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Reliable, Cheap, Per-Folder Two-Way Sync For Android That Nextcloud Self-Hosters Have Begged For Since 2016 And Still Patch Together From Paid Or Abandoned Workarounds

android app real project ••• trending

People who self-host Nextcloud want true automatic two-way folder sync on Android, edit a file on either side and both converge with conflicts handled. Nextcloud's own client still only does one-way auto-upload after a decade, so users cobble together a paid app, an opinionated one, or a discontinued peer-to-peer tool. The unmet need is a polished, free or cheap, per-folder-configurable WebDAV sync client people can actually trust with their files.

builder note

The trap is treating this as a sync-engine problem. EasySync already syncs fine, people still complain because nobody nailed trustworthy conflict resolution and per-folder direction control. Win on transparency and control over what moves where, not on the sync loop itself.

landscape (4 existing solutions)

Every option is a compromise, paid, opinionated, peer-to-peer, abandoned, or a different protocol entirely. The official Nextcloud client has punted on this for ten years, so demand keeps flowing to imperfect third parties and nobody has shipped the trustworthy, flexible, low-cost version users keep asking for.

EasySync Does true two-way sync but costs 2.99 dollars, is opinionated about what it syncs, gives no control over per-folder direction or custom local-to-remote folder mapping, and users report reliability problems.
FolderSync Generic WebDAV tool, not Nextcloud-aware, and genuine automatic two-way sync is locked behind the paid Pro tier.
Syncthing (and Syncthing-Fork) Peer-to-peer protocol, not WebDAV or Nextcloud, and the official Android app was discontinued in December 2024 leaving only a community fork.
DAVx5 Mounts WebDAV and handles contacts and calendar well, but file access is an on-demand mount, not real offline two-way folder synchronization.

sources (2)

other https://github.com/nextcloud/android/issues/19 "May i ask if this issue will be fixed?" 2016-06-14
other https://github.com/nextcloud/android/issues/11532 "Support real (and automatic) 2-way sync of folders" 2023-04-17
self-hostednextcloudfile-syncandroidprivacy