Low-level turbulence “Google wanted that”: Nextcloud decries Android permissions as “gatekeeping” Without full file access, it's kind of hard to use your own cloud. Kevin Purdy – May 13, 2025 5:00 pm | 22 The Android mascot at Google's pavilion during the Mobile World Congress 2025 in Barcelona, Spain, on March 5, 2025. Credit: Joan Cros/NurPhoto via Getty Images The Android mascot at Google's pavilion during the Mobile World Congress 2025 in Barcelona, Spain, on March 5, 2025. Credit: Joan Cros/NurPhoto via Getty Images Story text Size Small Standard Large Width * Standard Wide Links Standard Orange * Subscribers only   Learn more Nextcloud is a host-your-own cloud platform that wants to help you "Regain control over your data." It contains products that allow for video chat, file storage, collaborative editing, and other stuff that reads a lot like a DIY Google Workspace replacement. It's hard to offer that kind of full replacement, though, if your Android app can't upload anything other than media files. Since mid-2024, Nextcloud claims, Google has refused to reinstate the access it needs for uploading and syncing other file types. "To make it crystal clear: All of you as users have a worse Nextcloud Files client because Google wanted that," reads a Nextcloud blog post from May 13, attributed to its team. "We understand and share your frustration," but there is nothing we can do." A notice in Nextcloud's Android app regarding file uploads. Credit: Nextcloud A notice in Nextcloud's Android app regarding file uploads. Credit: Nextcloud Ars has reached out to Google for comment and will update this post with any response. A representative for NextCloud told Ars late Tuesday that the company had no update on its Android app. Nextcloud states that it has had read and write access to all file types since its first Android app. In September 2024, a Nextcloud Android update with "All files access" was "refused out of the blue," with a request that the app user "a more privacy aware replacement," Nextcloud claims. The firm states it has provided background and explanations, but received "the same copy-and-paste answers or links to documentation" from Google. Nextcloud's story of confusing communications about file permissions, and ultimately giving up trying to get file access, echoes the story of iA Writer. That Markdown editing app similarly lost access to system file syncing—a crucial aspect of a file-based text editor—and declined to take part in an annual CASA Tier 2 assessment to seek that access again. Nextcloud eventually issued an update of their app that restricts uploads to media files. Downloading and side-loading the Nextcloud app from the F-Droid external store and granting the app necessary permissions restores the ability to upload any files to a Nextcloud instance. The company told The Register that it had more than 800,000 Android users. The company's blog post goes further than pinpointing technical and support hurdles. "It is a clear example of Big Tech gatekeeping smaller software vendors, making the products of their competitors worse or unable to provide the same services as the giants themselves sell," Nextcloud's post states. "Big Tech is scared that small players like Nextcloud will disrupt them, like they once disrupted other companies. So they try to shut the door." Nextcloud is one of the leaders of an antitrust-minded movement against Microsoft's various integrated apps and services, having filed a complaint against the firm in 2021. Kevin Purdy Senior Technology Reporter Kevin Purdy Senior Technology Reporter Kevin is a senior technology reporter at Ars Technica, covering open-source software, PC gaming, home automation, repairability, e-bikes, and tech history. He has previously worked at Lifehacker, Wirecutter, iFixit, and Carbon Switch. 22 Comments