Consecutive taken photos auto upload missing

[sideshowbob84]

⚠️ Before posting ⚠️

• [x] This is a bug, not a question or an enhancement.
• [x] I've searched for similar issues and didn't find a duplicate.
• [x] I've written a clear and descriptive title for this issue, not just "Bug" or "Crash".
• [x] I agree to follow Nextcloud's Code of Conduct.

Steps to reproduce

1. Set an auto upload folder
2. Set direct upload (uncheck WLAN only and charging only)
3. take many photos directly after another (i noticed the problem with my lat holiday pictures (many pictures are missing and reproduced with 7 taken pictures at home in my wlan)
4. shut off screen and put smartphone in your pocket.

Expected behaviour

all photos are uploaded

Actual behaviour

some photos are missing. It seems random to me. sometimes it happens sometimes not. The number of photos not uploades seems related to internet quality available. 5G bad area many missing / wlan at home it happens not every time but it is still possible to reproduce

Android version

14

Device brand and model

Pixel 6a

Stock or custom OS?

Custom (explain in "additional information")

Nextcloud android app version

3.30.0

Nextcloud server version

29.0.6

Using a reverse proxy?

I don't know

Android logs

No response

Server error logs

i checked the log there were 0 errors

Additional information

i use the normal (not beta/dev version) from f-droid. so no logs available. i use grapheneos (so not stock rom)

[joshtrichards]

What does the status of the transfers show under the Uploads tab?

And is this new behavior that started after an app update?

[sideshowbob84]

sorry that i forgot to mention this part. The photos are not recognized by the app at all. So they are not shown under the "Uploads" tab. It looks like the problem was introduced with with the last release. I checked back till August. My nextcloud android app was updatet at the 19.9.2024.

[Wezea]

I can confirm this issue.

If I open the Nextcloud app, syncing is sometimes triggered, though.

The target folder on my cloud is an external storage.

Update: I updates to 3.30.1 and now the upload is completely broken. Even when I access the app it does not recognise new files.

[sideshowbob84]

my target folder is a "normal" folder.

[aptmon]

I'm having the same issue. It's relatively recent behaviour (since September sometime), I'm not sure what version it started in exactly but it's persisting in 3.30.3. One extra piece of info in my case is that recent missed uploads do appear on the Settings -> Auto upload screen, as part of the preview of folder contents, but they indeed do not appear at all in the Uploads screen. Enabling and disabling auto upload for that folder also does not cause an upload. I also find that the issue is correlated with bad reception, and "failed upload" messages, so my uneducated guess is (some?) failed uploads are being dropped instead of re-enqueued. This is on Galaxy S22, One UI 6.1/Android 14 (stock ROM).

[Wezea]

After a fresh install of 3.30.3, it works for me again. I have the feeling syncing works not as snappy as before v3.30.X though.

[onlynow2]

Same issue occured with my latest installation of 3.30.7 after experimenting with older / newer versions due to the android file permission problem #14333.

If the app runs in the background (app opened and just switched back to homescreen), usually all taken photos are recognized and uploaded. Yet, if the app is removed from the recents app screen the next photo taken is not recognized. Taking a second photo, uploads only the second photo taken. Even opening the nextcloud app and checking the 'upload' section does not show the first picture taking after removing the app from the recents screen. Permissions to access all files and app running in the background are all set.

Only way to check if all photos (eg. last week / month / etc.) are uploaded is through the nextcloud memories app and reuploading the missing photos manually, which is not an preferred option.

[bobbolous]

https://github.com/nextcloud/android/issues/14365 seems related.

[EmanuelW]

Same problem here. Nextcloud app version 3.30.8. Using a Samsung S24, Android 14, patch level 1 Januari 2025.

Edit: Using Nextcloud AIO, NC version 30.0.5, data folder on the same VM. Detected missing photos when viewing them in the Memories app.

[Burgste]

Same problem here with a Samsung s23, Android 14, NextCloud app version 3.30.8. Only some of the consecutive taken photos are uploaded, some are missing.

[lukaszniemkiewicz]

This is crazy - the bug is still here - Nextcloud is unreliable for business any more

[tknaller]

same problem here on google pixel 9 and Samsung galaxy a55 with 3.31.0 from f-droid

[Buddy-Matt]

Same issue here - missing the odd photo taken within minutes of others that have synced successfully - no "failed to upload" notification, or anything in a failed state in the uploads section of the app.

Motorola Razr 40, issue has occurred on both Mobile data and home WiFi (3.31.0 via Google play)

[dniwelive]

I observe the same bug. It makes "upload" feature totally unreliable.

3.31.1 Google Play version. Samsung Galaxy S24. Android 15, also reproduced on Android 14

[roberthr74]

I also noticed, that from around 1500 photos taken on vacation, around 50 are missing from upload folder on server. Phone also does not show those photos on upload list. It's like they don't exist for NC.

Meanwhile NC client updated twice, also whole Android to 15 and problem is still present.

[Arjenlodder]

Same issue here, unfortunately. App just doesn't detect the pictures. I just took two pictures and one got detected and uploaded.

[Mario-Hofstaetter]

Queuing in here to confirm the same behavior since I started nextcloud android a few months ago. About 3 weeks ago I switched to the F-Droid version due to the Google Permissions drama, hoping I might be a fix for the "Auto Upload" feature too, but it was not.

• Yesterday I took 4 pictures, two of them within 2 minutes. 3 got uploaded
• 1 was just missing (one of the pair taken shortly after another), not in the folder, not listed in the "Uploads" at all (No Error, no Success)
• "WLAN only" is enabled for the Camera folder, but I was connected to WiFi all the time.

Since this is a LONG STANDING issue (years from what I can tell from the history of issues and reddit thread):

Would it be helpful to have a logfile of nextcloud (via USB debug) from app start until camera upload, if I can reproduce the issue?

Do the maintainers have the manpower and motivation to look into this issue? From a user perspective, I looks a bit like they have given up, as have many users (switching to syncthing etc.)

Is there any documentation on how the auto upload feature works, scans for new files, picks up the new files... (I'm unable to look at all the source code), why is there no "reset" button / "manual rescan" or something like that?

Edit: Also this issue should be pinned at the top, since in my honest opinion this is the flagship feature of the android app for many users, to have their camera photos backed up.

Edit2: Sometimes uploading won't start at all, even when actively opening the app. While playing around the app is now in a state, where it does not start auto-uploading new files no matter what, I also have a screen recording video of that.

• rechecked battery optimization settings and stoff
• tried turning off / on the auto upload for the DCIM/Camera folderr
• Disabled "Only upload on unmetered Wi-Fi"
• Toggled Wifi off on

And NOW, while writing these words, it started uploading again, I do not see a pattern here. Is there an internal timer when to check? Which has a big interval and is not time syned (e.g. 14:00, 14:30, ...) cause it started at 15:05 o'clock.

Shouldn't upload start immediately if the nextcloud app is open and actively used?

[xogizmft32]

I'm also encountering the same issue, and it's been causing me a lot of stress.

[ojdo]

I have been experiencing this phenomenon for some months now. Its frequency of occurrence is definitely caused/related to the stability of the WiFi that is used for uploading. Once on a very sketchy access point, the percentage of missed uploaded pictures approached 50%, whereas when only using the reliable access point at home, only 5-10% of photos are skipped. I also notice that "consecutive" (pictures taken only seconds apart) seem to have a higher chance of getting "skipped" (not appearing in the Uploads tab at all). But like other reporters, there is no clear smoking gun or recipe for reliably triggering that condition.

All in all, a month's worth of uploads no longer can be considered a reliable sync of the phone's camera folder, as it used to be for years.

[sideshowbob84]

What helped me while hoping for a fix for the original problem, was a comment in #14365
You can use the nextcloud Memories App to identify the missing photos very fast.

[lckarssen]

#14810 seems related too.