App Monetization Disclaimer

[Foxtrek64]

This is stemming from discussion in the Matrix room, but I'm making this issue to help collect thoughts.

It is generally agreed, for transparency's sake, that a disclaimer should be displayed to allow users to be aware of how an app is monetized, if at all. I would like to propose a few labels. This issue does not serve to describe the UI design for these features, only the labels themselves and their purpose.

Overall, I see these five categories:

• Free (no monetary transactions)
• Ad Supported
• Accepts Donations (Badges, themes, skins, etc. are allowed. No functional changes) (Example: Aegis)
• Freemium (Free tier, paying for app changes functionality) (Example: Bitwarden)
• Paid (Requires a paid license to use the app) (Example: Threema)

If an app would like to extrapolate on why it exists in a particular category, for instance a Freemium app that is free for individuals but requires a license for groups or enterprise users, can do so in their description or direct people to their information or pricing page.

Concerns:

Enforcement
Especially early on, I feel the best path here may be simply to allow developers to self-report, perhaps by making a dropdown or a set of radio buttons from which they can select their monetization category. Platform moderators should also have the ability to force a selection and prevent it from being changed by the developer.

Level of Detail
There is some discussion to be had about how much detail is needed. I feel displaying one of these five tags strikes a good balance between practicality and need-to-know information, especially since a lot of this information is not available with a cursory look at the app's info page. While I agree that a person should go to the app's website or github/gitlab repo and seek out more information, things like whether an app displays ads or if it requires a subscription to even use may not be that apparent at first glance. Threema, for instance, is not at all up front about their service being paid, how much it costs, or even how to buy just by looking at their home page.

Additional Information
Additional information should be available when selecting an app monetization category as well as to the end user seeking to download the app. This should help disambiguate what each of the tiers entail, help developers choose the right category for apps, and assist end users in making an educated decision. That said, as pointed out by others, it's not Accrescent's job to do the thinking for the end user, but providing information to guide them in their decision is something that is within our scope.

Edge Cases
Discussion should be had on how to handle these and other edge cases:

• Timed free trial (apps which are free to use for X days then require payment) - Paid tier?
• Limited free trial (apps which are free to use forever, but whose feature sets are limited) - Freemium tier?
  • Maliciously limited free trials, where the app is severely limited or appears to almost punish users for not paying, should probably be reported by end users and subsequently removed from the platform or marked as paid and restrict the ability of the app owner to change it.
• Free app, paid service (e.g. Threema). Freemium/Paid tier as appropriate?