Skip the Cloud and Sync Your Files Anywhere With SyncThing

Do you want to share files between devices, keep them synced up, and avoid using cloud services to do the job? SyncThing has your back.

Countless modern cloud services enable access to your files everywhere. However, they share a catch: you're giving access to your files to a third party. Thankfully, there are other ways to achieve the same goal. One of the best is SyncThing.

With SyncThing, you remain in control of your data. You can be the single person with access to your files or share them with others. You can share a single folder between your PC and smartphone or create a complex sharing setup in a multi-device network. And did we mention it's open-source and free?

So, let's see how you can use it to share your data between your own devices, with no third parties peeking over your shoulder.

How to Skip the Cloud With SyncThing

If you're a fan of Apple's devices, we saw in the past how you can use AirDrop to transfer files from an iPhone to a Mac. If you're in a multi-device household and need to access the same data from Windows, Macs, iOS devices, or even gaming consoles, you could set up a network shared folder on Ubuntu with Samba.

However, although such solutions allow you to access files on a device from another, they don't sync them. For that, you have to use something like Dropbox or Google Drive.

The problem with such cloud services, though, is that they rely on third-party servers. That's slower and more unreliable than a direct connection among your devices, and also means you're giving access to your data to a third party. SyncThing can be the solution to those problems.

SyncThing is available on most OSes, from Windows and Linux to FreeBSD. You can also find both official and unofficial versions on Android and iOS. So, you can probably share data between all your devices.

However, the increased screen space means it's better to initially set up SyncThing on your computer instead of your smartphone. You'll have quicker and easier access to its options this way - but it is possible to go the other way, as well. For this guide, we'll use SyncThing on a Windows 10 PC and an Android smartphone.

SyncThing offers a native Windows version, but it only comes with a web interface. For a more familiar "desktop-app experience", it's suggested you go for a forked version with a built-in GUI, like SyncTrayzor. Although it's not the official app, you can download it too from SyncThing's site.

Run the downloaded executable and install SyncThing on your PC. If asked, remember to grant it firewall access, or it won't be able to connect to the rest of your devices.

During SyncTrayzor's first run, security-conscious users might want to deny sending anonymous usage reports.

With the core "sharing engine" in place, the next step is defining what should be shared.

Sharing Folders on PC

SyncTrayzor will already have a Default Folder set up, but it won't be shared right now. We'll skip it to see how you can set up and share any folder from scratch.

With SyncTrayzor's interface active, click on the Add Folder button under the default folder in the Folders section, on the left.

While in the General tab of the new dialog that shows up, enter a name for your shared folder in the Folder Label field. Then, enter the full path to the folder in Folder Path.

Move to the File Versioning tab and change No File Versioning to Simple File Versioning, equivalent to simple backup functionality. We won't cover how it works, but the gist is that it allows you to revert any file to its past incarnations.

After enabling a file versioning approach, the section expands with related options. The defaults are okay for Simple File Versioning. Still, you might want to change the number of past file versions you'd like to have available under Keep Versions.

Pay a visit to the Advanced tab and ensure Watch for Changes is enabled. Set the Folder Type to Send & Receive for bidirectional exchange of data. You can also change from the File Pull Order menu how the app prioritizes which files to transfer first. For example, by setting it to Newest First, you'll have access to your latest files before the folder they're in is fully synchronized.

Finally, click on the Save button on the bottom right of the dialog to create your shared folder.

SyncThing on Your Smartphone

For Windows and most casual users, it's better to use SyncThing's SyncTrayzor fork. It's a similar story on Android, where Syncthing-Fork offers more features and is somewhat easier to use than the official version. Thus, we'll go with that for this guide.

Install Syncthing-Fork on your Android device and run it. It will already have registered your smartphone's default photo folder as one you can potentially share. You'll also see an extra "Obsidian Vaults" folder in our screenshots, where you can keep notes—feel free to ignore it.

Move to the DEVICES tab and tap on the button at the top right of the screen to add a new device.

Return to your PC and choose Show ID from the Actions menu at the top right of SyncTrayzor's interface.

A QR code with your PC's ID will appear on your screen.

Turn your attention to your smartphone, and note how the first field in the Add Device page is empty and has a small icon with a QR code next to it. Tap on that icon and point your smartphone's camera to the QR code on your PC's screen to read its ID. When done, tap on the checkmark on the top right of your Android smartphone's screen. This will link your PC and your smartphone and allow sharing folders between them.

SyncTrayzor will ask you if you want to allow the device "pinging it" to connect. Click on Add Device to create a SyncThing connection between it and your PC.

You can skip the manual setup of your folders if, while adding your smartphone to SyncThing, you move to the Sharing tab. You'll see a list of the folders you've "registered" in SyncThing that aren't shared yet with this particular device. Place a checkmark next to the ones you'd like to share. In our case, it was a single folder named "Takeaway".

Back on the Android side of things, Syncthing-Fork might not immediately detect or show your newly shared folder. Tap on its menu button on the top left of the screen and choose Web GUI. This will open the actual SyncThing web interface in your smartphone's default browser.

The first thing you'll see there is a prompt at the very top about a new folder. Tap on Add to do so.

Go through the available options and ensure they match the settings for the folder on your PC.

Your devices will start syncing almost immediately after linking them and sharing a folder between them. You can click or tap on your shared folder to "unfold" it and see its details and syncing status.

On your Android smartphone, newly shared folders are stored by default in the root folder of your device's internal storage. You can access them with any file manager.

As a next step, for an even more unified experience, maybe it would also be worth checking our guide on how to sync the clipboard across Android and PC.

Files Everywhere, Without the Cloud

You can add even more devices to the mix, for example, sharing one folder between your laptop and PC, and also sync a second one with your smartphone. Or, maybe, you'd want to have a bidirectional connection between two smartphones, sharing all photos between them, but only "push" those photos to a laptop. SyncThing allows you to control where and how you're sharing your data.

The price to pay is that by skipping cloud servers, your devices have to occasionally connect directly, having access to the same local network to facilitate data exchange. However, that's not a significant problem: turn them on with SyncThing active for at least 5 minutes at home, and you should be set.

It is much better than having a file hosting provider ask you to change your password because someone gained access to its servers (and your data). Again.

Still, you should keep in mind that syncing is not the answer to everything. If you lose your smartphone before you sync your files with your PC, you'll also lose some of your precious files. Even with syncing properly working among your devices, you should also always keep backups of all your important data. You never know when you might need them.

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