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> Obsidian was a great tool for me personally for a long time. But I felt frustrated when I wanted to access my notes on my phone while on-the-go and saw that I

> Obsidian was a great tool for me personally for a long time. But I felt frustrated when I wanted to access my notes on my phone while on-the-go and saw that I had to pay for this feature. I'm using Syncthing [0] to sync my vault between devices. On my main PC, Syncthing runs constantly in the background. Say, if I made a change, and want to send those changes to my phone, I open the application on my phone and let it fetch the changes. It's not perfectly smooth, like Obsidian's own integration, but I prefer this instead of setting a Git repository. Also, the files don't stay in a remote server. [0]: https://syncthing.net https://syncthing.net

MSFT_Edging 1y ago
I've been meaning to switch over to syncthing. I currently use insync for google drive syncing on Linux and it's basically instant and constant. I can make an edit on one machine and in the time it takes me to grab my laptop, it's been synced. That said, using google drive which I don't want to do anymore.
moelf 1y ago
too bad Syncthing is no longer officially maintaining andoird app https://forum.syncthing.net/t/discontinuing-syncthing-android/23002 https://forum.syncthing.net/t/discontinuing-syncthing-androi...
- atrus 1y ago
  But the syncthing fork (https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.github.catfriend1.syncthingandroid&hl=en_US https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.github.cat...) has been going for years now, and should have been the first choice anyways.
  - Nezteb 1y ago
    For anyone who would prefer to get the Syncthing-Fork build from F-Droid: https://f-droid.org/en/packages/com.github.catfriend1.syncthingandroid/ https://f-droid.org/en/packages/com.github.catfriend1.syncth...
trwhite 1y ago
It’s $4 a month to sync Obsidian notes, for anyone wondering.
- harvey9 1y ago
  It's a good price but still feels wasteful if you also run/pay for nextcloud or similar.
  - nsteel 1y ago
    There are plugins allowing you to sync via other means (for free). I don't know how the author fails to realise/mention this. I've been using Remotely Save with WebDAV or years without issue. And the notes are all just markdown files. If the obsidian software were to disappear you have all your notes. It's fine someone wanted to spend a load of time writing their own software but none of the reasons presented in this piece make sense.
  - BiteCode_dev 1y ago
    It's not wasteful to support great software.
  - theshrike79 1y ago
    For me it was the It Just Works-iness of it combined with a handy way to support the project cheaply. As long as I'm paying for it, I'm the client and not the product. I tried some of the third party stuff, iCloud, Dropbox, etc and with all of them I either lost data because of notes not being in sync or had to manually fix stuff. $4/month and zero issues was well worth it for a tool I literally use every day.
- galleywest200 1y ago
  This was news to me, so this must have changed recently, as I have been billed more than that ever since I signed up. I looked at my account, and I am charged $10 but it seems they automatically moved me to a "Plus" plan that has more storage. So no complaints from me really. Either that or the $4 plan is new. [1] The $4 only comes with 1GB of storage. I would recommend the $10 for 50GB if you use images in your notes. [1] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=37251708 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=37251708
Saris 1y ago
Syncthing is a lifesaver, it's such a useful tool! There are also several Obsidian community plugins for sync, I use Remotely Save via WebDAV.
blackmoon42 1y ago
Or you setup a Couchdb and the self hosted live sync plugin. Although the data will reside on a remote server in this case.
mk12 1y ago
I do this but additionally with an always-on Raspberry Pi, so syncing works perfectly even if the laptop and phone aren’t able to sync directly to each other. The SyncTrain iOS app arrived just in time for me: https://t-shaped.nl/posts/synctrain-a-rethought-ios-client-for-syncthing https://t-shaped.nl/posts/synctrain-a-rethought-ios-client-f...
charkubi 1y ago
Apple allowing iCloud directories to be permanently downloaded fixed this for me.
- al_borland 1y ago
  Yep. I use iCloud for my Obsidian vault, set to always be downloaded. I haven’t had an issue, and doesn’t cost me anything (beyond what I’m already paying for iCloud due to Photo Library).
- avtar 1y ago
  Does the iCloud & Windows caveat still apply? https://help.obsidian.md/sync-notes https://help.obsidian.md/sync-notes
bryanhogan 1y ago
I've also been using Obsidian a lot. I recommend the SyncThing Fork over SyncThing. I myself currently use Google Drive with DriveSync on Android to sync my notes, which works great. Other cloud providers also work well. I wrote a comparison of different tools to sync here: https://bryanhogan.com/blog/how-to-sync-obsidian https://bryanhogan.com/blog/how-to-sync-obsidian
- remram 1y ago
  SyncThing has some gotchas when it comes to sync, for example I've had files reappear when I edit them on one device and move them on another. It also seems to create "sync-conflict" files when there is no conflict at all (no modification on one side). I'd also quite like to be able to see the history of my notes sometimes... I also had this nice surprise literally today, all my synced folders stopped working and had to be re-added: https://github.com/Catfriend1/syncthing-android/issues/1430 https://github.com/Catfriend1/syncthing-android/issues/1430 But overall it has worked well, I am using it between 4 devices.
SamPatt 1y ago
Same. I admit I've running into a few syncing headaches over the years, but given the cost of $0 and the fact it's open source, I recommend it too. I previously rolled my own notes system and I find Obsidian plus Syncthing is better. Plugins are a big deal.
taurath 1y ago
I did this and hooo does Apple make it difficult to sync files without iCloud. I felt like it was too janky for my liking, and paid for obsidian sync, but I felt like it was really silly how an official app could do it no problem, but you can’t get generic functionality to work with iOS.

MSFT_Edging 1y ago

I've been meaning to switch over to syncthing. I currently use insync for google drive syncing on Linux and it's basically instant and constant. I can make an edit on one machine and in the time it takes me to grab my laptop, it's been synced. That said, using google drive which I don't want to do anymore.

moelf 1y ago

too bad Syncthing is no longer officially maintaining andoird app https://forum.syncthing.net/t/discontinuing-syncthing-android/23002 https://forum.syncthing.net/t/discontinuing-syncthing-androi...

atrus 1y ago
But the syncthing fork (https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.github.catfriend1.syncthingandroid&hl=en_US https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.github.cat...) has been going for years now, and should have been the first choice anyways.
- Nezteb 1y ago
  For anyone who would prefer to get the Syncthing-Fork build from F-Droid: https://f-droid.org/en/packages/com.github.catfriend1.syncthingandroid/ https://f-droid.org/en/packages/com.github.catfriend1.syncth...

trwhite 1y ago

It’s $4 a month to sync Obsidian notes, for anyone wondering.

harvey9 1y ago
It's a good price but still feels wasteful if you also run/pay for nextcloud or similar.
- nsteel 1y ago
  There are plugins allowing you to sync via other means (for free). I don't know how the author fails to realise/mention this. I've been using Remotely Save with WebDAV or years without issue. And the notes are all just markdown files. If the obsidian software were to disappear you have all your notes. It's fine someone wanted to spend a load of time writing their own software but none of the reasons presented in this piece make sense.
- BiteCode_dev 1y ago
  It's not wasteful to support great software.
- theshrike79 1y ago
  For me it was the It Just Works-iness of it combined with a handy way to support the project cheaply. As long as I'm paying for it, I'm the client and not the product. I tried some of the third party stuff, iCloud, Dropbox, etc and with all of them I either lost data because of notes not being in sync or had to manually fix stuff. $4/month and zero issues was well worth it for a tool I literally use every day.
galleywest200 1y ago
This was news to me, so this must have changed recently, as I have been billed more than that ever since I signed up. I looked at my account, and I am charged $10 but it seems they automatically moved me to a "Plus" plan that has more storage. So no complaints from me really. Either that or the $4 plan is new. [1] The $4 only comes with 1GB of storage. I would recommend the $10 for 50GB if you use images in your notes. [1] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=37251708 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=37251708

Saris 1y ago

Syncthing is a lifesaver, it's such a useful tool! There are also several Obsidian community plugins for sync, I use Remotely Save via WebDAV.

blackmoon42 1y ago

Or you setup a Couchdb and the self hosted live sync plugin. Although the data will reside on a remote server in this case.

mk12 1y ago

I do this but additionally with an always-on Raspberry Pi, so syncing works perfectly even if the laptop and phone aren’t able to sync directly to each other. The SyncTrain iOS app arrived just in time for me: https://t-shaped.nl/posts/synctrain-a-rethought-ios-client-for-syncthing https://t-shaped.nl/posts/synctrain-a-rethought-ios-client-f...

charkubi 1y ago

Apple allowing iCloud directories to be permanently downloaded fixed this for me.

al_borland 1y ago
Yep. I use iCloud for my Obsidian vault, set to always be downloaded. I haven’t had an issue, and doesn’t cost me anything (beyond what I’m already paying for iCloud due to Photo Library).
avtar 1y ago
Does the iCloud & Windows caveat still apply? https://help.obsidian.md/sync-notes https://help.obsidian.md/sync-notes

bryanhogan 1y ago

I've also been using Obsidian a lot. I recommend the SyncThing Fork over SyncThing. I myself currently use Google Drive with DriveSync on Android to sync my notes, which works great. Other cloud providers also work well. I wrote a comparison of different tools to sync here: https://bryanhogan.com/blog/how-to-sync-obsidian https://bryanhogan.com/blog/how-to-sync-obsidian

remram 1y ago
SyncThing has some gotchas when it comes to sync, for example I've had files reappear when I edit them on one device and move them on another. It also seems to create "sync-conflict" files when there is no conflict at all (no modification on one side). I'd also quite like to be able to see the history of my notes sometimes... I also had this nice surprise literally today, all my synced folders stopped working and had to be re-added: https://github.com/Catfriend1/syncthing-android/issues/1430 https://github.com/Catfriend1/syncthing-android/issues/1430 But overall it has worked well, I am using it between 4 devices.

SamPatt 1y ago

Same. I admit I've running into a few syncing headaches over the years, but given the cost of $0 and the fact it's open source, I recommend it too. I previously rolled my own notes system and I find Obsidian plus Syncthing is better. Plugins are a big deal.

taurath 1y ago

I did this and hooo does Apple make it difficult to sync files without iCloud. I felt like it was too janky for my liking, and paid for obsidian sync, but I felt like it was really silly how an official app could do it no problem, but you can’t get generic functionality to work with iOS.