The Syncthing for Android app is being discontinued. Another day, another good app dies. For those unaware, Syncthing is an open source file synchronization program that can sync files between two or more devices on a local internet connection, it's similar to the macOS/iOS AirDrop feature.
It's a really useful app to sync your music or video library between your phone and computers, I have also used it to sync my Keepass database, game saves and savestates for Retroarch, PPSSPP on my devices.
As a big fan of Syncthing, I reviewed a Windows client for it called SyncTrayzor, though the app has not been updated for a long time. Syncthing Tray is an alternative Windows app that you may want to take a look at.
Why is Syncthing for Android being discontinued?
Imsodin (Simon Frei), the maintainer of Syncthing for Android, has announced that the app was being retired due to some issues with the Google Play Store, which was making it harder to publish the app. Google was reportedly rejecting the app access to the device's storage, and the developer had appealed to the company to sort out the issues since February 2024.
Users had asked why the app cannot continue to exist via GitHub and F-Droid, and another maintainer explained that the development of Syncthing's mobile app had been stagnating, and it had been on life support for a long time.
According to some comments from users, the developer was frustrated with dealing with Google, and users who had harassed him. Well, I can see why he may have lost motivation to continue supporting the app's development. This is why we can't have nice things, because some people don't respect the work of others.
The Syncthing for Android app will get its final update in December 2024, on GitHub and F-Droid. It is worth mentioning that Syncthing for other platforms will continue to be supported.
More info on the problems the Syncthing devs had with Google can be found here. This is not the first time an app developer has had issues with the Play Store. The developer of the open source email app, FairEmail, had some problems with Google and temporarily delisted the app from the Play Store, before reinstating it. Total Commander, which is a popular file manager app, was forced to make changes or risk being removed from the Play Store. Reddit's r/Androiddev sub has many stories about app takedowns and account terminations by Google. Apps could be delisted if they break some policies, but that's not the main issue, many developers say they had absolutely no way to contact an actual person at the company and resolve the problems.
Syncthing alternative for Android
It's sad to see an open source app end like this, but you can probably continue to use Syncthing as long as it works. Or you can optionally switch to a fork of the app, which is called Syncthing-Fork. In addition to retaining the original app's functionality, Syncthing-Fork comes with some extra features and battery friendly enhancements.
The only downside to it is that the app is no longer available on the Google Play Store, so you will need to sideload it on your phone. You can download Syncthing-Fork from its GitHub page or from the F-Droid repository. iPhone users who want to use Syncthing may want to look at Möbius Sync, though it is not completely free to use.
Do you use Syncthing on your Android phone?
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