Best way to have Calendar, Contacts, emails synchronized with PC?

pinsl

I run radicale on my server and sync calendar and contacts with my phone using DAVx5. On my desktop I use Thunderbird which supports DAV as well.

SpeakYourMind

thanks for the Input so far. I am not an overly technical person and i rather have something without my own server.
The akruto Sync version just used my computer at home as the "server". When i come home the phone connects over WIFI with the Computer and synchronizes calendar and contacts from the locally running Outlook. So i don't want to use outlook.com. Tutanota has fans - i know - but i don't trust them.

So is there something similar to this approach the laptop is the server which is not to error prone?
Or do i have to set up owncloud or something.
Again, i am willing to move away from Outlook i just like the repeat feauters and alarms.
The CalDAV sounds interesting i need to watch some videos/read up on this.

Have a good one!

sycamore

SpeakYourMind

So is there something similar to this approach the laptop is the server which is not to error prone? Or do i have to set up owncloud or something.

From how you describe yourself, I can strongly recommend Nitrokey's Nextbox. It is a little computer with storage that comes with Nextcloud pre-installed (imo Nextcloud is the better Owncloud :) ). You would basically host your own Nextcloud server, but without needing any technical skills. After you did the initial setup, the Nextbox is just plugged into your router and a socket. Even updates of Nextcloud are really easy!

The amazing thing: you can then use all Nextcloud apps (very easy to install)! You can then eaaaasily sync contacts, calenders and whatnot between laptops and phones via the Nextbox! So cool! You could even setup accounts for family members on your Nextbox.

On my GOS phone then I use DAVx5 to do the syncing and Etar as a calendar app. On laptop, Thunderbird works well. With this setup, there is only FOSS involved and you have a carefree "server" even on-premise. :) Feel free to ask further questions.

sycamore

SpeakYourMind Tutanota has fans - i know - but i don't trust them.

mailbox.org is often recommended and has very good reputation. You can pay in cash and don't have to state real names or physical addresses. You could also sync calender and contacts via the server space included in the cheapest accounts they offer.

DeletedUser115

EteSync for calendar + contacts sync, Etar for calendar display/edit/alerts. K9-Mail for emails. If you use external/shared calendars davx5

[deleted]

I use posteo with davx5, simple calendar

Eagle_Owl

sycamore
Hi @sycamore,
thanks for your recommendation of Nitrokey's Nextbox!
But I have no landline, therefore I have no router for (A)DSL.
I have only mobile-telephony (unlimited plan), using my smartphones as WLAN hotspots.

Is it possible to get this nice Nextbox online via tethering, using a smartphone or LTE USB-dongle?
I couldn't find anything about this in the online docs/website of Nitrokey.
But maybe you can find it in their manual or know a newer link to that information with all ways to go online with that Nextbox?

[deleted]

sycamore Even if you pay in cash you log in with your IP address...

sycamore

[deleted]

Even if you pay in cash you log in with your IP address...

I don't see how this relates to anything I wrote but ok. It's not like my sentence "You can pay in cash" somehow implies "they cannot get your IP" or "you are anonymous go do crazy shit". Also, trivial to use Tor, problem solved.

DigitalSoup

Migrate your data to Proton [https://proton.me] and stop using Outlook is one option.

Calendar - Proton Calendar app
Email - Proton Mail app
Contacts - my solution is split:
(a) All contact details including high value contact information (eg: DOB, address, email) are stored in the contacts section of the Proton Mail app. The contacts are in the cloud so no synching required.
(b) Basic contact information (eg: name, phone number) is in the AOSP stock contacts app. Not synched. Export and back up the csv file periodically to PC.
All PC based activity is via a web browser logged into Proton for contacts, email and calendar. Contacts within Proton Mail contacts will become available within the Proton Mail app, cloud calendar will sync with the Proton Calendar app.

High value contact information is enclosed in the Proton Mail app and not subject to Android contact permissions.
The calendar information is enclosed in the Proton Calendar app and not subject to Android calendar permissions.

Proton Calendar
https://protonmail.com/download/CalendarAndroid/ProtonCalendar-Android.apk
SHA256 fingerprint of the signing certificate
DCC9439EC1A6C6A8D0203F3423EE42BCC8B970628E53CB73A0393F398DD5B853

Protonmail Email
https://protonmail.com/download/MailAndroid/ProtonMail-Android.apk
SHA256 fingerprint of the signing certificate
DCC9439EC1A6C6A8D0203F3423EE42BCC8B970628E53CB73A0393F398DD5B853
Reference: https://www.protonapps.com/protonmail-android

If your GrapheneOS device is lost or stolen the sessions for both the Proton Calendar app and the Proton Mail app can be revoked using your PC.
https://proton.me/support/log-out-all-other-sessions

alex_herrero

DigitalSoup I like that approach + EteSync for contacts until proton has it. Just my perspective.

DeletedUser233

I use Calendar from Simple Mobile Tools. When I try to turn on CalDAV sync, I get "No syncable calendars have been found." I read from the DAVx5 documentation that calendar apps can sync their data to Android Calendar Storage (preinstalled app without GUI).
Have any of you solved the same problem? Do I understand correctly that GOS does not include the Android Calendar Storage app? Is it possible to install it?

[deleted]

DeletedUser233 Android Calendar Storage is not a CALDAV Server. It is a local container. You will need to set up a CALDAV Server via an external source connected to your local calendar storage via DAVX5.
External sources include: Nextcloud, Baikal, Ete-Sync, Posteo.de, Mailbox.org, and Google if you want to go down that path. I posted on this subject a few days ago.

oplex

@DeletedUser233 Did you figure out the issue you were having with no calendars found error? I am having the same issue. Maybe storage pools needs to be adjusted?

BalooRJ

I've been using Protonmail for EMail, and Etesync for CalDav and CardDav Calendar, Contacts and Tasks sync across platforms for the last four years or so with great success. I use the Etar app from F-Droid and Thunderbird on desktop with the Lightning and Cardbook add-ons to sync my calendar and contacts, though TB just recently added native support for CardDav I believe. I find both Protonmail and Etesync with the Bridge program and the Android apps is an incredibly easy, open source and encrypted way to keep your contacts and calendar access. The Protonmail Android app is a little to be left desired due to no push notifications or auto-updating APK now going on four years later for some reason.

If you are wedded to Outlook like some of us are with our jobs, you can use the DavMail bridge client to access the Exchange Server on desktop PCs with just about any email program you like, including Thunderbird. For Android access, you can set up a DavMail server (very complicated) to access your Exchange Server with K-9 Mail, FairEmail, and Davx5. On Outlook, you can access your Etesync calendar and contacts with the CalDav Synchronizer program. I have not gotten around to setting up the DavMajl server so I am using Nine Folders from the Play Store to access my work calendar emails and tasks, which uses Office365 sadly.

sycamore

Eagle_Owl I don't know. There are no docs over and above what is on their website. I'd ask them directly via email (I think that's their preferred channel).

Eric_Mau

Hi,

I just switched to GrapheneOS and was amazed at how easy it was… and how little problems I have had up to now.

I can’t really get away from Outlook on my PC, I have been using AkrutoSync for many years… and it seems GrapheneOS has seen quite a few changes in the past 2 years.

So… would there be a way to make AkrutoSync work now? (I basically need to be able to create an Exchange (or ‘Corporate’) account, as in stock Android.

The “Add an account” menu doesn’t do anything and I don’t see the usual options (Exchange, Google, Imap, POP3).
I apologize in advance if it is a stupid question and if some technical issues are eluding me.
(I have only been using GrapheneOS for a few days.)

Any help greatly appreciated and I really love the idea that GrapheneOS works for security freaks… but also for John Doe that simply wants… what Android should be!

In advance, thank you to anyone who takes the time to read and answer questions like these…

tV0gr

I have not gone that far with self-hosting yet, but VPS could be a great way to experiment the different solutions. I would expect that the cheapest VPS is powerful enough to get it done. And either a raspberry pi. I don't know if it's mature enough for this yet, even a vm running on your phone with port forwarding will likely have more than enough computing power to manage a calendar. What is nice with vps is that you can scale up or down the computing power and ram as needed and more or less try all the software you want for a few dollars. It could be money well spent prior to commit to buy new hardware.

I prefer not to name the provider but for reference the least powerful vm they had a performance similar to the core of a 10+ year old, meaning that a N100 outperform that by a good margin. For a few more dollar (nearly twice the price) the core was significantly faster. I din't benchmark it but the difference is quite significant. Depending of your level of proficiency you might want to try it with a guest user account on your phone and dummy data. Enabling the firewall on the VPS and setting up ssh with passwordless authentication and disabling root would be a bare minimum (I am not an ssh expert). I couldn't believe how many ssh attempt are being done on mine right now. It's way more entertaining than witnessing an https connection on my hypervisor to a weird IP address with a PID of zero.

dc32f0cfe84def651e0e

I use self-hosted radicale instance. On GOS it is DavX, on PC -- KAddressBook and KOrganizer with akonadi backend.