Announcement by the creator: https://forum.syncthing.net/t/discontinuing-syncthing-android/23002

Unfortunately I don’t have good news on the state of the android app: I am retiring it. The last release on Github and F-Droid will happen with the December 2024 Syncthing version.

Reason is a combination of Google making Play publishing something between hard and impossible and no active maintenance. The app saw no significant development for a long time and without Play releases I do no longer see enough benefit and/or have enough motivation to keep up the ongoing maintenance an app requires even without doing much, if any, changes.

Thanks a lot to everyone who ever contributed to this app!

  • @[email protected]
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    191 hour ago

    I’ve installed it from F-droid but still. Fuck google. They really do need breaking up.

    I heavily rely on Syncthing. Does anyone know what the outlook is for Syncthing-fork, or what the likelihood is of someone taking on maintenance of this version?

  • @[email protected]
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    262 hours ago

    I am not the creator, funnily that is/was one of the Lemmy creators: Nutomic :)
    I am a syncthing co-maintainer that kept the android app on life support since a while.

    • @Harimau
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      645 minutes ago

      Thank you for all of your hard work!

  • @[email protected]
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    91 hour ago

    God this is sad.

    The parts of tech that are useful and elegant are contracting, while subscriptions and ads just get more obnoxious.

  • @MSids
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    126 minutes ago

    I used it on an Android DAP to sync my music collection from my NAS after giving up on Folder sync due to its issues with new file detection breaking after a daylight savings time change. Synching was definitely more reliable but it takes ages to do the scan.

  • @[email protected]
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    92 hours ago

    Literally set up a home Nas and syncthing last week.

    What’s a good alternative for Android?

  • @[email protected]
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    2 hours ago

    I can only hope the company makes the iOS client (Möbius) decides they need syncthing to continue and decide to get behind it.

    As I recall, they use Syncthing as a solution in their business, this would be a big-break for them.

    mobiussync.com

    • @[email protected]
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      32 hours ago

      It says “unlimited file sync is a $5 in-app unlock” so I’m guessing they can make money. Main problem is the apple developer fees that will eat the profit of the first 25 sales each year

      • @[email protected]
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        11 hour ago

        Maybe I’m misremembering, but I thought they used Syncthing as part of a business not directly related to Möbius - as a vendor supplying data management solutions to other companies. I suspect Möbius came out of need for their clients.

        I can picture the vendor website in my head, just wish I could remember who it was for sure.

        I would eagerly pay for syncthing, it’s that important to me. I keep hundreds of gigs moving around using it. It’s on my annual donate list already, but clearly that’s insufficient.

        Maybe the Syncthing-Fork dev will keep it going.

        iOS is already more restricted on app sandboxes, and Möbius can handle it in the paid version.

        On Android, Resilio somehow has more file access than Syncthing, even without root (it can read/write to either SD card root, while Syncthing can only write to a subfolder of SD0, and can’t write anywhere of an external SD). So there’s something going on.

  • @[email protected]
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    355 hours ago

    Does anyone know why it was forked and the fork got all the improvements while the official app is in the exact same state of when it was launched years ago?

    It was because all the proposals got rejected?

    Because if he rejected all the improvements I don’t really understand why he’s saying “nobody wants to help development”

    • @[email protected]
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      52 hours ago

      It’s all in the open, you can go dig around for reasons. As usual there wasn’t a single simple one. Neither was it some kind of complete fallout, we e.g. collaborated on translations and I have been in contact around various things with the one that forked.

  • @[email protected]
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    1126 hours ago

    Oh my goodness! Syncthing without Android leaves me screwed. My whole digital life revolves around it.

    • @[email protected]
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      62 hours ago

      Oh don’t worry to much, mine too: If there wasn’t an alternative for syncthing on android, I might have kept it on lifesupport :)

          • @[email protected]
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            110 minutes ago

            And I don‘t know what‘s going on with them. There weren’t any updates for years, now there is a design overhaul, no new features and suddenly they want me to register. Duck

  • @xodoh74984
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    906 hours ago

    This is sad. Google Play should never hold this weight the self hosted community. For Android users dedicated to open source software, F-Droid is the target.

    I don’t think SyncThing users would have much issue with the app disappearing from Google. Doing away with Google is the goal.

    • @[email protected]
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      52 hours ago

      They said somewhere that the play store thing is not the reason, it’s just one of the more recent issues.

    • @[email protected]
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      265 hours ago

      The problem is not “Syncthing users” it is the others that we bring along with us.

      I already have F-Droid on my phone, but the dozen others that I have promoted Syncthing to over the years do not. This is going to cause a bunch of problems.

      This is much more important than what you portray here.

      • @[email protected]
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        125 hours ago

        That and the shrinking ability to grant access to device storage. If that becomes an option only on rooted phones (which seems like the directly Google is heading) it will make the audience for such an app much smaller.

    • @[email protected]
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      13 hours ago

      As much as I want to use F-Droid, my work blocks all third party app stores so it’s either have access to my work stuff on one phone (via profiles) or dual wield two phones.

      I lack the patience to dual wield again. It’s very annoying.

      • Derin
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        18 minutes ago

        I’m annoyed to see you getting down voted - I had a similar issue years ago with my work MacBook (couldn’t run a custom WM because any modification to the Finder was blocked without putting the machine into “unsafe” mode).

        I love OSS, but without a verifiable way to distribute it large swaths of the workforce won’t be able to use it.

        F-Droid is great, but sadly it isn’t enough.

  • @BrianTheeBiscuiteer
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    626 hours ago

    Hoping it remains viable for a long time without updates. Syncing my KeePass database is really key for me. I need to fluidly add and read passwords from at least 3 devices.

    • @[email protected]
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      366 hours ago

      With today’s BitWarden drama, I planned to use KeePass with SyncThing for like an hour before seeing this :(((

    • @[email protected]
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      44 hours ago

      Is webDAV not good enough for that? I use keepass via webDAV feature of the nextcloud (I know some think it is bloated) but I guess there are other lightweight webDAV solutions…

      • @[email protected]
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        44 hours ago

        I’ve used both. NC android app doesn’t sync and one needs to host the entire platform. When using generic webDAV one still needs a dedicated sync solution.

        I self host NC and still prefer SyncThing for keeping my KeePass database updated and fresh across devices.

        • @[email protected]
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          14 hours ago

          I see, my app that I use for keepass has integrated webDAV sync where I can point it to a keepass file on the webDAV server (strongbox iOS) I just thought android keepass apps should have such feature as well.

          The iOS app of NC is slow as well, and not good enough for using to sync keepass files, but the Linux app seems to be good enough.

          And yea, just learned, that sync thing apparently works without a server but all P2P? That is 100% killer feature 😃👌🏻

          • 2xsaiko
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            23 hours ago

            IIRC Keepass2Android does have that feature.

    • @[email protected]
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      21 hour ago

      That takes a lot more effort.

      With Syncthing, I don’t have to setup a server, poke holes in my firewall/expose ports, etc.

      Plus Foldersync is way harder on battery, I’ve experimented a lot.

      And I’ve used Foldersync since at least 2010 - it’s great, really has it’s uses.

      • @[email protected]
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        55 minutes ago

        Plus Foldersync is way harder on battery, I’ve experimented a lot.

        This is very configuration dependant. With an aggressive schedule checking a large number of files, it certainly can use a lot of battery; but I’ve had it setup to sync my entire device to my server a couple times a day, while also monitoring/syncing images immediately on creation/change. It doesn’t even register on androids battery usage monitor as it uses so little power.

        Anyway; just listing an option for people to look at

        • @[email protected]
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          143 minutes ago

          It definitely gets better once it’s all caught up.

          But it’s still much harder on battery than ST when folders have changes.

          It’s kind of not Foldersync’s fault, it’s really because of the protocols - it’s all connection-based, and FS has to compare each file at sync time.

          Syncthing keeps an index so it knows what files have changed. Very different tools with different use-cases and approaches.

          I used FS for years until I found ST, and had to do a lot more tweaking to get sync to work the way I wanted with FS. FS doesn’t have sync conditions like ST, so I had to use Macrodroid to trigger it when on WiFi, for example.

          FS can be a solution, it’s just a lot more work for anything beyond basics.

  • @gedaliyah
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    335 hours ago

    Oh No! This is terrible news. This IMHO is one of the most irreplaceable projects out there. I don’t know of another cross-platform local file syncing app that comes anywhere close to this. I hope that it can continue even if it’s not through the Play Store.

    Google seems to be torpedoing open source developments with a number of decisions lately. Maybe they see F-Droid as a threat now that EU is making them open competition? Maybe they just don’t care.

  • The Snark Urge
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    436 hours ago

    Just got into using Syncthing for my home network, was thinking I should add it to my phone. Makes sense it dies the instant I consider it

      • The Snark Urge
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        32 hours ago

        I’m a fucking albatross, I know… Or whatever that sailor’s curse bird is I forget. A crested wank.

    • @[email protected]
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      34 hours ago

      Consider yourself lucky, I feel the pain of seeing the end of years of a loving relationship.

    • @[email protected]
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      55 hours ago

      Lol, I was also looking at installing it last weekend.

      I guess this thing is on the same connection as my stock choices.

      • The Snark Urge
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        35 hours ago

        My advice is to be less like me

        It seems to be working for other people