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Want to sync files from Linux PC to Android phone
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this post was submitted on 02 May 2026
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I've used SyncThing for over a year from Graphene to, well, any computer I have. But I've never been able to work out: is it possible to set ST so that it doesn't take up space on a device, like how cloud storage platforms do?
Not really.
Resilio has a Selective Sync feature, where it keeps an index at each client, and you select which files to sync in the moment. Works very well, I use it to access (mostly) all my media files (but actually any file on my NAS).
I don't replace Syncthing with it because it's very memory intense (keeps the index in ram) and notably harder on battery than Syncthing.
But it works very well - it could replace Syncthing if you wanted.
No. For that you probably want some kind of cloud drive client like Nextcloud. Seems like it supports that scenario, but I've never used it and their Android app docs link is broken.
what you want is Syncthing Lite: https://f-droid.org/packages/com.github.catfriend1.syncthinglite
@djdarren @frongt That's not how SyncThing is designed. It's intended to be a full mirror.
I kind of emulate what you're talking about with restic's mount command. It's a lot less intuitive than what you'd get from a cloud storage platform, but it's Good Enough For Me. If you want to match cloud storage, you probably want nextcloud or seafile or something.
Yeah, I figured as much. I do have Nextcloud on my server, and probably should get around to shifting most of what's in my SyncThing over to it.
Maybe set up an SMB share or something? I’m generally happy with syncthing, but every now and then I do just want to dump files off device. For that I keep a share running over Tailscale (Headscale soon™) and use that in a pinch.
No, I currently use Syncthing to sync my documents and music folders between my devices. If there's something else, like the clips I make when playing with friends, the computer automatically syncs them to my Seafile instance with their sync client.
That way I can easily share the folder and check it on my phone using the app. If you don't encrypt the drive it will show up and be navigable in your files app, without taking space (at least if you use the stock gos files app)
Can't mount networked filesystem's in android, but you can use a file browser app to emulate the same thing.