Nextcloud's public story of Play Store problems seems to have helped. //

Nextcloud, a host-your-own cloud platform that wants to help you "regain control over your data," has had to tell its Android-using customers for months now that they cannot upload files from their phone to their own servers. Months of emails and explanations to Google's Play Store representatives have yielded no changes, Nextcloud wrote in a blog post.

That blog post—and media coverage of it—seem to have moved the needle. In an update to the post, Nextcloud wrote that as of May 15, Google has offered to restore full file access permissions. "We are preparing a test release first (expected tonight) and a final update with all functionality restored. If no issues occur, the update will hopefully be out early next week," the Nextcloud team wrote. //

Nextcloud stated that it has had read and write access to all file types since its first Android app. In September 2024, a Nextcloud Android update with "all files access" was "refused out of the blue," with a request that the app use "a more privacy aware replacement," Nextcloud claimed. The firm states it has provided background and explanations but received "the same copy-and-paste answers or links to documentation" from Google.

"To make it crystal clear: All of you as users have a worse Nextcloud Files client because Google wanted that," reads Nextcloud's blog post. "We understand and share your frustration, but there is nothing we can do." //

HyperionAlphaMAX Seniorius Lurkius
7y
29
A similar app called Syncthing also got booted off the Play Store for the same reason. I still have it on my phone and it's a fantastic Cloud-free way to backup my phone to my NAS, even over the internet.

Permissions are supposed to be laid in front of me and then I can make an educated decision whether to install it or not. Why is Google blocking useful apps that can compete with their Cloud Storage while allowing data-slurping malware masquerading as shopping apps and games on the store? //

rorybaust Seniorius Lurkius
16y
18
Google now appear hellbent on proving that all the anti trust efforts by the authorities are not just political stunts and theater but actually have merit. Who would have thought that when Google dropped the "do no evil" mantra that they would actively pursue evil as a business strategy instead ?

and yes that last one was a rhetorical question indeed //