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!

  • absGeekNZ@lemmy.nzEnglish
    57·
    11 days 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.

    • tychosmoose@lemm.eeEnglish
      32·
      11 days ago

      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.

      • peregus@lemmy.worldEnglish
        1·
        5 days ago

        That and the shrinking ability to grant access to device storage.

        Isn’t that helping the average users with security in a way that a scam app can’t see much else than itself?

          • LiveLM@lemmy.zipEnglish
            61·
            10 days ago

            This is my currently dilemma.
            Each year Android becomes more restrictive like iOS with none of the benefits, Rooting becomes harder as more apps tap into the Play Integrity API (and strong Integrity is on the way to kill most workarounds for it), iPhone got a little better but is still locked down as fuck, where the hell do I go to? 😒

              • LiveLM@lemmy.zipEnglish
                1·
                10 days ago

                I’ve been using custom ROMs for a while now, but the reality is that they can only do so much to stop Android’s ever increasing restrictions.
                And the aforementioned Integrity API also detects unlocked bootloaders, meaning this will gradually become more of a problem.

          • can@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
            1·
            10 days ago

            Realistically I have no where to go and that’s the problem. iOS is even more locked down.

            • lambalicious@lemmy.sdf.orgEnglish
              11·
              8 days ago

              No one says you have to upgrade your phone OS to the latest Android. You can just keep using the Android (and/or Custom ROM) that works.

              • can@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
                2·
                8 days ago

                Sure, but what about security? Not that I haven’t had to use outdated phones before.

                • lambalicious@lemmy.sdf.orgEnglish
                  2·
                  7 days ago

                  Security is not a state but a scale, and is gauged against everything else.

                  From the perspective of a privacy / security zealot, a smartphone is SOL as soon as they lave the factory, as not only not even OTA updates keep them safe (and you can argue that with some manufacturers such as Samsung, OTA does is the primary risk vector!) but they can eg.: ship with unfixable vulns at the hardware level that would lead to ditch the whole thing anyway.

                  So long as there isn’t something like a state-funded program for citizens to renew their phones every ~2 years for fully open ones, I’d not worry much. After all, the other option would be not using a phone because current ones are a PITA and just as vulnerable from the other end.

    • t_378@lemmy.oneEnglish
      26·
      10 days 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…