No deletions on android

[gutjuri (Juri)]

Hi,

I use Syncthing to sync my phone’s filesystem to my PC. This has always worked fine. However, a few days ago a bug appeared: deletions performed on the PC are no longer realised on the Phone.

An example (let A be the Pictures folder on my Phone and B be the Pictures folder on my PC):

1. I take a Picture (img.jpg) on the Phone (A’s contents: img.jpg, B: empty)
2. It gets synced to my PC (A: img.jpg, B: img.jpg)
3. I delete the Picture on my PC (A: img.jpg, B: empty)
4. img.jpg is NOT deleted on the phone. A never receives the update that img.jpg is to be deleted

Overall, this leaves the devices in an inconsistent state.

Is this a known problem? I am on syncthing version v1.21.0 and app version 1.21.0

Thanks for your time for investigation If more information is required (e.g. logs), please let me know.

[AudriusButkevicius]

By default android folders are of type send only, make sure it’s not that. If you want deletions to propagate back, set it to sendreceive.

[gutjuri (Juri)]

Thanks for your reply! The folder is set to send and receive. It also says “Your android version grants syncthing read and write access to the selected folder”.

Sending files from the PC to the phone works, however, deleting doesn’t. Sending and deleting from the the phone to the PC also works.

[tomasz86]

Can you post screenshots of the Syncthing Web GUI from both devices? On Android, you can open it using the left slide-out menu. Please make sure the folder is unfolded and local and global states are visible.

[gutjuri (Juri)]

From the PC:

From the Phone:

I should mention that there’s a third PC in the cluster (“gizbert”) which has not been turned on in a while

[tomasz86]

Judging by the screenshots, the two folders are 100% identical. Have you checked the folders in file explorer or the gallery app? If only in the latter, the I wouldn’t be surprised if you’ve been hit by https://github.com/syncthing/syncthing-android/issues/1818.

[gutjuri (Juri)]

You’re correct – and I’ve actually seen this exact Github Issue while researching a solution for the problem. I thought mine was different, because I’m still able to view the Images in question in the gallery app. However, when connecting the phone via USB and looking into the directories in question, the pictures are nowhere to be found. So you’re right!

As this seems to be a relatively recent problem, I guess I’ll have to wait for an update of the app. Thanks for your help!

[tomasz86]

Fixing this isn’t trivial, so in the meantime you may also want to look for a different gallery app, one that doesn’t use the MediaStore but rather just scans the filesystem for image files. For example, Simple Gallery Pro | F-Droid - Free and Open Source Android App Repository seems to do just that.

[gutjuri (Juri)]

Thanks for your advice. I’m not really into the inner workings of android, so I had no idea that using a different gallery app can fix the issue. Much appreciated!