And of course, the world has been burned by shitty ad-infested apps because nobody wants to pay for apps... (not that I necessarily disagree with you - I only got Threema because of a trustworthy recommendation)
(this is a US-centric comment, as phone numbers are rather static here; unlike other countries, not having a number isn't really how it works for most people on the big 4 carriers and their secondary MVNOs)
48hour refunds on google play should have addressed this conundrum but it seems people just aren't aware of it :(