Syncthing Android app discontinued

Oh my goodness! Syncthing without Android leaves me screwed. My whole digital life revolves around it.
- 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 :)
  
  What is this alternative of which you speak?
  
  What's the history behind this? Why could the changes be done upstream, necessitating a fork?
- Mine too!
- FolderSync is a good alternative, more battery friendly too!

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.
- Thank you for all of your hard work!
- THANK you for the hard work! Your app is part of my phone photo and appdata backup.
  Side question: Will you continue with a fork for f-droid?
  
  As the statement says I wont - it will be fully discontinued. This statement applies to the official app only. It doesn't say anything about other apps or forks - any existing once can and hopefully will continue to exist. Also all the code is free.
- Thank you for your work!!!
- funnily that is/was one of the Lemmy creators: Nutomic :)
  Plot twist

This is sad. Google Play should never hold this much weight in 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.
- 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.
  
  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.
  
  The point you raise reminds me of when Signal dropped SMS support, after my efforts to convert all the non techie people in my life over to it. So sad when it happens...
- 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.
  
  Is this your personal phone? If your work were to dictate what you are allowed to install on your personal phone, that'd be a serious overstepping of bounds.
  Perhaps you can sneak in f-droid via adb install and give it app installation permissions via ADB though.
  
  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.
- They said somewhere that the play store thing is not the reason, it's just one of the more recent issues.
- They're a cloud company, their mission statement is to eradicate us. It's like IT trying to stamp out shadow IT.

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?
- The way i understand it, this stops maintenance for Syncthing, but Syncthing-fork in fdroid will continue its development and support as usual. Both show if you do a Syncthing search in fdroid. The fork is more up to date with features.
  
  Peachy. Sounds like there's nothing to worry about then (from a user POV).
- Yah I mean the notice for the storage access has only been five years. How can they do that.

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.
- With today's BitWarden drama, I planned to use KeePass with SyncThing for like an hour before seeing this :(((
  
  Got any links to the bitwarden drama? I missed it.
  
  I use bitwarden. Are they not good anymore? Data Breach?
- The way i understand it, this stops maintenance for Syncthing, but Syncthing-fork in fdroid will continue its development and support as usual. Both show if you do a Syncthing search in fdroid. The fork is more up to date with features.
- Syncthing-fork on fdroid.
- This is one of the many things I use Syncthing for.
- 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..
  
  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.

I just installed syncthing-fork from f-droid and it worked flawlessly as far as I can tell:
"Export" in syncthing
Uninstall syncthing
Install syncthing-fork from f-droid
Import in syncthing-fork
- I feel the existence of an "export" option in a piece of software is noble in this day and age, and I'm so appreciative of it.
  It says "look, I don't WANT you to go to my competitor, but I'm not gonna try to hold your data hostage to prevent it."
  It's class, as the Scottish would say.
  
  Open source software doesn't have a reason to lock you in like proprietary software does :)
  More and more proprietary SaaS systems are allowing data exports now, to comply with laws like the GDPR "right to know". Say what you want about Google and Facebook, but they were the first big companies to start allowing data to be exported before there was any law requiring it - Facebook in 2010 and Google in 2011.
  
  I've said for a while that platforms that allow you to easily move make me more comfortable using them, and ironically, more likely to stay around.
- Did it transfer over your folder setups so you don't need to set it up manually?
  
  Yes
- Thank you for this :)
- Ty! Can confirm this worked for me as well.
- Yup, that was easy.

OH NO, I hope the fork will continue for a bit otherwise I'm so cooked 🥶🥶🥶
- Agreed. Horrible news.
  Hoping Syncthing-Fork will continue.

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
- this is your fault.
  
  I'm a fucking albatross, I know... Or whatever that sailor's curse bird is I forget. A crested wank.
- The way i understand it, this stops maintenance for Syncthing, but Syncthing-fork in fdroid will continue its development and support as usual. Both show if you do a Syncthing search in fdroid. The fork is more up to date with features.
- Lol, I was also looking at installing it last weekend.
  I guess this thing is on the same connection as my stock choices.
  
  My advice is to be less like me
  It seems to be working for other people
- Consider yourself lucky, I feel the pain of seeing the end of years of a loving relationship.

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

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"
- 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.

Fyi the syncthing-fork guy (catfriend1) who's still updating has a donating button on F-droid via Liberapay. It's up to you if your financial situation allows you to donate, but the more of us help the remaining developers for their time, in particular those of us that rely so much on their work, the better off we'll be. Let's give them a little motivation to keep working on this.
FYI2 syncthing-fork (as written and confirmed in this thread) has an import button for your folders from syncthing Android.
- PayPal though. Is there another way to donate to this superhero?
  
  I tried looking around but this humble soul doesn't have much in the way of receiving donations. I suggest contacting him via https://github.com/Catfriend1 to ask for an alternative and if he gets back to you, share it here for other people who dislike paypal.

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.

Who gives a shit about play? How much do I have to pay you to update it in fdroid still?

Sad day indeed, bitwarden going shady and this.
- What did bitwarden do??
  
  https://lemmy.ndlug.org/post/1268531

Phones are becoming less and less interesting by the day.
Once they get to the point were all of the options that don't require incredibly inconvenient sacrifices in functionality to maintain the interesting stuff like a video game console then that will kill interest in the market for me.
If I can't do anything besides basic smart phone crap I might as well just buy whatever has a good camera once every half decade or so and be done with it. So whatever top end thing Samsung or Apple are putting out.
I'm not sure Google has fully thought through what it means to just be a worse version of what Apple puts out, but with more ads.
- Smartphone design is mostly a solved problem. Take today's screens and processors and throw in a few features from the past (removable storage, IR blaster, and headphone jack) and you have a 10-year phone.
  I used to get a new phone every year because phone got way better each generation.
  My phone is top-tier from 2021 (Z Fold 3), and I have had zero temptation from the newer versions. All they really have is faster processing, but since all apps are designed to run well on budget phones from 5 years ago, there's no reason to upgrade.
  
  since all apps are designed to run well on budget phones from 5 years ago, there's no reason to upgrade.
  5 years, maybe, but any more is stretching it. And not getting system upgrades anymore is problematic. Unless you own a particular model of phone, de-Googled Android can be hard to come by.
  For example, I have a 7-year old Pixel C. By the time Google stopped using system updates for it, I wasn't wanting them as every release made the device slower and more unstable. After some effort, I was finally able to install a version of Lineage, which itself has problems including no updates in years. There's a lot of software that is incompatible with my device, both from Aurora and FDroid.
  Android isn't Linux; Google doesn't care about maintaining backward compatability on old devices, much less performance, and there's no army of engineers making sure it is because there's a served running in walled-up closet no one can find.
  Google deprecates features and ABIs in Android, apps update and suddenly aren't backwards compatible.
  5 years, maybe. The entire industry is addicted to users upgrading their phones, and everyone gets a piece of that pie. There's no actors, except perhaps app developers, who have any interest in keeping old phones running. Telecoms upgrade their wireless network - the internet connection in my 8 y/o car, and half its navigation features, died the day AT&T decided to stop supporting 3G; Phone makers make no money if you don't buy new phones; and maintaining backwards compatibility costs Google money which they'd rather siphon off to shareholders.
- Just let me run Qubes OS on my phone already and all the problems are solved.
- You will lose interest in the market, but will keep buying? Did I misunderstand something?
  
  I think goes from obsession to possesion maybe, ur kinda tied to a phone for a lot of services these days and 5 years is at least more reasonable than every year or 2
- Yea, I want a small linux PC with touch screen, and mobile Internet 🙃 sadly, there seem none to be around with enough battery and enough computing power and a good USB C with working PD and OTG (ideally a alt mode video protocol like hdmi/DP/thunderbolt as well)
  One may dream 😂😅
- I'm almost going full circle now, I'm buying a camera and a Music player to use as separate devices from my phone. Not only smartphones are getting expensive as hell, but the usability is actually getting worse IMHO.
  And why is it so fucking awful to setup an automated pipeline to deploy smartphone apps (Android and iOS)?

- As noted elsewhere Syncthing-Fork is still going strong, and a drop-in replacement, it's on F-Droid.
  
  Do you know if I need to reconfigure my folders?
  I guess if the transition is not smooth there is still time for them to adapt something until the very end...
  On another hand, it seems like we all deposited all our eggs in one basket huh?
  I really can't think of many Synching replacements... Even when I know there are a few.
- Check out resilio.

There is an android native GUI for syncthing in fdroid that looks like its still maintained: https://github.com/Catfriend1/syncthing-android?tab=readme-ov-file
- Somene opened an issue about it, maybe answers are gonna be posted here : https://github.com/Catfriend1/syncthing-android/issues/1149
- @paperd @chaospatterns Yeah, this is the one I'm currently using. I have my pictures automatically synced to my laptop, and (in the other direction) an audiobooks directory on my laptop automatically synced to my phone.

Literally set up a home Nas and syncthing last week.
What's a good alternative for Android?
- Syncthing-Fork (F-Droid)
  
  Is it well supported with a long term roadmap? Or are there other software one should consider for a 12month range commitment

For the F-droid enabled users, it seems there's a Syncthing app in the Termux repos:

~ $ apt show syncthing Package: syncthing Version: 1.28.0 Maintainer: @termux Installed-Size: 26.4 MB Homepage: https://syncthing.net/ Download-Size: 7857 kB APT-Sources: https://packages.termux.dev/apt/termux-main stable/main aarch64 Packages Description: Decentralized file synchronization
- Also a fork that has been ongoing for years, syncthing-fork.
- Yeah, seems like this is what some people are using. They said you can use Tasker to run it in the background.
  So is this the same as installing on the desktop? Run the service and then http to home to configure?
  
  Does systemd for daemons work on Android?
- Holy shit. I can use apt to install packages on my phone securely?? Please tell me more
  
  Termux (on F-droid) is a userland environment that runs on top of your Android device's kernel. It has Debian/Ubuntu-like package management system that pulls from repos maintained by the termux team. If the package is available for aarch64, its probably available in the termux repos. Its not so much of an app as it is an alternate userland that runs on top of the same kernel, but can interact with Android a couple of different ways.
  The main Termux app gets you a basic command line environment with the usual tools included in a headless Linux install. From there you can select your preferred repos, do package updates, installs, etc, just like on a desktop or laptop. You could even install a desktop environment and use RDP to access it.
  Then there are some companion apps that are useful:
  Termux:boot is like a primitive rc.d feature that executes upon boot up any scripts found in the termux ~/.termux/boot directory. You could use the feature to launch an SSH server, or perhaps start your syncthing service when the phone starts up.
  Termux:Tasker is a Tasker plugin that allows Tasker to launch scripts in .termux/tasker based on whatever triggers or profiles you define in Tasker. For example, stop or start selected services when connected to your home WiFi
  Termux:API is a set of termux utilities to interact with the Android API, and do things like send messages, interact with the camera or battery, and manipulate system settings.
  So you could install the syncthing package in Termux and (after setting up Termux access for your internal storage) configure it to sync folders from your phone to wherever syncthing syncs. You'd set up a start script under Termux:boot to launch it when your phone starts, or Tasker to start/stop the service on your home WiFi.

I've been using Syncthing-Fork (on F-Droid) for the extra features it has. I wonder if that developer will be able to continue.
- Somene asked in an issue about this subject, maybe answers are gonna be posted here : https://github.com/Catfriend1/syncthing-android/issues/1149
- I just installed that on your recommendation.
  Hoping for the best.
  Here the link for anyone who wants to check it out.

Any news about the fork of it? https://github.com/Catfriend1/syncthing-android-fdroid
- Somene opened an issue about it, maybe answers are gonna be posted here : https://github.com/Catfriend1/syncthing-android/issues/1149
  
  We got an answer. Catfriend1 <3
  https://github.com/Catfriend1/syncthing-android/issues/1149#issuecomment-2427757474

This is going ro leave a shit-ton of people dead in the water.
- The app is not going to suddenly stop working, and it's unlikely to do so before a replacement appears.
  
  Oh, yeah, he did mention there's another update for December. But it's still an issue for many people. Moving to privacy is convoluted enough, it's even rougher when you have to forcibly change your streamlines.
- The way i understand it, this stops maintenance for Syncthing, but Syncthing-fork in fdroid will continue its development and support as usual. Both show if you do a Syncthing search in fdroid. The fork is more up to date with features.
  
  In all honesty, I had no idea about the fork. I really appreciate the information. Time to take it for a spin. Do you know if I can import the settings from the original one on the fork?

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
- 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
  
  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.

Not sure I understand the reasoning for discontinuing. Google standing in the way? Not enough f-droid users benefiting from it? It didn't see development cause it was already feature complete?
- As they said the app needs ongoing maintenance.

Out of the loop. What is this app for?
- It's a very stable, reliable, local, cross-platform file syncing that is pretty easy to set up. Basically, it allows you to have a shared folder (or folders) on multiple devices without using Google Drive, OneDrive, iCloud, etc.
- Syncing things
  Syncthing is application that sync folders across devices. This was the mobile version
- It's a very convenient app to sync files between your devices. It's cro-platform and doesn't require any registrations.
  Many people (me included) use it to sync their password databases.

oof. All I can do is thank you for the hard work that anybody's put into this, and I'm sad to see it go because I've been using this with my keypass for probably about a year now.
Really hoping the Graphene OS lawsuit allows for some Options to open up again!
- Can you share what lawsuit you’re referring to? 🙏
  
  Looks like they still haven't launched it yet. They just mentioned they would in this Ars Technica article.
  https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2024/07/loss-of-popular-2fa-tool-puts-security-minded-grapheneos-in-a-paradox/

Well that's a shame. I'm sort of half-assedly using syncthing to backup my photos from my phone to my server, but mostly I rely on immich. I never really got the hang of using syncthing with my phone.
- It's stupid easy to setup, even has a built-in photo backup job.
  I use Syncthing-Fork because it moves all the sync conditions into each job.
  So my photos sync regardless of charging state or network (I'm willing to pay for the data to ensure photos are instantly synced). While other things only sync while on WiFi and charging (e.g. Neobackup).

I've always just used Folder Sync + an ssh server, if people are looking for alternatives.
- 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.
  
  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

Oh boy, just wanted to get into it. Damn sad, not of course understandable, the developers are only humans as well
- The way i understand it, this stops maintenance for Syncthing, but Syncthing-fork in fdroid will continue its development and support as usual. Both show if you do a Syncthing search in fdroid. The fork is more up to date with features.

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.

@chaospatterns
Lo he estado usando en dos dispositivos para sincronizar bóvedas de Obsidian y su funcionamiento era un poco errático.
Después de los últimos problemas, lo tenía inactivo a la espera de una nueva configuración, un proceso que me parece tedioso e innecesariamente complejo. Cuando menos poco amigable.
Mientras tanto estaba usando el cable USB para volcar los archivos en el PC.
Ahora quizás tendré que buscar otro sincronizador para Android?
Android no me gusta. ¿Por qué fracasó el Linux para Tablets?
Quiero mi Tablet y mi teléfono con Linux.
- Igual te interesa echarle un ojo a postmarketOS. Están haciendo un sistema operativo para teléfonos forkeado directamente de Alpine Linux, en vez de AOSP
- A mi me funciona a la perfección desde el primer día. Tengo un servidor donde está toda la data que quiero sincronizada, también en mi celular, laptop y PC. Honestamente funciona fenomenal. ¿Que es lo que era errático? Me causa curiosidad.
  
  @jjlinux
  Pues en determinadas ocasiones se conectaba, en otras no. Siempre se trataba de un vuelco de archivos, que normalmente elaboraba en el dispositivo móvil y volcaba en una carpeta de 'entrada' para luego distribuirlos en los directorios apropiados de la bóveda de Obsidian.
  La verdad es que sopechaba que no lo tenía bien configurado y por eso, la ultima vez que me falló lo dejé para tomar un tiempo en revisar la configuración.
  Encuentro tambien dificultad con los nombres de dispositivos, una serie de números excesivamente larga que debería oder abreviarse con un alias: "MiTablet", o algo sí.
  Si os va tan bien a todos, es posible que está haciendo algo mal. Tenía pendiente estudiar el tema más a fondo. Ahora no sé si hacerlo. ¿El comunicado signfica que desaparece de Google Play y sigue en F-Droid? Creo que decía que dejaba de actualizarlo porque sin Gogle-Play no le resulta rentable.
  En fin, quizás es el momento de buscar otra solución similar o seguir con el cable. .(