Make NextCloud integration an upcoming top priority

Feature Requests
1

Along with the significant amount of issues and confusion discussed across diverse topics concerning NextCloud integration ( listed by the end ) some notes on the current state of usability and issues encountered for further development and improvements.

At the current state, NextCloud integration - as a preferred service for data retention - still requires a significant bit of work regarding :

  • straight-forward setup
  • de-cluttered menus
  • reliability of synced contents
  • workflow-oriented, coherent UI integration into SailfishOS

Great if an advanced integration could serve as a reference approach for other services in future …
But it’ll probably become quite unconvincing, if nothing would ever happen to further development goals of NextCloud integration to begin with.

Further development should employ actually set up environments for testing.

Setup of review :
SFOS 5.2.0.22 ( Jolla Phone 2026 )
Nextcloud Hub 26 Spring 34.0.0/.5
php 8.2.35
HostOS: Linux 6.18.53 x86_64

Experience based on setting up 3 Jolla 2026 phones.
Two in English one in German localization.

Reviewing notes :

Provisioning :

  • suspected SSL/ceritficate-issues ( as mentioned in some threads ) are not really a main culprit for malfunctioning NextCloud-integration ( especially if they work elsewhere in other instances on the phone ).

  • “hard-coded” path definitions do not exist. Some forum-contributors suggest sticking to “SailfishOS/Backup” will provide successful backup-uploads. This is not guaranteed.

  • You can use any path you like - the NextCloud Account-creation-wizard will even create it for you, if not existing. But - inconsistently with other path definitions - this only applies for backup paths. Not images, calendars, contacts and so forth.

  • Most important is a correctly provided WebDAV-path :
    ”/remote.php/dav/files/{user}” ( no “/” following ) and a file-path like “/remote.php/dav/files/{user}/backups/{you-name-it}/{and-so-forth}”

  • a lot of hassle can be avoided if sticking to correct conventions :
    WebDAV-path : /remote.php/dav/files/{user}
    Addressbooks : /remote.php/dav/addressbooks/users/{user}[/{addressbook-name}]
    Calendars : /remote.php/dav/calendars/{user}[/{calendar-name}]
    Image-path : /remote.php/dav/files/{user}/pictures[/{you-name-it}/{and-so-forth}]
    Backup-path : /remote.php/dav/files/{user}/backups[/{you-name-it}/{and-so-forth}]
    SFOSes NextCloud-account-integration actually and currently supports these.

  • URL encodings such as “%20” are ignored and produce odd folder namings within the backup-path. Probably not WebDAV-compatible.

  • while testing around, it became obvious, that Nextcloud-pulley-menu items “sync” and “delete account” are too close together.
    Mishaps are predestined. “delete account” should be at the very far top end of the list.

  • Considering the fact, that SFOS backups ( as well as calendars and address-books ) are not saved in any encrypted way, End-to-End Encryption (E2EE) should become implemented as well. ( securing not self-hosted user cases )

Contacts ( via “People”-app ):

  • Modifications of contacts in “People”-app do not sync automatically to cloud - even if “Sync device changes automatically” is set ( Settings/Accounts/NextCloud-account ) and
    contact details are showing a NextCloud-addressbook-relation.

  • relaunching the “People”-app has no effects on NextCloud-syncing. It doesn’t do anything. Good thing to know, that unsynced changes currently survive a system reboot.

  • contact-syncs are currently only working via Settings > Accounts > Nextcloud-Account > pulley-sync. On the contrary, calendar events sync directly via pulley-sync in the “Calendar”-app or worst when relaunching the app. Inconsistently implemented compared to contact-syncs.

  • syncing while leaving the “People”-app open will not update any changes into the “People”-app. “People”-app needs to be relaunched for updated contents. Also inconsistent.

  • Selecting and sharing contacts to Nextcloud via (Android) Nextcloud-app does not work ( “unable to find file to upload” error ) - thus it should not be offered.

  • The “People”-app pulley-menu is missing an “Update Address-books”-option. Address-book collections on NextCloud may change : renamings / deletions / additions. These should by synced properly on app launch and also via pulley-option ( to avoid relaunches ).

  • it is impossible to push-sync contacts ( e.g. locally saved “People”-app-contacts) into a cloud-based address-book. Currently you have to re-create local contacts completely new, with a NextCloud-address-book-assignment ( or export & re-import them externally via NextCloud-user-sessions ).
    You also cannot change or modify NextCloud-address-book-assignments of contacts via “People”-app. It must be done externally via separate NextCloud-user-sessions.
    These are significant workflow-impediments.

  • Long-pressing a contact as well as a menu option “select contacts” should offer the possibility to assign a single or multiple contacts to a specific address-book. Not limited to NextCloud-address-books only.

Calendars ( via Sailfish calendar app 1.1.23 ) :

  • the “Calendar”-app does not update modified / extended / reduced NextCloud address-book-collections under “Manage calendars”. The app should be able of handling this robustly, according to the menu’s title.

  • currently the list of available NextCloud calendars only updates under Settings > Accounts > NextCloud > Sync or the “Update Calendars”-button by the end of the page.
    That’s at least 5-6 swipes away from where usually needed.

  • “Calendar management” should include the possibility to create / modify NextCloud-calenders. It should be capable of handling & catching typically specific NextCloud-parameters - such as limitations - by reading them out and informing the user appropriately instead of sneaking away quietly :
    “ Nextcloud Tasks/Calendar: Hidden limit of 30 calendars causes "unable to create the list" error | Cloudron Forum
    Further Info : “ Calendar / CalDAV — Nextcloud 35 Administration Manual

  • after “updating” NextCloud calendars (Settings > Accounts > NextCloud > Sync or “Update Calendars”) , calendars already deleted on NextCloud ( incl. NextCloud trash bin ) still show up as options under “New Event” > “Select calendar” in the “Calendar”-app :
    It is possible to add events to calendars which already disappeared from the “Manage Calendar” listing but not from “Select calendar” in the “Calendar”-app.
    Such entries “sync” into nirvana without any further notifications. It stays in a local cache. Reboot ( most obvious option ) won’t help.
    After revisiting the calendar 12hrs later, those “ghost entries” disappeared though without any further notifications concerning affected calendar entries.
    You can’t share and sync calendars reliably with this kind of behavior.

  • it is good to know, that RGB-hex-colors of NextCloud calendars are get synced into the SFOS calendar app.

  • NextCloud-set calendar reminders are not getting recognized at all. They have to be reset again after syncing to the native “Calendar”-app. That’s tedious.

  • defining multiple day events is really tedious as well. Selecting multiple days by a swipe should be the way to go. There must exist libraries / repos providing calendar-date/time-picking functionality already way better and more ergonomic than currently implemented.

  • multiple-day events should be graphically displayed as day-binding lines also in month-view, than just as dots, to get a faster picture - especially when calendar-dot-colors are too alike.

  • Event-redactions ( such as changing calendar assignments ) via Nextcloud calendar UI can require two subsequent SFOS calendar-app pulley-syncs to take effect. First sync makes the event disappear - second shows it with its new assignment
    Maybe this could be implemented

Backups ( via Settings / System /Backup ) :

  • “Backup” runs most reliably compared to other syncing services. It is capable of creating any folder path you like ( declared within the “Backup-path”-field under “Advanced settings” of the NextCloud-account ) if not yet created / existent on cloud.
    You can even “mis”-use it to create other webDAV folders for other purposes ( and delete containing backup-files afterwards ).

File-syncing

  • UI-flow and clarity is really pre-alpha and confusing. Rather a prove of concept than a utility or a feature.

  • uploads not working over sharing are quitting silently without further notice. If proposed the proposed “Documents”-folder is not existent, sharing to Nextcloud quits silently.
    Folder destinations are neither selectable nor does sharing to webDAV automatically create non-existent, but possible folder locations to succeed ( as the Backup-tool does).
    If you want to be sure, you’d first have to open a supplementary NextCloud-user-session to figure out about your current file-structure on NextCloud. That’s no workflow-support at all.

  • A standard path for uploading - kind of a “dump”-directory via sharing cannot be set under “advanced settings” of the NextCloud-accoount.

  • Selecting & syncing items from the “Gallery”-app is rudimentary and rather a pain than a choice. For a few pictures it’s working. Storage-consuming video-files cannot be selected.

  • The “Nextcloud”-gallery within the “Gallery”-app is not showing or syncing any contents. Haven’t figured it out yet, how to make it work.

Summing up these issues, drawbacks and potentials, getting to work NextCloud and SailfishOS working hand-in-gloves should become a weighing top priority - eventually one of the core feature differentiating SailfishOS from others.

————–
Summary of topics & threads referring to :

WebDAV integration :

account setup :

calendar :

contacts :

backups :

syncs :

14 Likes
2

There’s a section on the forum for feature requests, you should post it there or an admin to move it, more chances it will be seen there.

1 Like
3

Thanks for the note :wink: :+1:

4

Just a reminder that the Nextcloud integration is Open Source, so contributions implementing some of the FRs mentioned are welcome (kinda expected to come) from community developers.

6 Likes
5

Even when the integrations are open source and contributors submit pull requests, Jolla can’t seem to implement requests that are a year old…

6

Not too blame anyone here, if not myself, but I didn’t (yet) respond to the review remarks, so no surprise that the MR was not accepted… The mKCal backend for local cache storage was also an open question : good idea or not. I think this debate was not settled. So it has stagnated.

I should first rebase my MR, answer the review remarks and then we’ll see.

4 Likes