# SyncUp: an android and iOS Syncthing client **URL:** https://forum.syncthing.net/t/syncup-an-android-and-ios-syncthing-client/26580 **Category:** Development **Created:** [April 18, 2026, 2:28pm UTC](https://forum.syncthing.net/t/syncup-an-android-and-ios-syncthing-client/26580 "2026-04-18T14:28:06Z") **Posts on this page:** 1 **Showing post:** 15
### Author: ![JipHop](https://forum.syncthing.net/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/j/ed8c4c/32.png) [@JipHop](https://forum.syncthing.net/u/JipHop) #### Post date: [May 4, 2026, 4:34pm UTC](https://forum.syncthing.net/t/syncup-an-android-and-ios-syncthing-client/26580/15 "2026-05-04T16:34:11Z")
The more file-centered, the better IMHO. [What Spacedrive envisions](http://v2.spacedrive.com) is probably my ideal solution. I use Syncthing for cross platform syncing between Mac/Windows/Linux devices. It’s the most reliable/performant solution for me. But on my phone I actually don’t need sync at all. Basically I’d be happy with on demand file access with thumbnail preview and file management (including [deleting files from the Global State without downloading them locally first](https://forum.syncthing.net/t/feature-request-delete-file-before-its-downloaded/14726/9)). Photo back-up (with [PhotoKit Background Resource Upload](https://developer.apple.com/documentation/photokit/uploading-asset-resources-in-the-background)) would be a bonus. I’m fine even with a centralized setup + VPN, just for phone access. [Synctrain has photo-backup](https://github.com/pixelspark/sushitrain/blob/main/Docs/photo-fs.md#photo-folders) but I haven’t tried it as the disk space limitation turns me off. Synctrain has thumbnail support too and can cache them inside a `.thumbnails` directory inside a shared folder. But it seems my iPhone has to sync the entire `.thumbnails` directory to be able to benefit from it, which doesn’t fit on the phone. [On-demand thumbnail downloading from a (shared) thumbnail folder was being considered](https://forum.syncthing.net/t/beta-test-my-new-ios-app-for-syncthing/22457/141). I’d been hosting Nextcloud on top of the folders synced by Syncthing, just to be able to access them from my phone with a native iOS app. Now I’m transitioning to OpenCloud because it does what I need out of the box without having to install lots of plugins. But if there’s an app which talks directly Syncthing and works more like a virtual file provider (with thumbnail support) I’d happily switch to that. 🙂 Still very interested to follow the development of native Syncthing clients for iOS/Android 😃 --- _[View the full topic](https://forum.syncthing.net/t/syncup-an-android-and-ios-syncthing-client/26580)._