Link: https://old.reddit.com/r/fossdroid/comments/1u3onk1/opinions_on_paid_foss_apps_and_grants/

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The original was posted on /r/fossdroid by /u/Nethical69 on 2026-06-12 07:41:37+00:00.

Hi, I am the creator of digipaws

I had been depending on simple donation model for the past 2 years but it keeps getting more and more difficult for me to maintain the app. Its essentially an advanced screentime tool and requires constant monitoring if all the features work well.

I haven't been posting a release on fdroid for a year now (its operating on rolling release rn) because each time i fix one bug, 3 more emerge out of thin air and 2 features stop working.

I'm a teenager, and its both economically and mentally not feasible for me to work on it without a constant flow of donations so i can put more time in the project and i receive like $30/month.

I am aware the app is mostly used by students and therefore i personally don't want to add any subscription walls nor make money out of people's desperation. I cannot even make use of any ad networks because the app fundamentally promises to never connect to the internet (project readme explains why).

Most companies won't be ready to sponser the project considering its self sabotaging nature and niche community. Its about the same for open source grants (i feel like they mostly ignore android apps).

I want to expand it further to ios and web extension but making the android app itself is consuming all my free time.

I could perhaps add a simple offline license based system but considering the open source nature, anyone would be easily able to get a free activation key from chatgpt with a simple prompt.

I genuinely have no idea what should i be doing. I am completely open to any suggestions and opinions. Thank you so much!