doesnt WhatsApp have no ads and no stealing data? And they published the app anyways..
WA They raised money from investors who liked the idea
as a Buissnes venture (that usually means profit)
WhatsApps creators got pretty wealthy from it.
Many complained why would FB buy it if it cant be monetized? The plan all along was to grow its user base then cover costs and eventually turn a profit.
(1st year free then 1$ annually which fully covered all costs per user. 1$ per user acquisition is very cheap in tech)
Eventually FB monetized WA by 1) Collecting valuable data. Yes stealing data. 2) charging business accounts and super pricey to use API.
(Facebook can show you ads based on WA even if you never go to Facebook.com. they implement ads on many sites you'd never guess.
F-droid appstore has a lot of end user apps, open source.
There are some things there that remind me of a hacked WhatsApp.
Like an ads silencer for Spotify, YouTube player that lets you put it in the background and no ads...
Again the motivation to do develop is:
A) Personal needs (I want to play youtube in background social mod the app)
B) Recognition (good motivation to publish)
C) Hobby (esp true for communities such as XDA
@Yo ssi If you comb F droid and XDA dont have anything blatantly illegal.
(Ie they mute the ads but they domt offer versions of spotify that spoof a premium account)
They are also not true open source. Most of those app developers would never list you use their code in your own apps.