- Android users now can’t upload all files to NextCloud just because Google recalled a permit
- NextCloud says Google punishes less competitors while protecting its own apps from restrictions
- NextCloud -Users are now getting a worse app experience, not because of failure but gatekeeping
The ability to seamlessly upload all types of files from Android to the cloud has become a baseline expectation for modern users, especially those that depend on services such as NextCloud to manage their data.
In a move that has given rise to a setback, Google has blocked full file upload capacities in the NextCloud Files Android app with reference to “security concerns.”
This single political change has significantly influenced how users interact with one of the leading sky storage services available today, which raises broader questions about justice, power and competition in the digital ecosystem.
NextCloud claims unreasonable treatment in terms of security
While users can still upload media files such as photos and videos, a core feature for anyone searching the best cloud storage for photos, NextCloud has been forced to disable uploads to all other file types on Android.
According to NextCloud, the problem stems from Google’s refusal to give an important filing permit used by the app since 2011. This is “All Filer Access” permission, which allows an app to read and write all files on a device’s shared storage, not just media files.
“To make it crystal clear: All of you as users have a worse NextCloud Files client because Google wanted it. We understand and share your frustration, but there is nothing we can do,” the company said in a press release.
NextCloud claims that this is not only a technical problem but a strategic. The company claims it is being boxed, not for security reasons, but because it poses a competitive threat to Google’s own cloud ecosystem.
“Google, which owns the platform, means they can – and – give themselves preference processing,” the company says, noting that Google’s own apps as well as those from other Big Tech players continue to enjoy the same permissions that NextCloud has now been denied.
Google’s recommendation to use alternative frameworks such as Mediastore API or SAF has not solved the problem. NextCloud explains that these options do not meet its requirements and reviewers have misunderstood their functionality.
The situation repeats Microsoft’s previous tactics to limit WordPerfect’s access to Windows APIs, a historic parallel that NextCloud easily invokes.
According to the decline in user security, NextCloud claims, Google makes it more difficult to compete, especially for smaller developers offering privacy-focused cloud-backup solutions.
While regulators are tasked with tackling such concerns, NextCloud notes that progress is slow. A collective complaint filed in 2021 along with 40 other organizations for a similar question has not yet received an answer.
