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Comment by seszett | Hacker News Reader

My device is rooted and I use NeoBackup to backup apps with all their data (including what the app developer marked as "should not be backed up", often data that they would like you to backup on their own cloud instead).

Syncthing synchronises these backups to my home server automatically, as well as the phone's user data (photos, mainly).

The photos are additionally sent to Photoprism.

I avoid Google's cloud as much as I can.

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My device is not rooted, but I use Syncthing as well. I mainly sync my photos and my TOTP tokens (Aegis). The rest I don't care about.

I used Nextcloud sync in the past, but found it unreliable.

> I used Nextcloud sync in the past, but found it unreliable.

What was wrong about nextcloud sync? I'm just about to set it up for myself.

The sync would stall and I'd have to go retry, or it would fail with no error clear message. In the end, I had no idea what had really synched correctly. The app was unhappy if I deleted a photo too quickly.

With Syncthing, I sync to a directory that my Nextcloud user can access (a read-only mount), so I can still easily share photos using Nextcloud, for example.

(although it's unfortunate that the Android syncthing app is being retired. h/t for the heads up and the recommended alternatives)

Synchthing on Android is End of life, alas https://forum.syncthing.net/t/discontinuing-syncthing-androi...

Yes, very sad.

Two alternatives exist:

1. Syncthing-Fork (https://github.com/Catfriend1/syncthing-android) - Works just like the official app. Install from F-Droid or GitHub. Single developer but active.

2. Syncthing in Termux - Run the actual Syncthing program in Termux. Takes more setup but uses the standard version.

The fork is easier to use, while Termux needs more setup but gives you the standard Syncthing experience.

Are there any issues or tricks for syncthing in termux, for e.g. always running in the background?

Termux persists for me via a silent notification—is that what you mean?

Dows it auto start at boot?

There's Termux:Boot for that.

I have been using Syncthing fork since before the official app was discontinued, and can vouch for its quality. My favorite feature is that it allows conditional pausing of folders based on phone state, such as if the phone is charging or connected to WiFi. Just be warned that the version on Google Play was no longer updated last time I checked (Googles fault), so you're better downloading releases from the Github repo.

I did not know that.

Its a definitely problem for me.

Would you trust a restore of those “do not back up” data you have a copy of? Or is this for inspection only?

I just restored my backups a few weeks ago when I bought a new phone. It doesn't work for all apps (I knew it, it's far from the first time I do that) but I am satisfied with the results.

It does help sometimes for retrieving some data manually by digging through the backup files (used it recently for retrieving all invoices from a service that were otherwise only available one by one through a painfully complicated process).

My use case would be to get my WhatsApp database…. Anyone knows if it restores properly?

(Useful even if not … WhatsApp search is abysmal, the db file is much more useful)

Not sure if it restores well because I don't use WhatsApp anymore, but I checked in an old backup and somewhere in the files there's an SQLite3 database "msgstore.db" with a "messages" tables that contains messages.

also use NeoBackup, and it works pretty well for the most part.

Since your phone is rooted, how do you manage banking apps and other things that don't like working on a rooted device? How much work is involved in getting those to work?

I don't use banking apps, but you usually can get around this with Magisk's DenyList.

For my part I use Magisk, and a specific module for one bank.

The French and Belgian identity apps (France Identité and itsme) don't work though. When I really need them (which is rare) I have to use an old phone that's not rooted.

I was positively surprised that the German passport app worked rooted without denylist.

I'm running LineageOS, rooted, with MicroG' Safetynet emulation (of sorts?). So a build signed with userdebug keys.

Some banking apps just work - two with warning on first launch, and one just doesn't care at all.

Two refuse to run and I have an old unrooted phone for them. Resulting in me being a good customer of those three banks that are not fussy.

So try and see, perhaps things just work!

> My device is rooted

A problem in and of itself: brittle when upgrading, won't work with you banking app, etc...

Just install a couple Magisk modules and your banking app should work fine. At least mine does.

Sorry for a dumb question, what are those

Magisk is a way to handle root on Android, it allows to insert system modules to change some things deep in Android. There used to be a feature called Magisk Hide that could make apps unable to detect you were rooted. Now you have to install other modules to circumvent safety net and other checks. It's an arms race : google changes the way it detects things, and modules developers update their circumvention techniques. Try to search "magisk hide 2024" and you should find more information

To add to the existing comment, the solution I use, and I think the most popular solution right now is called Play Integrity Fix: https://github.com/chiteroman/PlayIntegrityFix/

I haven't had to touch it in about a year, but some apps may try harder to keep people from having control of their own devices.

This makes me want to switch back more than ever.

Banking web apps usually, mostly work just fine. The one exception is depositing checks. It's pretty rare that I need to do that these days, though.

Play Integrity Fix.

It's true that it makes some things more complicated, but it's a trade-off that I'm willing to make for the convenience and security of hosting my own backups.

I'm not rooted anymore, but my banking app worked fine when I was. Only the health insurance app (TK) had issues

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