this post was submitted on 07 Feb 2026
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Asking because of the latest issues with the maintainer.

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[–] Pika@sh.itjust.works 82 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago)

Personally, it seems like it's trustworthy again. The previous owner of the repo did eventually admit that they authorized the transfer, but, The entire transfer process was extremely sketchy and had no chain of custody or trust. It was just the repository got deleted, and then a few days later showed under a whole blank state again with a user with no profile, no contribution history, and it was just a trust me bro, I knew the original maintainer look I have the keys to prove it.

The maintainer of the Google Play build of it seems to trust them though, and they are established in the community, plus they archived their sync thing builds again in favor of just using one repo, so it's likely fine.

For future people wondering about it as well, it doesn't help that the new maintainer of the app has deleted every issue that had to do with the migration, so you no longer can research the issue for yourself. The only information you have available to you is the discussion chain listed on the community forums, But any type of issue that they link to were deleted.

Personally though, I plan on keeping my current version pinned to prior to the transfer until either I'm forced to update due to bugs or I feel comfortable with the current maintainer again. I'm not sure how long that will be.

For an app that contains very sensitive information, I was not impressed with how the transfer process underwent.

[–] probable_possum@leminal.space 27 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago) (3 children)

Verbose please? What happened?

E: thank you all. Especially lambdaRX' hint to a summary (comment 234 by GrabbenD) helped me.

[–] LambdaRX@sh.itjust.works 13 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago) (1 children)

In addition to others' replies there is also this thread, and the last post offers summary of the situation.

[–] icermiga@lemmy.today 2 points 2 months ago

Excellent link, thanks

[–] passenger@sopuli.xyz 3 points 2 months ago

I understood the repo changed hands in a shady way, with bad communication. Might be fine or not. I would also like to know, I'm not a user but was going to be just when it happened, and I postponed it

[–] jared@mander.xyz -3 points 2 months ago

Syncthing dropped the android version and someone forked it.

[–] Lemmchen@feddit.org 15 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago) (2 children)

Alternative if you can live with just the WebUI: SyncThing in Termux

[–] IratePirate@feddit.org 4 points 2 months ago

TYSM for the link! I'll probably switch to this.

[–] mexicancartel@lemmy.dbzer0.com 2 points 2 months ago

Can i use my old exported synthing app config to this?

[–] udon@lemmy.world 9 points 2 months ago

Given that they set up a new repo from scratch, this is a missed chance to just migrate to codeberg

[–] IratePirate@feddit.org 7 points 2 months ago (1 children)

The handoff (if you can call it that) was extremely sketchy, including the "explanation" on the Syncthing forums. Made me switch to Nel0x's fork of the app.

[–] paperd@lemmy.zip 11 points 2 months ago (2 children)

nel0x's fork is now archived.

[–] Lemmchen@feddit.org 11 points 2 months ago (1 children)

AFAIK nel0x and researchxxl work together on the reserchxxl repository now.

[–] tychosmoose@lemmy.world 3 points 2 months ago (2 children)

Do they? I don't see any nel0x PRs. I moved away from it out of an abundance of caution.

[–] ToTheGraveMyLove@sh.itjust.works 3 points 2 months ago

nel0x commented on that syncthing thread.

[–] paperd@lemmy.zip 2 points 2 months ago (1 children)

that's what nel0x has said.

[–] tychosmoose@lemmy.world 2 points 2 months ago
[–] IratePirate@feddit.org 2 points 2 months ago

Well, 🤬!

[–] slazer2au@lemmy.world 2 points 2 months ago (2 children)

Maybe? But if you use termux you can install the official Linux package and avoid the fork drama.

[–] IanTwenty@piefed.social 11 points 2 months ago

Presumably that can't handle things that the app adds like run conditions for wifi/mobile data though? I realise some may not care about that as much.

[–] SatyrSack@quokk.au 1 points 2 months ago (1 children)

I migrated from the Syncthing Fork app to the official Syncthing package in Termux, and it was a breeze. Is there any reason for preferring the app, other than being afraid of CLI?

[–] wltr@discuss.tchncs.de 6 points 2 months ago (1 children)

How does it handle the battery life? Is it run all the time or do you just start it to sync when you need it?

[–] SatyrSack@quokk.au 4 points 2 months ago (1 children)

I just have it constantly running in the background at all times. Every time I restart my phone, I manually open Termux and run the command syncthing. I haven't noticed any difference in battery life compared to when I used Syncthing Fork. It may possibly be better or worse, but not noticeably so.

[–] wltr@discuss.tchncs.de 1 points 2 months ago

Ok, thanks. It really sounds like a simple solution to the problem. I think even if it does drain battery for some reason (e.g. a repository with a huge number of files), this could be automated, like the on/off switch to run the app to sync and be done with it.

On iPhone, I use sushi train, and it does automated sync via Shortcuts (a built-in app for light automations), via timers or other events like charging. It works perfectly fine for my use case. It syncs my notes multiple times a night, plus during the day while on charge or when I join trusted WiFi networks. I expect the same can be achieved on an Android. So, really, the CLI version might do the job plenty good, I believe.

[–] sturmblast@lemmy.world 2 points 2 months ago (1 children)
[–] smileyhead@sh.itjust.works 2 points 2 months ago

Maybe it is, but as with any question about something containing malware or being compromised or not is not about an individual using it without problems ;).