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Am I Being Unreasonable In Regards To A Paid App? (lazysoci.al)
submitted 5 days ago by sabreW4K3@lazysoci.al to c/askandroid
12 comments fedilink hide all child comments
 

I quite like my launcher, but unfortunately it's closed sourced and employs some unsavoury features, despite being paid, it's limited in how many devices it can be installed on and it nags users for staying on old versions.

The issue I'm having is that recently bugs have been introduced. Widgets get randomly greyed out and I need to turn off and on the screen for them to become usable again. Also the launcher keeps appearing in Android's recent apps screen.

I find both of these things frustrating and have attempted to ask a couple times about the status of the launcher. The first time I was flat out ignored and the second time I was lambasted by a community member to not ask for ETAs. I'm not sure how asking if they're still working on things is asking for an ETA, but whatever.

I bought a lifetime license and so I can't even act like I'm paying for this, but I do feel that my purchase at least entitles me to know if development is ongoing or do I have unreasonable expectations? I'm not asking for a when, just whether or not something is happening. Especially considering these bugs were only introduced when the launcher started trying to do too much and add features that should be handled by the OS rather than the launcher, namely a "usage breaker".

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[–] limerod@reddthat.com 1 points 2 days ago (1 children)

You are talking about Niagara launcher right?

The issue I'm having is that recently bugs have been introduced. Widgets get randomly greyed out and I need to turn off and on the screen for them to become usable again. Also the launcher keeps appearing in Android's recent apps screen

You can report the 1st bug. As for the 2nd bug you can also report to the devs.

Here's the new feedback page for it: https://feedback.niagaralauncher.com/

I find both of these things frustrating and have attempted to ask a couple times about the status of the launcher. The first time I was flat out ignored and the second time I was lambasted by a community member to not ask for ETAs. I'm not sure how asking if they're still working on things is asking for an ETA, but whatever.

That's against the rules because apparently they don't want people asking this question again and again since there are 1000s and more users, to avoid giving timelines and failing if certain things fail. Also, to not put pressure on the people developing it.

I bought a lifetime license and so I can't even act like I'm paying for this, but I do feel that my purchase at least entitles me to know if development is ongoing or do I have unreasonable expectations? I'm not asking for a when, just whether or not something is happening. Especially considering these bugs were only introduced when the launcher started trying to do too much and add features that should be handled by the OS rather than the launcher, namely a "usage breaker".

Yeah, usage breaker is unnecessary but it was developed as part of their Digital wellbeing initiative.

You can switch to other launchers like Kiss, Olauncher, and others. They should provide a similar experience search experience.

[–] sabreW4K3@lazysoci.al 2 points 2 days ago

You are talking about Niagara launcher right?

Indeed.

That's against the rules because apparently they don't want people asking this question again and again since there are 1000s and more users, to avoid giving timelines and failing if certain things fail. Also, to not put pressure on the people developing it.

It wouldn't even need asking if they kept to their seasonal releases or communicated that they were skipping their spring release.

[–] Theoriginalthon@lemmy.world 22 points 5 days ago

Name and shame, then move on to something else, lots of issues with "lifetime" licences, you are a paying customer and should be treated as such.

LTT had problems with a team viewer lifetime licence and had a few good videos about it.

Disclaimer: I love opensource and have a mild hatred of closed source software

[–] FartsWithAnAccent@fedia.io 12 points 5 days ago

I've been burned on "lifetime" licenses a few times and it's what's driven me to avoid the hell out of anything with a subscription or expensive paid license. Open Source wherever possible is my go-to these days because it doesn't come with any licensing bullshit, price gouging, etc. I can just use it!

[–] donuts@lemmy.world 8 points 5 days ago

A community member doesn't represent the development team. I would just politely state my question like you've done here, and ignore the community member who may have jumped to conclusions about your request.

[–] Moonrise2473@feddit.it 5 points 5 days ago (1 children)

it’s limited in how many devices it can be installed

I'm curious to know how they enforce this. Forced login to a DRM server?

There are many good launchers, and if your have such glaring bugs like appearing in the recent apps list, then it's time to change, IMHO

[–] sabreW4K3@lazysoci.al 1 points 4 days ago

Yeah, from what I can workout, it calls home and their server validates a token

[–] nimble@lemmy.blahaj.zone 7 points 5 days ago

Ignore community members. But ultimately if your requests or questions aren't heard then given it is closed source and you're a paying customer then i would leave a bad review or update an existing review. Obviously if it's open source then i wouldn't recommend that route but for closed source they already have your money so the only way to make them care is with reviews.

Tldr i think you've been quite reasonable but don't afraid to leave bad reviews for closed source apps that have your money and who are ignoring you

[–] Bort@hilariouschaos.com 4 points 5 days ago (1 children)

Ah, there it is. Lifetime license. They have no incentive to maintain the app.

[–] Reddfugee42@lemmy.world 5 points 5 days ago (1 children)

We used to just call that "buying it"

[–] Bort@hilariouschaos.com 1 points 5 days ago (1 children)

Buying it means you own it. Licensing it means you have a right to use it as long as they are ok with it.

[–] Reddfugee42@lemmy.world 1 points 4 days ago

What's the difference between buying it and buying a lifetime license