Thanks for the update, the photo sync is a godsend!
One quick question, does it just copy the photos to sync in the syncthing folder and leaves them there? Or does it delete the copies locally on the phone? I’m worried it might duplicate the space taken by my photos if it maintains a copy of every single synced photo in another folder.
Currently it just exports a copy from the photo album. It should be relatively easy to add an option to also delete the source photo after succesful export - for this version I wanted to be sure the save function works well first.
(Another less risky option would be for the app to put all exported files in a separate album in the Photos app, from which you can delete them all at once if you need the space.).
Sure, better be safe than sorry! I will be eagerly waiting for that automatic deleting option after succesful transfers - my iPhone has limited storage 
Does that mean if I have 30GB of images I will require another 30GB of storage for the Synctrain copies? Because that won’t work for me.
If the images are synced directly from the camera roll with minimal additional storage then this could be useful.
Currently that is how it works (and how it works for me: I copy photos, then delete the originals myself when I need disk space).
However as mentioned, there will be options for deleting photos automatically or marking them as synced (by putting them in a specific album).
Note that MobiusSync is also adding photo sync, using a different approach that does not require copying (but, from a technical POV, seems a bit more fragile to me - it may involve keeping a cache somewhere of exported files, I don’t know what they do exactly. They are using a read-only pluggable Syncthing fsType and support send-only folders only). You may want to try that.
ok i tried the latest version of this app but i wonder if u plan to add sync external folders like möbius does. is it in the roadmap? it is essential feature for me because Obsidian.md wouldnt work without it
In general I find comments phrased like this very unproductive. There are always scenarios the app is not going to support and saying it is ‘crucial’ or ‘essential’ just for you is just not going to make this higher priority for me, sorry. I have a ton of things that are essential for myself that I will definitely spend my own free time on before getting to yours. If it is actually crucial to you, you are probably also willing to pay for development, and I am happy to send you a quote.
Also in this case: just use Mobius if it does what you want.
Tecnhnically speaking the feature you want is almost there (the macOS build can do it). On iOS there is some more permission stuff to deal with, and I want this to be reliable before I offer it as a feature in the app.
Thanks dude! I will give it a stress test with “Tomachi Fanclub Server” account. Would you like an invite?
Good news: v1.3 has been accepted by app review and is now live. In addition to upgrading Syncthing (v1.27.13) and making core features more robust, it brings an improved UI on iPad, a photo sync function, symlink support, along with other goodies.
Editing addresses and purging photos after saving them to a folder are ready for the next version - keep an eye on TestFlight if you want to try those features.
I just discovered Synctrain and it sounds amazing. I’m super stoked to see an open-source syncthing client for iOS. Thanks for all the hard work!
I’m wondering if it will actually solve the problem I have. Basically, I need two iOS apps to access the same content – a syncing app (Synctrain/etc) and my notes app (Obsidian).
I use SyncThing to sync my Obsidian vaults between multiple Macs, Linux Server, and Android devices. But I now am adding an iPad and haven’t found a way to sync it via SyncThing.
The simplest solution would be to use ObsidianSync, but I’ve been using syncthing for years and everything works great. I’d really rather not switch to a different syncing solution.
My understanding is that Obsidian doesn’t work with MobiusSync because both apps sandbox their file storage space. Would Synctrain have the same problem?
I also read that the Working Copy app (which syncs via git) works with Obsidian because Working Copy is a file provider in iOS, meaning it acts like a folder in the Files app. But I haven’t tested this yet. Here’s an overview of how it works:
Is Synctrain an iOS file provider? Is there a chance it might work? I’ve got it syncing my folder, but I’m not having luck exposing the folder to Obsidian like Working Copy seems to be able to do. I am able to View a file, then share it to Obsidian, but that appears to import a new copy into Obsidian.
I don’t know Obsidian, but iirc Mobius allows synchronizing (files in) other app’s containers, so that should work. Similar functionality is coming in the macOS build of Synctrain and I am investigating the possibilities on iOS.
No, Synctrain just syncs files to folders to and from its own ‘public’ files container (meaning you can see these in the Files app and read/write the files from other apps if they use the default file picker). If apps insist on having files inside their own container (usually because they like full control over them), Synctrain would need access to these containers in order to sync them (which, again because MobiusSync appears to implement it, should be possible in iOS, but of course also depends on whether the app likes having its files managed externally - i.e. in case there are conflicts).
As far as I understand it a ‘file provider’ on iOS can only temporarily provide another app access to specific files and folders (and as such is actually less useful than direct access to files stored on the device in the Synctrain folder). A file provider would be useful to i.e. provide on-demand access to files from inside other apps, but this is a different scenario from what you are looking for.