Simple Mobile Tools bought by ZipoApps? · Issue #241 · SimpleMobileTools/General-Discussion
github.com
https://www.reddit.com/r/SimpleMobileTools/comments/187w64x/simple_mobile_tools_bought_by_zipoapps/
    • jherazob@beehaw.orgEnglish
      2·
      1 year ago

      The new organization is at https://github.com/FossifyX. For now all the apps have updates disabled, i’m quite open to alternatives for all EXCEPT Gallery, so i hope the fork goes well, at least from the discussions it looks like it’s off to a decent start.

      Of note, the apps on FDroid are still uncrapped so you can still take them from there.

  • noodlejetski
    45·
    1 year ago

    oh man, it’s the QuickPic fiasco all over again. at least this time the apps can be forked by someone.

    • BearOfaTime
      1·
      1 year ago

      I don’t even use SM apps (I’ve tried a few and they’re great for simple, straightforward, no-BS, functional apps), and I’m very glad to hear there’s already a fork.

    • twei@feddit.de
      6·
      1 year ago

      Dumb question because I’m not fluent in License-Lore: which license would be best at preventing others (or me from the future) from selling / closing down the licensed work? Would it be GPL, AGPL, MPL, something else?

      • brie@beehaw.org
        4·
        1 year ago

        Obligatorily: I am not a lawyer, and license law is complicated.

        MPL wouldn’t be the best choice, since it is per-file. GPL is copyleft and viral, meaning that if you make a modification and distribute the software, you must provide your modified source code under the GPL. AGPL is stricter in terms of when source code must be released; primarily it targets server software where the user interacts with the software, but does not actually download the software itself. The GPL wouldn’t require releasing source code, but the AGPL would.

        As skullgiver mentioned, if you want to relicense, it would be best to use a CLA. The key to preventing yourself from being able to relicense your project (to a proprietary license or otherwise) is to ensure that other people are licensing their contributions to you under the GPL, without a CLA giving you exceptions, so that you yourself must follow their licensing terms. The Linux kernel for example is locked into the GPLv2, because they used a version of the GPL that does not provide for “upgrading” to newer versions of the GPL, and there are too many people who have contributed to the code to get all together to agree on a relicensing.

        • twei@feddit.de
          1·
          1 year ago

          Thanks for the response. Seems like I made a good choice by going with the AGPL

  • Pantherina@feddit.de
    13·
    1 year ago

    So this just looks like the Community has to take care of the projects and/or find alternatives

    Alternatives

    File manager - Material Files

    That one doesnt have the security vulnerability and I think it is also better. But they are pretty much equal.

    Simple Gallery - Aves

    I prefer Simple Gallery though, it is pretty great

    Simple dialer - Welefon

    Very basic, I personally use ACR phone for call recording, with disabled internet permissions. The Dev asked on Reddit about opensourcing the App and got negative responses, so maybe unlikely.

    Simple Keyboard - Florisboard

    Currently unmaintained but awesome. I hope it gets revived.

    Simple Calculator

    My favourite: Mint Calculator

    Calculator

    yetCalc

    Unitto

    Simple SMS

    AOSP SMS/MMS, Quik Sms

    Deku SMS supports encryption. This is not a replacement for secure messengers, metadata is still a mess, but it is pretty cool.

    AOSP SMS is poorly hard to find. That would be great on F-Droid. It also uses old libraries.

    All these look way better and have unit transformations.

    Some Gems

    Some apps have no good replacement

    Simple Gallery

    Also in my opinion just the best. The Amaze Videoplayer and tools are great though.

    Simple Contacts SE

    That is the better version with some enhanced features.

    Simple Calendar

    I just got way better results than using Etar. The Widget is great too.

    • DeltaTangoLima@reddrefuge.comEnglish
      6·
      1 year ago

      Lucky you - you have the latest and greatest of these specific apps. Now, depending on how you installed them, go ahead and disable any automatic updating.

      Then, just keep an eye on the forked versions in Github, which were created by another dev who worked very closely on the Simple Mobile Tools.

      Eventually there’ll be new releases that you can install via Obtainium or F-droid. All the main SMT apps had settings export/import capability, so I imagine you’ll be able to bring your settings across to the forked versions too.

      Bit of short term pain to change over, but not all is lost.

      • kratoz29English
        1·
        1 year ago

        Now, depending on how you installed them, go ahead and disable any automatic updating.

        I only have the Simple File Manager Pro installed from F-droid? What should I do next?

        • DeltaTangoLima@reddrefuge.comEnglish
          2·
          1 year ago

          Honestly, I can’t recall. I uninstalled F-droid a while back, as I use Obtainium. Have a look around the F-droid page for the app you have installed. There should be a setting somewhere to prevent that app from being automatically updated, maybe to just notify you there’s an update ready.

          That said, you’ll probably be OK if you installed via F-droid, as they have pretty good policies on preventing spammy apps or apps that mine user data.

          I’m more concerned for those people that installed via the Play store and are unaware of this change - they’ll probably automatically get the newer, shittier versions without even realising it. This is the community’s biggest concern about the way this particular dev has sold out their userbase like this.