I would probably not even have an online or digital presence at all without the people that take their time to develop free and open source software, especially so for smartphones. The only proprietary apps on my phone are parts of the operating system (Google’s part of the Android code base), the Google Play Store and my government issued electronic identification app. Everything else that I actively use and interact with is installed directly from GitHub, GitLab, Codeberg and other repositories through Obtainium. Some of these apps have been so groundbreaking and essential to me even being able to use my smartphone at all that I feel like I’d like to contribute financially. But if I went with that sentiment, I’d have to pay all the devs of all the apps. Do you have any advice on how to choose and how much I should pay without the amount being meaningless, if there even is such a thing?

My “emotional listing” of the apps whose devs I’d like to contribute to, in order of how essential they are to my digital life:

  • Magisk - the only reason I have been able to use Samsung’s smartphones for some years now, while not fully degoogling buy “simply” ditching them for a Google Pixel and installing Graphene OS.
  • AFWall+ - same reason as above, because it makes it possible block internet accesses to user and system apps whose removal would ruin the system by causing bootloops, freezes or other malfunctions.
  • App Manager - same reason as above, because it makes it possible to uninstall user and system apps or at the very least disable their internal trackers, operations and permissions that are otherwise not modifiable through the settings provided by Samsung.
  • KeePassDX - because it possible for me to have a unique, 30 character+ (as an example) password for every single system, instance and service that requires a password, thus significantly simplifying managing online hygiene and take off some of the stress of maintaining good opsec (at least with my threat model).
  • VPN Hotpost - because it make it possible to tether my VPN interface, which is otherwise bypassed even when connected to a VPN on the tethering device. I can share my smartphone’s VPN connection!

These are just a few that provide the absolute basic functionality that I need. Others that I’d contribute to if I was a millionarie are, among others (NOT an exhaustive list!!!): Authnkey, LocalSend, URLCheck, Heliboard, Termux, SDMaid, IronFox, NewPipe.

And now, to the monetary aspect. Would it be “shameful” to monthly give each dev/project of the former “emotional listing” something between $1-5? $5-10?

Or, if you have a completely different standpoint on monetary contribution, or happen to have other ideas on how to choose whom to support, please do share! 😊

I will not be reacting to unsolicited advice or questions on why I’m not moving to Graphene OS. 😊