Source available

An App is implemented as source available if the source code of all of its parts can be examined, but it does not use an open-source license.

An App is implemented as source-available if the source code of all of its parts can be examined, but it does not use an open-source license. See definition on Wikipedia.

Note that some Apps have several parts, such as a part that runs on the user’s mobile phone, and another one runs in the cloud. The App is only considered to be source-available if all parts are source-available.

Advantages:

• independent researchers can research and understand the App’s implementation;
• often leads to higher code quality and fewer security issues.

Disadvantages:

• inhibits decentralized innovation compared to open-source;
• considered, by some, as giving up a proprietary commercial advantage (this may not apply to public health Apps).