Edit: Thanks for all the suggestions. I’m going to try sticking with syncthing and try the fork of the UI and see if that keeps everything working.
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I want to sync files between my linux PC and Android phones (mostly for Obsidian notes).
Can anyone recommend a good real-time sync?
I’ve been trying syncthing, but despite turning off battery optimization for the app, it rarely sees the phone as connected. I don’t want to have to remember to check syncthing every time I edit a note.
I use resilio for syncing between PCs but it looks like it has a high battery usage on the phone, as if it is frequently polling for changes.
I use FolderSync for occasional scheduled syncs (e.g. updating my MP3s from the server to my phone), but a scheduled sync either is frequent enough to affect battery or it risks sync conflicts.
Cloud services such as OneDrive, Dropbox and Google Drive don’t show up as big battery drains, so I assume that they use change notifications from the OS instead.
Are there any real-time 2-way sync apps for phone that don’t have big battery drain and are not for cloud providers?
Do you use it on a phone too? I did find it tricky to set up (more options than I really need, and the phone app settings don’t really work unless you select “Web UI”, which is really strange), but I didn’t mind the setup if I could then leave it alone and it works. Ideally I want to set this up on other family phones, so I can update notes and they appear everywhere.
For me that can be more specific. If I select the offending notification (either in the settings for notifications history or directly in the notification area) I can disable that specific type of notification. For instance deals from Amazon or eBay or something like connection established from tailscale.
Are you sure that there are different type of notification for Syncthing? Have you disable the persistent one and still received a failed sync one (or something else)?
Good to know. If I can get it working reliably, it will be worth sticking with. Someone suggested it might just not be auto-starting on reboots. I’m trying the fork of the UI on f-droid to see if it helps.
Yeah, phone to laptop, and I recently synced all backups and files from an old phone to a new one, too. Once you have the computer setup, you can basically connect phones by reading its QR code.
If the official Syncthing Android app is giving you a hard time, maybe try Syncthing-fork? IIRC that’s only the daemon and web GUI wrapped as an app. But I’ve used the main app only for the past few years.
Perhaps your phone has extra aggressive battery saving settings that kill the background process? The official Syncthing has a setting to run as a persistent service, which always helped me.
Otherwise see if you can make system exceptions for the app to run in the background, and allow it to auto-sync. It’s been a while since I used the forked app, buy it did help me out on a device where the official didn’t work for me.
I prefer Syncthing-fork for some more straightforward configuration. Mainly the three button options equating to “follow the run conditions, damnit”, “run damnit”, and “stop damnit”
I have a different app for photos, but SyncThing on my phone, and on my desktop, and again on one of my home servers, do most of the download and data syncing.
Occasionally I’ll have to manually run SyncThing; I’m not certain that Android is reliably starting it after reboots, but for the most part it just does it’s thing really reliably. There is a lag; it can take a few minutes for changes to sync - it’s not immediate. For me, this isn’t a problem, and I’d rather that than a battery suck, so I haven’t messed with it.
I could live with a few minutes, but it’s showig as offline for days. Maybe it is failing after a reboot. At least that would be a known situation to watch for.
In my experience syncthing is always a bit like that using the default discovery settings.
I use a hub & spoke set up now. Instead of A, B, and C all connecting to each other directly, they only connect to D. I also input the address for D specifically instead of using discovery servers.
Honestly, I think Android is fucked for debugging stuff like this. I installed a program on mine and my wife’s phones - different makes & models - and configured them exactly the same, including the app settings in the OS. Mine works perfectly and barely shows up in battery use, near the bottom. Her’s drains her battery even when she’s not using it, regularly running at 50% of total battery consumption.
With Android YMMV is the rule, rather than the exception. There’s just too many variables.
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I’d really recommend giving Syncthing a second chance, twist a few knobs in the settings until it works. I’ve used it for years with barely a hitch.
Do you use it on a phone too? I did find it tricky to set up (more options than I really need, and the phone app settings don’t really work unless you select “Web UI”, which is really strange), but I didn’t mind the setup if I could then leave it alone and it works. Ideally I want to set this up on other family phones, so I can update notes and they appear everywhere.
I keep multiple phones in sync, with hundreds of gigs synced every day.
Have you found a way to get rid of the notification and keep Syncthing running in background?
Just hide it in your OS notification settings
But in this way I don’t get any notification if something goes wrong
I think any issues would show in “other”
Daaaaamn, was that so easy to just disable “Syncthing active”?
Let’s try! Thanks
For me that can be more specific. If I select the offending notification (either in the settings for notifications history or directly in the notification area) I can disable that specific type of notification. For instance deals from Amazon or eBay or something like connection established from tailscale.
Are you sure that there are different type of notification for Syncthing? Have you disable the persistent one and still received a failed sync one (or something else)?
Tbh no I am not sure for synching. But I thought it was the case there as well.
Good to know. If I can get it working reliably, it will be worth sticking with. Someone suggested it might just not be auto-starting on reboots. I’m trying the fork of the UI on f-droid to see if it helps.
Yeah, phone to laptop, and I recently synced all backups and files from an old phone to a new one, too. Once you have the computer setup, you can basically connect phones by reading its QR code.
If the official Syncthing Android app is giving you a hard time, maybe try Syncthing-fork? IIRC that’s only the daemon and web GUI wrapped as an app. But I’ve used the main app only for the past few years.
Fork works much better on Android, largely because it moves sync conditions into the individual sync jobs (what ST calls folders).
I have the phones connected, but the app just decides to disconnect and stay that way until I check it. I’ll give that fork a try, thanks!
Perhaps your phone has extra aggressive battery saving settings that kill the background process? The official Syncthing has a setting to run as a persistent service, which always helped me.
Otherwise see if you can make system exceptions for the app to run in the background, and allow it to auto-sync. It’s been a while since I used the forked app, buy it did help me out on a device where the official didn’t work for me.
Hope this helps.
I prefer Syncthing-fork for some more straightforward configuration. Mainly the three button options equating to “follow the run conditions, damnit”, “run damnit”, and “stop damnit”
Thanks. I’m giving that a try!
It’s the main way I sync my phone.
I have a different app for photos, but SyncThing on my phone, and on my desktop, and again on one of my home servers, do most of the download and data syncing.
Occasionally I’ll have to manually run SyncThing; I’m not certain that Android is reliably starting it after reboots, but for the most part it just does it’s thing really reliably. There is a lag; it can take a few minutes for changes to sync - it’s not immediate. For me, this isn’t a problem, and I’d rather that than a battery suck, so I haven’t messed with it.
I could live with a few minutes, but it’s showig as offline for days. Maybe it is failing after a reboot. At least that would be a known situation to watch for.
In my experience syncthing is always a bit like that using the default discovery settings.
I use a hub & spoke set up now. Instead of A, B, and C all connecting to each other directly, they only connect to D. I also input the address for D specifically instead of using discovery servers.
With this set up I’ve never had any drama.
Honestly, I think Android is fucked for debugging stuff like this. I installed a program on mine and my wife’s phones - different makes & models - and configured them exactly the same, including the app settings in the OS. Mine works perfectly and barely shows up in battery use, near the bottom. Her’s drains her battery even when she’s not using it, regularly running at 50% of total battery consumption.
With Android YMMV is the rule, rather than the exception. There’s just too many variables.