equivariant

Syncing files between Android and a Linux desktop

When I want to copy photos or other files from my Android (LineageOS) phone to my desktop computer, I typically plug in a USB cable and transfer with MTP. Today I was reminded of Syncthing by this Lobsters post, which allows you to sync folders between systems, including Android. Syncthing is available in the Arch Linux and F-Droid package repositories, so installation was simple. On my desktop, I enabled the systemd user service, as suggested on the Arch Wiki. On both ends, I disabled NAT traversal, global discovery, and relaying (leaving only local discovery), as I only intend to sync on my LAN. Device discovery and setting up the synced folders were straightforward.

It's a nice piece of software. Everything just works without any fuss.