369
Discontinuing syncthing-android (forum.syncthing.net)
submitted 1 day ago by o1o12o21@lemmy.ml to c/opensource@lemmy.ml

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.

Sad to see it go. There is a fork but seems not so great considering they are looking for active maintainer. Still better than nothing. Need to check it out as it has some enhancements.

Planning to close my Google Play Developer Account. Please say hi if you are interested in obtaining the latest gplay release files from me to help in publishing this app

top 37 comments
sorted by: hot top controversial new old
[-] telepresence@discuss.tchncs.de 4 points 7 hours ago

the fork version works fine. if that dies, i'm hopeful some new fork will emerge. syncthing is well known and used by many, so i think as long as the original software is alive, there'll be a way to use it on your phone. heck, there's ways to run syncthing on a pocketbook e-reader, lol

[-] hyperreal@lemmy.world 4 points 9 hours ago* (last edited 9 hours ago)

Anyone have any good readings or discussions on what Google Play policies are being cited here as the major obstacle? Just curious to learn more.

Edit: 20 testers policy? Sounds onerous.

[-] Korbs@lemmy.world 19 points 15 hours ago

Just as I start using it bruh

[-] BigBootyBoy@sh.itjust.works 7 points 13 hours ago

Daamn same here, literally just found it the other day and it's been working great

[-] dwzero@lemmy.ml 44 points 19 hours ago

Syncing with my phone was my main use for syncthing. :(

[-] o1o12o21@lemmy.ml 9 points 17 hours ago

Aww, too bad

I see a comment inbox but can't see here. I'm pasting it here

I switched to the fork as soon as I read this news. It shouldn't take more than a few minutes:
Just install it in parallel with the mainline app,
export your existing configuration to the default storage location, import it in syncthing-fork (it'll detect the export file automatically),
and you're done. Uninstall the official app so they don't compete for the daemon and port.

[-] dwzero@lemmy.ml 7 points 16 hours ago

On f-droid the fork seems to be behind the original, but I expect I will if it continues updating.

[-] BearOfaTime@lemm.ee 5 points 14 hours ago

The fork is much better anyway.

It moves the sync options into each sync folder/job. Lots more flexible. Now my photos sync on any network and any charge state, while less important things (downloads, etc) only sync when on WiFi and charging.

[-] Dymonika@beehaw.org 4 points 15 hours ago

Syncing with my phone ~~was~~ is my main use for syncthing. ~~:(~~ :)

We shall persevere! It doesn't seem like it's really needed any updates anyway...

[-] BearOfaTime@lemm.ee 2 points 14 hours ago

Only updates it should need are for weird changes Google decides to make to Android.

Hell, at this point if someone forked the fork, and charged a small fee for the Relay Server hosting, I'd happily pay.

[-] Mikelius@lemmy.ml 75 points 1 day ago

I've been using the fdroid syncthing-fork version for a long time now and haven't had any issues at all... Doesn't mean it'll last forever but it's been getting the job done for me even in its current state.

... And can't remember my original reason to use the fork instead lol

[-] mortalic@lemmy.world 31 points 1 day ago
[-] christophski@feddit.uk 14 points 1 day ago

Yes, the core version was unusable because of the battery drain

[-] candyman337@sh.itjust.works 17 points 23 hours ago

THAT'S WHATS DRAINING MY BATTERY! I've been trying to figure it out, I knew it was draining quicker because of that but never really our two and two together

[-] anzo@programming.dev 6 points 19 hours ago

Android shows which apps consume the most energy since the last charge.

It's great, I've used it a lot.

Specially with relatives. It also lists 'Display', and shows how much your screen use was draining that new phone. I had to explain this to a friend recently, with their new phone. They thought it might be defective. It wasn't.

[-] SeekPie@lemm.ee 2 points 6 hours ago

Oh wow, Nextcloud is really using my battery quite a lot in the background.

[-] drk@slrpnk.net 1 points 1 hour ago

There is a bug in 3.30.1 making it sync everything, in a loop. Keep an eye on your data usage! https://github.com/nextcloud/android/issues/13738

[-] SeekPie@lemm.ee 1 points 6 minutes ago* (last edited 6 minutes ago)

Holy shit. Thanks for the heads up!

[-] rutrum@lm.paradisus.day 2 points 20 hours ago

Where's the tailscale fork? Thats my current battery sink

[-] o1o12o21@lemmy.ml 16 points 1 day ago

I was not even aware of this fork let alone a long timeline of existence. I am adding this onto my weekend project list. Thanks for the recommendation.

[-] halm@leminal.space 11 points 19 hours ago

I switched to the fork as soon as I read this news. It shouldn't take more than a few minutes:

  • Just install it in parallel with the mainline app,
  • export your existing configuration to the default storage location,
  • import it in syncthing-fork (it'll detect the export file automatically),
  • and you're done. Uninstall the official app so they don't compete for the daemon and port.
[-] weLookAbove@lemm.ee 2 points 14 hours ago

Sadly it's unusable on Android 15. All of the interactable functions are crammed up into the status bar and cannot be touched.

[-] morrowind@lemmy.ml 1 points 11 hours ago

Wdym cannot be touched?

[-] MartianFox@lemmy.ml 1 points 14 hours ago

Yeah I Have the same problem and wondered why no one switching to the fork mentions that :D But I guess android 15 is not very widespread jet.

[-] helpImTrappedOnline@lemmy.world 1 points 9 hours ago

Sounds like a bug and the dev hasn't caught up to the new version?

[-] MartianFox@lemmy.ml 1 points 8 hours ago

Yes, there seems to be an open issue for this bug, but actually the developers response doesn't inflict confidence in the fork ๐Ÿ˜… He seems to have updated the app to target Android 15 without testing in it in the emulator.

[-] jeena@piefed.jeena.net 4 points 19 hours ago

OK, I switched to that one now, thanks for pointing it out and explaining it.

[-] peregus@lemmy.world 4 points 23 hours ago

Let's hope that it doesn't rely on the official release

[-] Shimitar@feddit.it 13 points 18 hours ago

I installed from fdroid, I expect it to be still available as far as it will work...

And I guess somebody will build and keep publishing it just not on google play, which is anyway a cesspool nowadays, so no big deal.

[-] Schorsch@feddit.org 9 points 14 hours ago

Apparently publishing malware and the likes is quite easy, but publishing well-established foss software isn't.

[-] helpImTrappedOnline@lemmy.world 4 points 9 hours ago

one has micro transactions that googles gets to skim from and the other doesn't.

[-] grapemix@lemmy.ml 22 points 21 hours ago

Syncthing is such a wonderful project. RIP. But for us already being spoiled by syncthing, it might be a good time to self host services to handle, sync and serve our own data like photos, contacts and more.

[-] o1o12o21@lemmy.ml 21 points 20 hours ago

This is just about the android app version. The desktop version still works and continues to live.

[-] sol6_vi@lemmy.world 14 points 23 hours ago

Damn this is some rough news... as other commenters have said though can't blame the guy. I'll cross my fingers for some random "Sinkboi for Syncthing" or something dumb like that to pop up down the road.

[-] aard@kyu.de 14 points 23 hours ago

I've let my google developer account expire quite a while ago after they kept asking for more and more stupid stuff. Nowadays if you don't get paid a lot for it you must be either a masochist or a bit stupid if you upload to google play.

this post was submitted on 21 Oct 2024
369 points (100.0% liked)

Open Source

30826 readers
890 users here now

All about open source! Feel free to ask questions, and share news, and interesting stuff!

Useful Links

Rules

Related Communities

Community icon from opensource.org, but we are not affiliated with them.

founded 5 years ago
MODERATORS