Hello,
I’ve written and mantain a couple of Android apps both on F-Droid and on Google Play Store. Play store always been a “second class citizen”, receiving updates later that F-Droid, but needed because a lot of people are scared by the process of installing an aftermarket store.
Now the Google Play Store asks me a document (ID card) to veryfy my account, otherwise it will be closed in October.
I don’t feel I should disclose personal data to a giant like Google, so I’m considering migrating my users to F-Droid.
Should I? And what’s the best way to do it?
Maybe I can publish an update on Play Store for all my apps showing a popup that explains the situation and instructs the user to re-install the app from F-Droid to continue receiving the updates.
I wonder if there is already some material I can re-use, e.g. some text or a webpage that explains the situation to the user. I think I’m not the only one to have this problem.
Thank you for any suggestion!
Until some expert here gives a response, I think providing details on playstore to move out is a feasible approach, even if temporary. That way you have given ample time to your clients to know what is happening.
Maybe a push mesaage via playstore app also may make sense. Only for this instance.
For reproducible built apps it’s just a matter of using F-Droid Client to update. For the ones signed by F-Droid (like yours), yes, more complicated as user need to (backup & restore?) reinstall the app.
you want to be banned first? 
Errr, this is what I was fearing… Btw, my account will be closed anyway, so…
Anyway, I was searching for some explanation page ready to use, I imagined I wasn’t the only one to have this problem. Are you aware of anything similar? Otherwise, I’ll try to write something on my own.