Is Nextcloud the solution i am looking for?

[ddaenen1]

So i have a spare FreeNAS server and i have been looking for a while for a home-based cloud solution and tried some stuff on a Synology but not successful so i am wondering if nextcloud can provide a seamless sync solution for our iOS devices. I am looking for a solution that you install, set up and then the iOS users don't need any human interaction to sync their pics and video's with the cloud, similar to an icloud experience.

So far, the forum seems to focus on things that don't work with nextcloud but i am looking for the positive things, features experiences...

 

[sretalla]

More-or-less yes. Depends on exactly what you mean by no human interaction, but there are options to have photos synced. Plex also has that option.

You will need to ensure you use a reverse proxy to implement SSL in order to have good security.

 

[ddaenen1]

More-or-less yes. Depends on exactly what you mean by no human interaction, but there are options to have photos synced. Plex also has that option.

You will need to ensure you use a reverse proxy to implement SSL in order to have good security.

With no human interaction, i mean that no-one has to perform a specific action in order for the phone to sync with the cloud like i have with DS File on the synology. I need to open the app and connect in order for it to sync. I cannot be expecting that from my family if i want to replace their icloud with a home-cloud solution.

 

[danb35]

Nextcloud could do what you're looking for, but don't use the plugin--use my script instead, which (among other things) takes care of SSL for you.

 

[adrianwi]

Don't know whether it's my setup, but my iPhone pictures don't upload to my Nextcloud server unless I open the Nextcloud app. Perhaps I'm missing a setting somewhere, but either way, Nextcloud is brilliant and I'd be lost without my Nextcloud jail now.

 

[ddaenen1]

Don't know whether it's my setup, but my iPhone pictures don't upload to my Nextcloud server unless I open the Nextcloud app. Perhaps I'm missing a setting somewhere, but either way, Nextcloud is brilliant and I'd be lost without my Nextcloud jail now.

You write "upload". Is it uploading or syncing?

 

[danb35]

It uploads, by default new photos, though you can force the uploading of existing photos as well. But if you later delete them from your phone, the app won't then delete them from the server (which "sync" would imply). And both my iPhone and Android phone upload photos automatically.

 

[adrianwi]

From within the Nextcloud app you can set 'Auto upload photos/video'. This pushes any photos/video taken on your phone to the Nextcloud server you have configured. From within the App, you can browse the folders which the files are uploaded into, but if you were to add photos into those folders elsewhere (e.g via a browser) they wouldn't transfer back to the phone's photo app, so I don't really consider it a 'sync'

 

[ddaenen1]

From within the Nextcloud app you can set 'Auto upload photos/video'. This pushes any photos/video taken on your phone to the Nextcloud server you have configured. From within the App, you can browse the folders which the files are uploaded into, but if you were to add photos into those folders elsewhere (e.g via a browser) they wouldn't transfer back to the phone's photo app, so I don't really consider it a 'sync'

Then it probably isn't what i am looking for. I want a 2 way sync. If the memory of one of the phones is full, i want to be able to remove pictures from the server which would then free up memory in the phone after syncing.

 

[adrianwi]

No, it doesn't work like that.

 

[danb35]

If the memory of one of the phones is full, i want to be able to remove pictures from the server which would then free up memory in the phone after syncing.

That seems like kind of a backward way to go about it--why not just remove the pictures from the phone in question?

 

[ddaenen1]

That seems like kind of a backward way to go about it--why not just remove the pictures from the phone in question?

Either way, if i remove them from the phone, i also want them to be removed from the cloud.

 

[danb35]

That seems like an odd requirement, but that's your decision. But if that's the behavior you want, no, Nextcloud doesn't work that way, at least not with the current versions of the mobile apps.

 

[ddaenen1]

That seems like an odd requirement, but that's your decision. But if that's the behavior you want, no, Nextcloud doesn't work that way, at least not with the current versions of the mobile apps.

Well, the behavior i would ideally want is that my cloud and my iphone are completely synced. This is how it works with icloud, onedrive and probably also others.

 

[adrianwi]

I'm pretty sure the default behaviour for iCloud Photos isn't like you describe as all of the pictures remain in the cloud. When you start running out of space on the phone, it automatically removed some photos from the device, but they are still available in the cloud. Why would you want to lose your photos just because you we running low on space?

I've got way more photos on my NAS and Nextcloud than on my phone, which wouldn't even begin to hold them all. Pretty much the same for all my media, whether it be photos, video, music, etc.

 

[ddaenen1]

I'm pretty sure the default behaviour for iCloud Photos isn't like you describe as all of the pictures remain in the cloud. When you start running out of space on the phone, it automatically removed some photos from the device, but they are still available in the cloud. Why would you want to lose your photos just because you we running low on space?

And this is exactly why i want to get rid of iCloud. The phone typically hasn't got an issue with storage space but iCloud does and i don't want spend any money on buying extra expensive iCloud space so the iPhone stops uploading them to the iCloud which basically means there is no backup in case the phone breaks down, is lost or worst case, stolen.

I decided to give Nextcloud a shot and see where it will go.

 

[danb35]

The phone typically hasn't got an issue with storage space but iCloud does

...but Nextcloud's storage space is limited only by the space you're willing or able to give it on your server. Hard drives are cheap.

 

[ddaenen1]

...but Nextcloud's storage space is limited only by the space you're willing or able to give it on your server. Hard drives are cheap.

That is correct and i have more than enough of storage on my 2 Supermicro FreeNAS servers hence the reason i am looking at FreeNAS for a solution to replace iCloud.

 

[adrianwi]

So in that case, Nextcloud will allow you to save all of the photos and video from your phone, and then upload further changes as they are made. If won't automatically remove them from the phone if you delete them from Nextcloud, but I still can't see why you'd want to do that if space isn't an issue on the Nextcloud server.

 

[ddaenen1]

So in that case, Nextcloud will allow you to save all of the photos and video from your phone, and then upload further changes as they are made. If won't automatically remove them from the phone if you delete them from Nextcloud, but I still can't see why you'd want to do that if space isn't an issue on the Nextcloud server.

I am having a go at it. It will take some time though. It seems setting up next cloud is not a walk in the park.