chaosz-X said:
70% of the people will gladly pay for it, just make sure you allow them to.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I honestly thought this was the case. It's really not. The problem is much worse than that. If 70% of users in the root community paid for apps it would be astonishing. Its made pretty clear by the number of users who download the app, back it up and then cancel the order.
If a 16 year old kid had made me that offer, the e-mail reply I sent would have the apk attached.
Well, that is a real flaw of Android: tweakability is really impressing, but these things make it really difficult to earn some money as a developer.
We have been thinking about anti-piracy measures as well, with stuff such as authentication with a server, and locking down the code and verifying integrity of APKs and stuff to make sure it's really hard to mess with the code, but it's just sad that there's a need for these measures..
The trouble is everything has piracy right from movies to game consoles through to mobiles and music.
I mean the iPhones appstore would be a hell of a lot bigger if there was no jailbreaking and installous.
Every platform has been cracked so you'll get it regardless of what you develop for.
Sent from my HTC Desire using XDA
I think you know you just needed to vent but can I change your picture.
There are some people in this world who just don't buy the idea of an idea as property. That's not compatible with this business model. That's the first problem.
The next problem is that
there's a million and one apps out there and which one are we going to choose? Where does it start, where does it end? We all have our limits. What's yours?
For me, the app has to be something very unique and possible generate me cash. For example something I use every day at work. If it's something that the phone should do anyway I tend to skip it and save the $1 for the next phone that does it out of the box. Your app is a great thing, but there's many utility apps out there. It just doesn't fall into the kind of thing I'd cave my strict budgeting for. There are people here with a 1000 apps installed and you expect them to pay $1000 in this sense.
Another way would be having utility in the cloud and then the app is free. Another one of course, advertising.
The difference with both of these is we don't need to risk a credit card with the market. That's the main reason I personally haven't bought many apps and I'd imagine it's a problem for minors too.
The very community that allowed us to create the app fails to pay for it's products is like life itself.
I'd say make something for the iphone instead because there's more profit there but that would never have been possible, see what I'm saying? That's the 3rd problem.
So you've got 3 problems there all converging into one big push towards piracy. But remember, can your app assure security that the pirated version cannot for example? This is how one has to think.
In short,
you can't do something and hope to make a bit from it on the side. You got to go out from the start and get the money aspect central from the start. I mean, that's business and of course that's exactly what the android community works hard to free us from.
Still, summarising those 3 points for suggestion:
- offer something free things can't (i.e. security, brand etc) For example, I never run pirated stuff for fear of insecurity on my data whereas I'll try out software that way on an old PC
- can always put a service in the cloud aka the javascript trap
- iphone is there if you want...
- needs to "the one app" a certain person would pay for, not something everyone likes
Also just to make that point again, if one does not believe in property then inconveniently there is no moral crime here. I suggest learn to live with this and go with the flow
I hope google sells PlayStore cards (like itunes cards) that allows user to buy apps, music, movies, books without a credit card. I really want to buy some amazing apps but i dont have a credit card so i just use free apps. I think that if u cant buy an app that cant be a reason to piracy or sidedownload that app.
jago25_98 said:
For me, the app has to be something very unique and possible generate me cash. For example something I use every day at work. If it's something that the phone should do anyway I tend to skip it and save the $1 for the next phone that does it out of the box. Your app is a great thing, but there's many utility apps out there. It just doesn't fall into the kind of thing I'd cave my strict budgeting for. There are people here with a 1000 apps installed and you expect them to pay $1000 in this sense.
Another way would be having utility in the cloud and then the app is free. Another one of course, advertising.
The difference with both of these is we don't need to risk a credit card with the market. That's the main reason I personally haven't bought many apps and I'd imagine it's a problem for minors too.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The feature is 100% unique and so is the widget. Not to mention, if you didn't want to pay the $1, I provided a free way to toggle the feature in the utility app. The point is, that there is nothing forcing people to pay for the widget to use the feature. But instead of using the free option provided, they not only pirate the paid app, but edit the artwork and release it for free as their own. It defies logic.
Also, ad based apps don't work with the rooted community. I learned that early on. Myfree utility app is ad supported. With over 40,000 installs you would think it would make even a dollar a day. Nope, makes nearly nothing. That's when I realized that the same niche I was marketing to are the same people who block ads. Even if someone didn't want to block ads, they can't install a single ROM that doesn't include an ad blocking hosts file out of the box.
chad0989 said:
[...] How much more generous can a developer be than to provide source code patches for a feature, provide information on how to toggle the feature, provide a COMPLETELY FREE way to toggle the feature, and then charge a measly $1.50 for a secondary, slightly more convenient way to toggle.
Yet he's repaid like this .
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Be sure you're looking at all sides. Yes, you're in a losing war with guys intent on pirating your app. You can't stop them, and well, you goofed on the licensing, so someone will no doubt release the clone.
First of all, don't do the Big Media thing and assume that everybody that pirates your app would have paid for it if it hadn't been available. A lot of folks collect, or just try something once. You'll only work yourself into a funk thinking about all that money you "would" have if only they hadn't been able to pirate it. They wouldn't have. At least not all of them.
More importantly, be aware that placing something out there with value does reach folks that otherwise would have no idea of you or your plight. More than once, I've purchased an app that I don't really need, but found clever and cheap enough I can buy it without thinking about the investment. I've spent more on Android software at $1-15 over the last year than I did over the last 25+ at $30-100 a pop. I've only refunded an app once, by accident.
Finally, be up front about your situation. A guy trying to make do does influence my impulse buying. So does his reputation. If you're doing a lot, be sure that's clear on your app page, and let us know clearly you're the guy that also brought us whatever.
I am curious, though: How much did you actually bring in?
Chad- thanks for telling your story, I agree that you have every right to be disappointed. Especially the buying and refunding, that to me send almost worse because you can't stop dedicated pirating, but I would have hoped the rest would have bought the app.
It's easy to forget the human side of development, so thanks for sharing your side.
Jesus christ Chad. This is f$%&*#@ ridiculous. Probably the best and most generous kernel dev I have ever come into contact with, and people are cheating you out of 1.50. Please don't abandon Android. I need kernels when I get my rezound! but in all seriousness, warez needs to stop.
Sent from my ADR6400L
Yep. Sucks. After getting serious about android , which wasn't too far in, joining with a nexus one and seeing all the free HARD work we get, I definitely try buying stuff I use. If I can't pay sometimes I will see if dev does something else I can donate to. Its an issue I've thought about and part of it really boils down to how sorry people are in general. They want free and cheap. $1 is laughable even when it can be easily had for free. You really should market yourself a bit even though you don't want to. And people should really put a complimentary $5 or so budget a month or more and try to support devs. Maybe if you have something he gave free but has an app you won't use for a buck, buy the dollar app and uninstall after the 15 minute period. Or throw him a 5 through PayPal or something. Its simple really. If these devs don't have to resort to ramen and water they keep dev'ing especially for the community supporting him or her. And if they're eating vegetables and have plenty of red bull money it gives them wings. Otoh, the devs that make us pay to reinstall an app after we bought it on another or lost our phone suck. Balls. Won't buys theirs anymore.
teach a man to fish, you feed him for life. teach a man to fastboot, and you create competency. and less threads on xda.
Maybe you should implement a system like some developers do where you download the app for free with a time limited trail, then they would go to another website to pay for the app to unlock it, and the unlock codes would be unique for every user which would minimize piracy.
Sent from my GT-N7000 Samsung Galaxy Note "Go big or go home" using XDA app
rafa6571 said:
I hope google sells PlayStore cards (like itunes cards) that allows user to buy apps, music, movies, books without a credit card. I really want to buy some amazing apps but i dont have a credit card so i just use free apps. I think that if u cant buy an app that cant be a reason to piracy or sidedownload that app.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
In the Netherlands we have prepaid Visa card.
Works well.
Maybe you google something similar in your own country.
(3V prepaid Visa cards)
That does suck but if someone wants to pirate an app even licencing doesn't stop them as there is an app that apparently patches licence checks.
It is so easy for even a non root and new user to find cracked apps, I have seen links on here and even on peoples facebook sites, it's got to the point where people can just browse a webpage and click a link to get the cracked version of an app.
Unfortunately if someone wants to crack it they can. Unless you could implement your own security check somehow, something obfuscated in the code, licencing is the only alternative as it would stop people using backed up cancelled versions at least.
Unfortunately it seems a lot of people just don't want to pay for apps.
Dave
Sent from my LG P920 using Tapatalk
also have to look at both sides. some people just refuse to pay for **** whatever it is, or get it as cheaply as they can. being android apps, the free route is how they're going to go. but the other side, you hsould be grateful for all the people that do pay. they're the ones helping keeping google, open source, android and everything in between chugging along. open source is the future and you can tell every corporation i said that. and thanks for you your work even though i've never used it.
jago25_98 said:
...
Also just to make that point again, if one does not believe in property then inconveniently there is no moral crime here. I suggest learn to live with this and go with the flow
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
There is plenty to disagree with in your post as it all seems like an attempt at rationalizing ways to get around the system. This last statement is a ridiculous attempt at summarizing why stealing is OK. Your morals don't define the crime, the law does. Stealing property, physical or intellectual, is not legal and not right regardless of your morals or lack of.
Chad,
I am sorry to hear of your products' abuse. I used your kernels all the time on my Incredible devices and bought IncrediControl to support development. I have purchased many applications just to support development and believe that is the way to get high quality applications.
Piracy is just so damn easy on Android. I know ppl that are doing it who I wouldn't even expect to be doing such a thing. This guy I know love android only because he can get everything free by just googling the apk.
awww thats sad i feel really bad for you!
I've used pre paid visa debit cards to buy apps. You can find them in Any money shop like Cheque cashing places for example. You can even just stick a dicky diver (£5) on them. Perfect for situations like this
Sent from my GT-I9100 using xda premium