Syncthing IOS Use Cases

[hkfuertes]

Quick open question here... How do you use Syncthing in your iPhone or iPad? I'm not asking the technical part, but rather what purpose does it serve to you?

At first I was thinking in backing up my photos... but I already have immich installed (obviously if some day its not free, I will come to syncthing for this)... apart from photos... how do you use syncthing? or... what for?

Just curious, as I want to use it, its far more quick than nextcloud (php) or immich... but this 2 solutions offer me more to me...

[pixelspark]

I use it to ensure I can access my personal files everywhere on all my devices, whenever I need them, without reliance on VPNs or third party services. This concerns a set of files I sync to most devices (mostly documents). For larger media folders (i.e. photos, and large collections of video clips I shot while e.g. on vacation or flying the drone) I rely on the on-demand streaming feature. The files are hosted on machines that are physically separated and I want to automatically enjoy the quickest connection speeds wherever I am.

I use photo backup too, because my photo collection is (old fashioned I guess) still mostly file/directory based. Also I want control over what is exported (no app in between potentially downscaling images).

[sluedecke]

I use it on iPad, my Android phone and my laptop:

• Automatic backup of all photos / videos taken on Android
• Quick and exceptionally easy way to make files available on the go (and vice versa) whenever I don't want to lug around my laptop (think QR codes for shipments I do, PDF files I want to read on the go, music I produced and want to listen on the go)
• Easy way to get recorded videos from my iPad to my Linux laptop without using any cables. Same is true for scribbles done on the iPad. No icloud required!
• iPad makes is easy to scan a document to PDF. It has made my hardware scanner obsolete and I get the result synced to my laptop in seconds

Synching is a key app to my usage of devices and it frees me from any corporate cloud and associated price tags: Google Drive, icloud, Microsoft drive, you name it, I don't need it.

It is truly cross platform. That's a unique feature as well.

[jtulak]

I am still testing it and figuring potential usecases but so far:

• photos backup
• synchronize notes (Obsidian)
• synchronize Keepass database

I run it against a Syncthing node on Synology, because their apps are far less useful for anything else than "download a remote file" on iOS.