You get a lot of organic installs from Google Play Store, and almost none from alternative stores like Huawei or Amazon Store.

This is because it is where there is the traffic.

Not all stores are created equal.

If you use non Play Store stores on a device with the Play Store you will get a lot more prompts constantly reminding you of how unsafe it is and how comfy and warm it was back on the Play Store.

Google are damned if they do and damned if they don’t on that, but it is deserved, they have burned so much goodwill in the Android space.

> If you use non Play Store stores on a device with the Play Store you will get a lot more prompts constantly reminding you of how unsafe it is and how comfy and warm it was back on the Play Store.

I am an F-Droid user, and I have only ever seen this a single time, when I first enabled sideloading in a pop-up. Maybe it's only a Samsung thing, but I have never gotten a Play Store nag related to third-party software stores in my life.

Can confirm, only issue to me sometimes is managing updates.

Do those fdroid installed apps auto update?

As of v1.19 and Android 12, yes. That's not a nag regardless.

So that change was in February 2024 and only for Android 12 and above which is <50% of the Android market.

If you don't believe this is deliberate nagging I don't know what to tell you.

I used iOS before Android, I know what nags look like.

Many do these days, actually.

Ask Epic Games. The short answer is that you will not make very much money from your Android app if it isn't in Google's store.

That's because everyone is using the google store. If a critical mass of software moved to an <alternative store>, maybe even become cheaper (because that store only takes 20% instead of 30%), people would switch.

It's like chat applications... if most of your friends are using MSN messenger, you'll be using it too... if most of them also use icq, and it's cheaper than MSN, and it also has two more friends that don't use MSN, you'll switch to icq.

Users have basically no reason to move over because they have no problems with the play store. Apps only move over for their own business reasons like saving on fees or avoiding privacy restrictions.

...or avoiding google fees for in app purchases.

...or avoiding freedom of speech limitations (telegram).

etc.

The problem is, that you now have to go to that services' site, download the apk there and then get promptet "an update is available", download, install, etc., with the benefits of a package management system. You have alternative stores like f-droid, but there are almost no apps there, that would make "normal users" install it... for now. Same for others.

The fees can be avoided by making the subscription on the web ui and then continuing to use the main app.

The speech restrictions maybe have some merit, but right now Telegram basically only restricts extreme hate speech / borderline terrorist content to mobile users. The majority of users don’t care to access this anyway.

Telegram restricts a lot of stuff on the play store version, be it piracy related or just basic news from eg. russian sources or any other country that the EU/US/google doesn't like. App downloaded directly from telegram.org doesn't have such limitations. Considering the pressures from EU, I guess they'll have to censor that too relatively soon... maybe even everything pro-trump. Sometimes you want other news sources than the bbc/cnn.

Which actually violates Google Play terms of service, and runs the risk of having your account and your apps permanently delisted.

I ended up converting links to my Github sponsorship page to a page that accepts donations through Google Play over concerns about exactly this.

you need a store where the cost to use it in parallel is so low that companies are willing to take the chance.

One of those costs imposters and bad players using the alternative store.

I would settle for apps proving the files for sideloading on their website, and the vast majority wont even do that.

I've tried a couple of alternate stores, including Amazon's store. Absolutely zero revenue. And insane amounts of paperwork.