I swapped my paid cloud storage tier for Syncthing, backing up full-resolution photos locally without subscription costs

Published Aug 25, 2026, 1:00 PM EDT Dhruv Bhutani has covered the Android ecosystem since 2010, with a focus on smartphones, connected devices, and home networking. His reporting is informed by hands-on experience reviewing hundreds of smartphones and testing a wide range of smart home and audio products over more than a decade. He has attended Mobile World Congress eight times since 2011 and IFA Berlin five times, alongside regular coverage of launch events and industry briefings from companies including Google, Xiaomi, Oppo, and Qualcomm. This on-ground access and long-term exposure to product cycles inform how he evaluates hardware, software direction, and ecosystem shifts. First-Hand Experience Reviewed and tested hundreds of smartphones since 2009 Tested smart home, audio, and connected devices across multiple categories Attended Mobile World Congress (8 times, first in 2011) Attended IFA Berlin (5 times) Covered industry events including Qualcomm Summit and launch events from Google, Xiaomi, Oppo, and Vivo Career History CNET — Freelance Editor May 2024 – Present Android Police — Freelance Editor July 2023 – Present Android Authority — Contributor November 2022 – Present Android Authority — Editor January 2019 – October 2022 FoneArena — Editor February 2010 – January 2018 PhoneReport.info — International Correspondent February 2010 – May 2011 Nokia Mobile Talk — Writer June 2009 – October 2009 Like most smartphone enthusiasts, I'm an avid photographer and have thousands of photos on my phone. Enough that Google Photos backups have become prohibitively expensive. I've been looking for an alternative cloud storage solution. More specifically, I've been looking for an alternative that does not involve expensive NAS boxes. My computer has plenty of storage, and I have a fair number of external hard drives. So, I set up Syncthing to move my photos from my phone to local storage automatically. This app lets me upload my camera roll to my computer instead of a third-party server, maintain a full-resolution backup, and do it without paying a single dollar. I might say it's the best thing I've added to my setup. Here's why. Setting up Syncthing is easy Keep your original-quality photos backed up on your computer Credit: Setting up Syncthing is as simple as it gets. Install the Syncthing server app on your computer and the client on your phone. Pairing the two devices involves scanning a simple QR code, and you're ready to go. You don't need an account to get Syncthing working, not even a free one. When paired, you can choose the folders you want shared between the two devices. In my case, I selected my phone's photos directory since the goal is to make sure that all my photos are safely backed up to my computer. Similarly, on the computer, you can create a new directory or select an existing one as the destination where files synced from your phone are copied over. That's essentially it. This simplicity makes Syncthing an incredible tool for moving photos from your phone to your computer. The interesting part is that, unlike other tools that use SMB or FTP in the background and need you to be on the same network, Syncthing can work across different networks. If you are traveling, you can use Syncthing to back up your photos to your computer over your mobile network or hotel Wi-Fi. Still, you'll need to keep your computer on for that. Moreover, unlike photo sync utilities that downscale images or compress them to save space, Syncthing is purely a file synchronization utility. Your photos are copied exactly as they were shot. Be it a JPEG or a RAW file, or a video file, Syncthing copies the original file, and that's it. The added benefit is that, since everything syncs to a folder on your computer, you don't need to open a website or an app to access these photos. They show up as files in a folder, and you can access them as you would access any other file on your system. Very convenient. Sync files across all your devices While the core synchronization functionality is rock solid, Syncthing offers plenty of additional functionality when you dive into the settings. Since it is a file synchronization tool, there are no limits on the number of computers or devices you can connect to it. In my case, in addition to my photos folder, I added a folder to copy essential documents across not just my Mac, but also my phone and my Windows machine. This ensures that key documents are available across all devices at all times. Since they are always up to date whenever I make an edit or revision, it is a great benefit. Similarly, you can configure how each device interacts with a folder. For my photos folder, I set it to receive only. The folder automatically receives all photos I shoot on my phone, but if I make changes to the local folder or delete files, those changes don't sync back. This lets me organize my local backup by deleting non-essential photos or duplicates without touching the originals on the phone. While Syncthing's feature set extends beyond these basic features, there's one setting I tend to use. I've configured the file retention setting to make sure an accidental delete or edit doesn't overwrite the original file. Here too, you have plenty of options to configure your backups how you need them, keeping in mind how much storage you have on hand. The trash bin versioning setting gives you a rubbish bin from where you can recover a deleted file. Meanwhile, simple file versioning offers a retention policy. In this case, you can specify how many versions of the file you want to keep and for how many days. For my documents folder, I tend to keep five versions for 30 days. For my photos folder, I've set it to three versions to save space. This gives you protection against accidental deletions or edits. If you accidentally delete something, it gives you the opportunity to recover the photo. Managing your backups on your terms Syncthing doesn't replace all the conveniences of cloud storage. You still have to maintain your own storage and computer. Additionally, a single point of failure isn't a backup, making it essential to copy your local storage to an external hard drive from time to time. However, it solves a basic problem of backing up photos and files without paying a monthly subscription fee.