Breaking Up with Google Play: Why Conversations Is Going Free and Open Source

Overview

Daniel Gultsch, the developer behind the well-known XMPP messaging app Conversations, has announced that he will no longer distribute the app through the Google Play Store as a paid application — instead, it will be offered for free. The post, published on gultsch.de, garnered 314 upvotes and 121 comments on Hacker News, sparking widespread discussion in the developer community about Google Play's policies and the independent app ecosystem.

Conversations is one of the oldest and most respected open-source XMPP clients on Android. It has long followed a pragmatic business model: the app is open source, but sold as a paid app on Google Play to support ongoing development. The developer's decision to walk away from that channel reflects the real-world pressures that Google Play's evolving policies place on independent developers.

XMPP (Extensible Messaging and Presence Protocol) is an open, XML-based instant messaging protocol born in 1999 and standardized by the IETF. Unlike closed platforms such as WhatsApp or WeChat, XMPP uses a federated architecture — anyone can run their own server, and users on different servers can communicate with each other, much like email. Conversations has been in active development since 2014 and is widely credited with bringing XMPP into the modern mobile era, supporting end-to-end encryption (OMEMO), audio/video calls, and more. It has a loyal following among privacy-conscious users and in European markets.

The Pressure of Google Play's Policies

In recent years, Google has imposed increasingly strict compliance requirements on Play Store developer accounts. Among the most controversial is the requirement for developers to verify their real identities and make personal information public — including a tightening of real-name and address verification processes that now apply to independent developers as well. For a developer whose product is fundamentally about privacy, these requirements are in direct conflict with the project's core values.

Beyond identity verification, Google Play continuously updates its requirements around target API levels, privacy policy disclosures, and account maintenance fees. For large companies, these are routine compliance costs. For open-source projects maintained by a single person or a small team, they represent a disproportionate burden. When the time and energy required to maintain a distribution channel outweigh the benefits it provides, walking away becomes the rational choice.

Starting in 2023, Google progressively required individual developers to submit and publicly display their real names and addresses in Play Store developer accounts, dramatically narrowing the space previously available for anonymous or pseudonymous operation. Google Play also charges a one-time $25 registration fee and requires apps to target the latest Android API levels (targetSdkVersion) — otherwise new users on new devices cannot install the app. For a solo-maintained open-source project, updating to a new API alone can take weeks of engineering effort that has nothing to do with feature development and is purely a platform compliance cost.

What Going Free Actually Means

Conversations choosing to offer the app for free does not mean abandoning sustainability altogether. Users can still obtain the app through other channels — such as the open-source app store F-Droid or developer-hosted distribution. For open-source software, the code has always been publicly available; Google Play was primarily a convenient gateway to reach mainstream users.

The core logic of this shift is decoupling: rather than continuing to maintain a distribution channel that brings rising compliance costs and conflicts with the project's values, it makes more sense to let it go. The free model lowers the barrier for users to access the app while freeing the developer from the policy constraints of the Play Store. This aligns with the broader trend of open-source projects moving toward donations, sponsorships, and other voluntary support models.

F-Droid is an open-source app repository designed for Android — completely free and requiring no Google account. It compiles apps directly from source code and audits for reproducible builds and license compliance, ensuring that the binaries users receive match the publicly available source. Conversations has long offered a free version on F-Droid, so a significant portion of its user base already installs through this channel. Android natively supports sideloading — installing APK files directly without going through any app store — a feature not available on iOS. This means developers can maintain a viable distribution path even without Google Play entirely.

The Ongoing Tension Between Independent Developers and Platforms

This situation is yet another example of the long-standing tension between independent developers and platform giants. App stores provide distribution convenience, but they also exercise strong control over developers through their policies. The lively Hacker News discussion shows that many developers share the frustration over Google Play's increasingly burdensome compliance requirements.

What's notable is that Conversations — a mature project with an established user base — chose to actively exit rather than passively comply. This sends a clear signal: for values-driven open-source projects, platforms are not irreplaceable. The maturity of alternative distribution channels like F-Droid, combined with Android's openness to sideloading, provides a real fallback. This is one of Android's meaningful advantages over more closed platforms.

Implications for the XMPP Ecosystem and Open-Source Community

Conversations plays a benchmark role in the XMPP ecosystem — its mobile experience has been instrumental in making XMPP viable for modern instant messaging. Its change in distribution strategy may prompt more projects built on decentralized protocols to rethink their own business models.

For the broader open-source community, this case raises a question worth reflecting on: as mainstream app store policies increasingly diverge from the spirit of open source, how should independent developers balance user reach with staying true to their principles? A model of free access plus voluntary community support — distributed through community-driven channels — may be becoming an increasingly recognized answer. Conversations' choice offers a concrete reference point for others who come after.