Android SD card write permission - Syncthing vs. Nextcloud

First, I had Nextcloud installed where I wanted to sync a lot of stuff on my Android SD card. Then, I realized it syncs only in one direction: from the server to the phone.

Didn’t like that, so I switched to Syncthing. Here I found out, it syncs also only in one way, but the other direction: from the phone to the server only. Explanation is, that Android below I believe version 10 doesn’t permit writing access to the external SD card.

My question is now: Why does the Nextcloud app have write access but not Syncthing?

This is a convoluted problem, and you can find a lot of information about it if you search for “android sd card” on the forum and/or in the Syncthing-Android repository. In short, probably the only way to have two-way sync functioning in Syncthing on an SD card under Android 4.4-10 is to run it as root.

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I have the same problem with android devices, signage. They basically feed advertising screens. For that reason they are not conventional android. In firmwares 4.4 it works fine. But the new version 9 doesn’t allow sd writing. I have asked the factory for the delivery of rooted equipment, because I assume that the “write permissions” function will continue with failures or limitations on these devices

It works with Nextcloud. Nextcloud writes from the server to the android sd card. So I don’t get it why it won’t work with Syncthing.

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I forgot something. Try clearing the Syncthing app data. Start it again, in the welcome you have 3 screens, the second has a button to request “Writing Permissions”. Maybe you already did, it’s just a friendly suggestion.