Why Conversations Is Now Free and Its Author Is Breaking Up with Google Play

Daniel Gultsch, the developer of the XMPP-based Android messenger Conversations, has published a blog post on the twelve-and-a-half-year anniversary of the app's first public release. His economic dependence on Google Play is over: the app is now distributed free of charge, with F-Droid as its main channel.

Twelve and a half years, and a rent-paying store

Work on Conversations began in January 2014 in a student dormitory, and the app went public on March 24, 2014. Offering a paid, compiled version of an open-source project was an unusual model at the time.

The project became a sustainable business: since 2014 it has been Gultsch's main source of income. The mix shifted over the years, from paid development for companies to server setup and consulting to grants, but Play Store revenue was the most stable part. "I used to say that it pays my rent," he writes.

Why the relationship soured

Gultsch says his relationship with Google was never good. Updates were rejected more times than he can count for reasons he calls incomprehensible, and the app was removed from the Play Store twice. Google also once accused him of uploading users' contacts, which he says was not true.

At the time of writing he had been waiting 14 days for an update review. Review times became much worse over the past year; part of the problem, he says, is an avalanche of AI-generated slop apps. Because Google does not distinguish between feature and security updates, delays of days or weeks are, in his words, outright dangerous.

Then there is the fee: Google takes 15% of app sales, which adds up to more than 1,000 euros a year, 1.5 times what he pays for internet access. When his internet or notebook breaks, someone drives to his house and fixes it; when Google gets it wrong, nobody helps him. He calls it a toxic relationship he stayed in only out of economic dependency.

What changes now

Grants gradually became his main income: several rounds from NLnet and programmes linked to the European Commission. He says he has secure funding until the end of 2029 and expects further opportunities after that.

Conversations has always been on F-Droid, but Gultsch initially did not advertise that free option and steered users toward the paid version. He later began linking to F-Droid from the official site, and it is now the primary way the app is distributed; the F-Droid APK is built reproducibly and signed with his personal signing key.

With the economic dependence gone, the app is now free. Gultsch says Google no longer deserves him or his money, and that he is done with the gatekeepers.