Fuck web services and why BasicSync is excellent
With only 122 days (at the time of writing) until Google locks down Android, I almost feel like talking about mobile apps is a bit futile. Personally, I don’t even know what I’ll do when my phone cuts me off from F-Droid, and furthermore, what will happen to the quality and variety of FOSS apps on mobile. I use my phone a decent amount at work when I’m on my break, and I’ve come to rediscover RSS as a way to find longer-form reading material than what social media offers. RSS will almost certainly remain available post-lockdown, but whether I’ll move over to a proper, grown-up operating system for my phone, or just use it much, much less, remains to be seen. FOSS phones tend to be a bit more expensive than I like to spend on a mobile device, but maybe the time has come to get over that. Time will tell. Who knows, maybe Google might see sense, although I doubt it.
That notwithstanding, I was reminded by Drew’s post titled Fuck web services that we should be limiting our reliance on web services as much as possible. I have sadly come to realise that a service I used to use and admire, Newsblur, has become enshittified. This saddens me greatly, but really it’s only an indictment of the times. It used to be a free service (both FOSS and free as in beer), with a supporter tier priced at $1 a month. Now Newsblur has a tiered pricing system, typical of the coercive pricing structures we’ve seen in big tech services. Fuck Newsblur. For those looking for an RSS reader recommendation, I heartily recommend Newsboat for the Linux command line. In addition to that, I use the Lynx web browser to read posts, as I find a text browser gets rid of most of the noise of today’s enshittified websites. I can also recommend the Dillo web browser for the same reasons in graphical environments.
As a result of this general disappointment in web services, I’ve been thinking about reducing my workflow’s reliance on them. One web service I’ve come to use is Filen. They seem like a decent company, with good prices, an appreciation for FOSS, and Linux support. Of course, as we have seen with Newsblur (and other formerly good™ companies like Gandi.net), things can always go downhill, but for now, Filen acts as a good off-site place to store my files for a reasonable price. The one downside, however, is that their mobile app is not as robust as I’d like. It mostly works, but it’s a little janky and feels more like a web app than a proper app. That’s no big deal, as their desktop client is perfectly usable. It would be nice if I could use more native Linux ways to access my files on Filen, but their current service is certainly good enough for me.
That being said, open source hero Syncthing is something I’ve been playing with over the past day or so. I’ve used it quite a lot before, so this is a use case I’m returning to, but with one slight difference. Those who follow Syncthing on mobile will know that there’s no official app that’s supported. There’s the well-known Syncthing-Fork, which I’ve used before and is perfectly good. It was last updated on 6th April 2026 (at the time of writing), so it’s current enough for me. There’s also Syncthing-Lite, which I’ve not used. It was last updated on 22nd November 2025, which is still relatively recent for my needs. It works a little differently from what I expect, as it seems to focus on reading Syncthing folders and syncing on a more selective basis. That’s not really what I need for my workflow—I’d prefer a small directory on my desktop and phone (and perhaps at some point my server) that I just keep fully synced, essentially an easy way to move files around my devices.
The bit about BasicSync
Instead, I landed on BasicSync, which operates similarly to Syncthing-Fork except for one big difference: it only fires up the Syncthing service and uses Syncthing’s built-in web UI to manage folders and devices. The project page says: “The app is intentionally kept very basic so that the project is easy to maintain and keep updated. BasicSync only controls when Syncthing runs. The actual configuration is done through Syncthing’s own web UI.” In my opinion, this is an excellent and minimalist way to approach the app’s design. I’m always a bit wary when small FOSS projects try to take on large challenges when goals can be achieved with smaller, simpler applications. BasicSync seems wise to this and looks like a really good approach to keeping Syncthing healthy on mobile. So far, I’ve had zero issues, and I feel like this is the right choice for me.
The files I need to move across from phone to desktop are really just photos and the occasional bit of music. I don’t use my phone for a whole lot outside of communications and RSS with FeedFlow, but for what I do, I want to use more FOSS tools and fewer web services.