duct taping Syncthing onto another program to achive iOS sync?

[IsThat]

Hello,

I am new to this getting it running between my Mac and Android. I am trying to de-google. I also have an iPad which I mostly use for the purposes of photography as the camera on my phone sucks. I was using Google Photos before and it worked beautifully, however I am now way too creeped out to continue.

I have seen that there are no plans for an iOS release due to lack of resources. My question is about combining Syncthing where it is supported with another option where it’s not.

For example if I used Resilio or Sync.com to go from iOS to Desktop, could I share the sync folder with Syncthing to the phone? Then everything would end up together?

Is there a reason why this shouldn’t work? Something that would be obvious to the smart people here who know about these things that wouldn’t be obvious to me? Baring that I’ll try it out but I don’t want to end up hosing all 3 somehow.

thank you!

[calmh (Jakob Borg)]

There’s no fundamental reason that wouldn’t work.

[sisa]

My own experience…

I never usesd Resilio or Sync.com, nor do I know about them. But I doubt, that it will be an “apple-like” aka “click and done” sync, if you use them in conjuction with syncthing.

I pers. used to use a synology NAS (and their DS File App) to (oneway) sync fotos from my IOS devices to the NAS. Syncthing then synced those two folders (iPhone+iPad) inside an “incoming fotos” folder on my MBP and a Win7 computer.

This was not really convenient, to set up, nor a real sync. It was just an automated "copy all you got from IOS devices to other devices.

It sometimes created doublettes and some other problems (i.e. fotos in IOS devices had uppercase extension, and when I lowercased/renamed them, problems occoured with syncthing. Also sometimes an IOS devices did not remembered correctly, which fotos where synced already (via DS File app, or DropBox App, or whatever App I used to get my fotos out of the IOS device to bypass any cloud).

A common problem is, although nowadays you can sync files/folders to apple devices, but you don’t see images or music in their foto- or music app automaticly. You have to put them in by hand, so syncing data is just on step.

So, by the time, I only use the apple cloud for fotos. And no hassle with syncing fotos from/to IOS and Mac OSX anymore. (But only Mac OSX or IOS, no windows)

You need to decide yourself, if you trust their service, or not… Also, you maybe need to buy extra GBs to your apple account…

I don’t own an android device, and the apple iCloud service on windows computers is also a one way sync only (copies fotos from iCloud to Win folder), so this is also not an “overall userfriendly sync”…

I guess, you have to try it yourself and spend some months with trial and (hopefully less) error.

[calmh (Jakob Borg)]

FWIW I’ve long had stuff in iCloud and then Syncthing’d that folder on a computer for further syncing.

[sisa]

Is that “stuff” photos or music which need to be “database’d” by iTunes.app or photos.app? or just normal independent data like pages/numbers/notes documents and some loose jpegs, which can be viewed with alsmost any program not living in the apple universe?

I’m asking, because I’m always interested in leaving a commercial cloud and have my own, but the drawbacks of fixing new and unknown problems, which come with each OSX minor update or patch, or program updates are not worth it, IMHO.

[calmh (Jakob Borg)]

No, iCloud Drive, so no databasing, just regular docs. I do the same now with OneDrive. Nothing to it really, just reaffirming that using sync product A between D1 and D2, and sync product B between D2 and D3 is generally fully cromulent.

[IsThat]

pers. used to use a synology NAS (and their DS File App) to (oneway) sync fotos from my IOS devices to the NAS.

I just went to synology.com and the have an animated favicon!! I didn’t even know you could do that anymore, it’s been so long since I have seen one. What an incredibly bad decision that makes them look super hokey. TIL nonobnoxious design is still a choice being made by everyone else.

Anyway thank you for all the feedback, sounds like no glaring reason not to go for it!