What's this about?
Two Play Store stories the same day. Google will no longer allow AnkiDroid — a free, open-source flashcard app — to link to its Open Collective donation page. And the Play Store is blocking AuroraStore, an alternative front-end for downloading Play Store apps, which hurts GrapheneOS users who rely on it.
Why do these hit open source specifically?
Because open-source apps have no other revenue. A commercial app takes in-app payments and gives Google its cut; a donation link is what a free app has instead, and disallowing it removes the only funding route while offering no substitute. AuroraStore is the same shape one level up: on a de-Googled phone it is how you install ordinary apps at all, so blocking it does not stop piracy, it removes the app store from people who deliberately left the ecosystem.
What's the community saying?
- Both threads reached the front page the same day as the MV2 removal fallout, and the aggregate reading is unmistakable.
- The GrapheneOS angle is the sharper one — the affected users are the ones who most deliberately opted out.
- Roughly 1,300 combined points on Play Store policy in one day is a strong signal about where this audience's frustration currently sits.