Since quite some years I use CalDAV-Sync to sync my Owncloud calendar data to my Android phone (Pixel 3, stock Android, in case that matters).
Now, Iām migrating to Nextcloud and read in the documentation that DAVx$^5$ is recommended as the Android sync tool. Checking the Google Play Store, I see that CalDAV-Sync hasnāt had updates for years (Android warns me that it was made for an old version), while DAVx seems to be in active development. Nevertheless, CalDAV-sync worked with few glitches for many years.
Can anybody in this forum give advice if a migration from CalDAV-Sync to DAVx[**] is sensible? (I searched the forum, but didnāt find any topic that discuss these sync apps.) Iām reluctant to throw away a working solution[*], but Iām willing to explore a new better solution thatās actively developped.
Cheers,
Joachim
[*] IMHO, that some app isnāt updated doesnāt imply that it doesnāt work any more. It might simply be finished ā Iām from the TeX community, using a Ā»finishedĀ« program from 1982ā¦ ;-/ OTOH, that my Android phone warns me about that app should warrant an update from the developers, so this might really be a discarded app.
[**] People should use project names that one can enter on a standard keyboard. Sigh, Iām getting old.
Iām aware that DAVx5 vs. CalDAV-sync is a pure client-side issue and has technically nothing to do with the Nextcloud calendar app.
Iām soliciting experience reports which of those 2 Android apps are better to use with Nextcloud, concerning calendar synchronisation.
My current situation:
CalDAV-sync works, but on a Pixel 3 I got an Android warning that this app doesnāt support my current Android version.
DAVx5 is recommended, so I want to know about it
The DAVx5 web site is very flashy, but without any link to actual software documentation; especially to documentation of app configuration after I would have installed it. E.g., with CalDAV-Sync, Iām able to establish different update schedules for Ā»near-term calendar entriesĀ« vs. Ā»full calendarĀ«. I.e., shared calenders with near-time appointments will be synced within minutes, dates that are 6 months in advance will by synced every day or week. Is this also possible with DAVx5? On DAVx5ās Web site, I canāt detect any documentation section that tells me about the configuration (and thus, of the capability) of DAVx5 app.
OTOH, DAVx5 seems to actively developed ā clearly, CalDAV-Sync isnāt, otherwise I wouldnāt get Android warnings when I activate that app.
So, my question for this thread remains: What is the preferred way to sync calender entries to an Android phones and why is this the prefered way.
This doesnāt seem to be possible with DAVx5, no. Thereās only global settings for calendar/address-books/tasks synchronization intervals, and a setting for a limit for old events to be synced. Thereās documentation here.
Apart from having not exactly the same set of features, DAVx5 is definitely the recommended way. Development is active, and even if that wasnāt the de facto choice, their developers and Nextcloudās often hang out together.
I personally now use DAVx5 and have used CaldavSync/CarddavSync in the past. DAVx5 focuses on a simple GUI with only the absolutely necessary settings. You have to get rid of the idea that hundreds of individual settings are really necessary. Free your mind and start to go the simple way
Iāll give DAVx5 a try ā but concerning configuration options, I want to note that I have a different opinion. CalDAV-Sync didnāt have many configuration options; in fact, for my use cases it was not enough, see below. Judging from the manual link that Thomas posted, DAVx5 seems to have roughly the same amount of configuration possibilities. So the switch from an undevelopped to an actively developped app seems to be sensible.
E.g., I wold like to be able to set sync intervals per calendar. For my business entries (which are in an own calendar and are shared with colleagues of mine), I need as short a sync interval as possible. Currently, on Android, thatās 15 minutes. For my concert calender (shared with my wife), syncing every few days would suffice; we donāt get so many changes there, and they are well in advance. Currently this means that all my calendars are synced every 15 minutes, even though thatās not necessary for most of them. Since Iām often in areas where mobile connectivity is lacking, this superflouous traffic is annyoing.
Iām well aware, that for somebody who lives in a country where she or he has always 4G+ or works always over Wifi, this doesnāt matter. IMHO, thatās what configuration options are for: To be able to adapt the devices and apps that we use to the different situations that we life in.
As an update with my findings, in the hopes they help other people with the same problem:
It looks like the original question got sort of answered with NextCloudās version 18 or 19. Ever since updating my NextCloud server beyond v17, CalDAV-Sync stopped working reliably. Barely any events will now be synced to or even shown in the phoneās calendar, even though all events still show in NCās web interface as well as work in Thunderbird.
From what I gather from reading through the app reviews of various CalDAV sync apps, this NC update had changed something in CalDAV and broken several of the sync apps. However, actively developed sync apps were adjusted and fixed. CalDAV-Sync wasnāt, and some users complain about lacking support or even response from the dev. Looks like a clear point in favor of DAVxāµ.
Correction: CalDAV-Sync works just fine, after all!
tl;dr
I must qualify ā rather retract ā my earlier statement: After installing DAVxāµ and setting up the first account, I faced the the same issue as I did before with CalDAV-Sync. Barely any events were synced to my android calendar.
After once again editing and saving/updating some recurring events (in Thunderbird Lightning, as well as NC web interface; I had randomly tried that several times before), it looks like some obstruction finally came loose. Now my sync appears to be back to working condition, both with DAVxāµ and with CalDAV-Sync. So it likely wasnāt a change by NC in CalDAV, after all, but rather some recurring event in my calendar gone haywire, possibly with the NC update.
