Discontinuing syncthing-android
forum.syncthing.net
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 ...

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!

  • xodoh74984@lemmy.worldEnglish
    913·
    2 months ago

    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.

    • CosmicTurtle0@lemmy.dbzer0.comEnglish
      123·
      2 months 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.

      • Atemu@lemmy.mlEnglish
        7·
        2 months ago

        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.

        • CosmicTurtle0@lemmy.dbzer0.comEnglish
          8·
          2 months ago

          My primary phone belongs to my work. I get a stipend every two years that essentially allows me to buy any supported phone I want.

          The conditions are that it’s managed by them via MDM and all my work stuff is on the work profile side.

          It is a choice I make since it allows me to not carry two phones. I did that for the first two years at my company and it was annoying.

        • Bilb!@lem.monsterEnglish
          1·
          2 months ago

          If “your” phone belongs to your employer that’s the choice you made. It isn’t yours.

    • absGeekNZ@lemmy.nzEnglish
      0·
      2 months 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.

      • t_378@lemmy.oneEnglish
        01·
        2 months ago

        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…

  • Churbleyimyam@lemm.eeEnglish
    83·
    2 months 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?

    • iturnedintoanewt@lemm.eeEnglish
      37·
      2 months ago

      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.

  • BrianTheeBiscuiteer@lemmy.worldEnglish
    53·
    2 months 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.

    • iturnedintoanewt@lemm.eeEnglish
      5·
      2 months ago

      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.

    • Petter1@lemm.eeEnglish
      3·
      2 months 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…

  • ma1w4re@lemm.eeEnglish
    441·
    2 months ago

    OH NO, I hope the fork will continue for a bit otherwise I’m so cooked 🥶🥶🥶

  • NeuronautML@lemmy.mlEnglish
    38·
    2 months ago

    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.

  • The Snark Urge@lemmy.worldEnglish
    37·
    2 months 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

    • iturnedintoanewt@lemm.eeEnglish
      7·
      2 months ago

      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.

  • gedaliyah@lemmy.worldEnglish
    321·
    2 months 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.

  • flop_leash_973@lemmy.worldEnglish
    283·
    2 months ago

    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.

    • chiliedogg@lemmy.worldEnglish
      10·
      2 months ago

      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.

    • Petter1@lemm.eeEnglish
      3·
      2 months ago

      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 😂😅

    • proton_lynx@lemmy.worldEnglish
      1·
      2 months ago

      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)?

  • SolidGrue@lemmy.worldEnglish
    16·
    2 months ago

    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
  • MrMcGasion@lemmy.worldEnglish
    13·
    2 months ago

    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.

    • Einar@lemm.eeEnglish
      2·
      2 months ago

      I just installed that on your recommendation.

      Hoping for the best.

      Here the link for anyone who wants to check it out.

  • GBU_28@lemm.eeEnglish
    141·
    2 months ago

    Literally set up a home Nas and syncthing last week.

    What’s a good alternative for Android?

    • iturnedintoanewt@lemm.eeEnglish
      5·
      2 months ago

      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.

      • youmaynotknow@lemmy.mlEnglish
        1·
        2 months ago

        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?

  • xePBMg9@lemmynsfw.comEnglish
    8·
    2 months ago

    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?

  • BearOfaTime@lemm.eeEnglish
    8·
    2 months 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