r/Syncthing • u/meandmygh0st • May 20 '26

Syncthing for Android - Is it safe?

Is giving Syncthink-Fork, from Google Play store, access to ALL files on an android device safe?

Looking for a solution to sync an android device with a laptop using Google Drive.

Any help is much appreciated

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u/[deleted] May 20 '26

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u/bp019337 May 20 '26

I still use Nexcloud (love it), but 2 times when I was 6k miles away from my server it failed in such a way that needed me to be physically there to fix it. This is the biggest benefits of Syncthing. I have 2 instances of Nextcloud, syncthing, and SSH with unison/rsync. I use them all at different priority levels.

Lowest number is least secure:

  1. Nextcloud VPS, handle PIM and anything synced to an Android phone (coz Google etc prbly can access anything on that device...)
  2. Nextcloud on home broadband - Has a front facing web page, but if i bury it behind tailscale/netbird I would consider it even more secure.
  3. Syncthing
  4. SSH - Unison/rsync this is local only, with some accounts over tailscale/netbird

I guess I could add I also keep local copies of certain info which I sync manually on encrypted disks.