Is there any open source way left for synchronizing files with an android device in 2024?
by ario from LinuxQuestions.org on (#6P5R7)
Hi Folks,
This is how I ended up today, synchronizing files between my Samsung Galaxy S20 and my Debian GNU Linux:
Using a USB flash disk!
For real!
Syncthing forever shows remote device disconnected. Yeah. I have read forums. Yeah I have tried solutions. Yeah sometimes it works for me also. One file sent or received. And then... bam! Disconnected. No one knows why. How? No information. Nothing. Debugging such a huge project like syncthing, consisting of java and go languages and multiple different SDK and libraries is way beyond my resources.
Google, Digital Ocean, iCloud, his could, their cloud, etc. The problem is I don't want to share my private life with people I don't know.
rsync: This solution actually worked for a few files. Then it stopped just like syncthing. I tried again, and again, and again, and again. And every time after a few files, android operating system closes adb shell and the running rsync daemon without any reason. It seems like android just randomly closes and task in the background. It just does. Probably that also describes why syncthing was not working at all.
rsync on a rooted phone/lineageos: Almost all the posts on internet regarding rsync on an android are done on rooted phones or phones with lineageos. Mine is not rooted and I don't want to root it. Because I really have no clue who is maintaining the specific ROM for my type of phone and I don't want to share my private life with him/her either.
seafile: I didn't invest time much on this one as I saw people are complaining about similar issues with it as with syncthing and basically with any file related opensource software on the internet. Android simply closes your app or its background processes, because of... reasons.
I finally ended up a thumb drive, a usb 3 to usb c adapter. And copied my files. At least for now, smart phones (android only) allow you to have a non-encrypted copy of your files out of the device.
How far does it go? How much more every new version of android is going to close ways people like us use to copy their own files out of the phone? What do you guys use to synchronize your data (Other than proprietary products)?
Any idea is highly appreciated.
This is how I ended up today, synchronizing files between my Samsung Galaxy S20 and my Debian GNU Linux:
Using a USB flash disk!
For real!
Syncthing forever shows remote device disconnected. Yeah. I have read forums. Yeah I have tried solutions. Yeah sometimes it works for me also. One file sent or received. And then... bam! Disconnected. No one knows why. How? No information. Nothing. Debugging such a huge project like syncthing, consisting of java and go languages and multiple different SDK and libraries is way beyond my resources.
Google, Digital Ocean, iCloud, his could, their cloud, etc. The problem is I don't want to share my private life with people I don't know.
rsync: This solution actually worked for a few files. Then it stopped just like syncthing. I tried again, and again, and again, and again. And every time after a few files, android operating system closes adb shell and the running rsync daemon without any reason. It seems like android just randomly closes and task in the background. It just does. Probably that also describes why syncthing was not working at all.
rsync on a rooted phone/lineageos: Almost all the posts on internet regarding rsync on an android are done on rooted phones or phones with lineageos. Mine is not rooted and I don't want to root it. Because I really have no clue who is maintaining the specific ROM for my type of phone and I don't want to share my private life with him/her either.
seafile: I didn't invest time much on this one as I saw people are complaining about similar issues with it as with syncthing and basically with any file related opensource software on the internet. Android simply closes your app or its background processes, because of... reasons.
I finally ended up a thumb drive, a usb 3 to usb c adapter. And copied my files. At least for now, smart phones (android only) allow you to have a non-encrypted copy of your files out of the device.
How far does it go? How much more every new version of android is going to close ways people like us use to copy their own files out of the phone? What do you guys use to synchronize your data (Other than proprietary products)?
Any idea is highly appreciated.