Alternatives to EteSync for contacts sync?

Questions
1

I have been trying to use EteSync for contacts sync (FYI, I will still use Google Calendar for calendar to easily share calendars with normies).

Unfortunately, EteSync just doesn’t seem to work well for me: slow to sync, logging in to the web app spins forever (currently, I’m unable to login), etc. I don’t mean to sound harsh, but I don’t have the patience and mental bandwidth to use software that I feel unsure about whether it’s going to work or not.

I was wondering what alternative options there are? I don’t necessarily want to jump straight back to Google Contacts.

I need to access/sync my contacts from Thunderbird and Android, and a web UI would be great. I don’t want to self-host anything.

FYI, I use ProtonMail and while I would love to store all my contacts on Proton, I don’t think is a way to sync Proton contacts to Thunderbird and Android; IOW, they are isolated to inside Proton apps only.

Thanks!

2

I think I’m going to try NextCloud by following this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NJzA9yRGgeM

3

The setup in the video is what I use and it has worked really well for me for years. If you have the time, you can set up Nextcloud locally so you don’t even have to sign-up for NC hosting.

4

Doesn’t sound like a good recommendation for someone who doesn’t want to self host.
It doesn’t encrypt anything. I would probably rather have it a t Google than some random small nextcloud supplier.

6

I switched to decsync and syncthing from etesync. Its not too bad to set up and then it pretty much just works.

7

Are you using Windows or Linux?

8

Windows. I forgot I am also using the Radicale plugin for thubderbird.

9

I am always surprised when people say they use this without issues.

I have encountered multiple issues.

https://github.com/39aldo39/Radicale-DecSync/issues/25

And there are many other unaddressed issues on GitHub.

I really want it to work. But even if it started working reliably, I would be very nervous to keep using it.

10

At this point I am really just using it to back up my contacts and tasks but I’m debating moving to something else for tasks and just exporting my contacts from graphene contacts to something like proton drive.

11

Pretty much why we decided not to list decsync. Least friction/most privacy is probably a small Radicale instance on a server you own that has full disk encryption. A lot less trouble than Nextcloud.

Radicale can also do tasks.

There’s also a fairly complete docker container GitHub - tomsquest/docker-radicale: Docker image for Radicale calendar and contact server + security + addons 🚀

12

I use Radicale together with Davx5. But you have to be willing to self host.

13

Unless what I said here: Restore EteSync (Calendar/Contacts Sync) - #31 by anon62252234 changes (it might, see the dev’s response: Can't install from pip or compile binaries · Issue #296 · etesync/etesync-dav · GitHub), I can no longer use EteSync, and need to find a replacement.

Unfortunately, none seem to be good. Here’s a list of my options, including EteSync for comparison:

  • EteSync
    • Pros:
      • Encrypted
      • Everything synced to devices
    • Cons:
      • Every client is outdated
      • It doesn’t work anymore
  • Local
    • Pros:
      • No service required
      • Can backup to files
    • Cons:
      • Importing the files probably duplicates things
      • No tasks support
  • Proton
    • Pros:
      • Encrypted
      • Calendar app for mobile
    • Cons:
      • Contacts can’t sync to devices
      • Calendar can’t sync to devices/no calendar app for desktop
      • No tasks support
  • Tutanota
    • Pros:
      • Encrypted
      • Calendar app for mobile
    • Cons:
      • Contacts can’t sync to devices
      • Calendar can’t sync to devices/no calendar app for desktop
      • No tasks support
  • CalDAV/CardDAV
    • Pros:
      • Everything syncs to devices
    • Cons:
      • Unencrypted
      • Probably requires self-hosting

Am I missing something, or is there just no good replacement?

14

It’s a good sum up of the situation.
I returned to a dav server from etesync long ago because of similar issues and instability. I desperately hope Proton will launch a contact app.

15

Everything is brittle now. I couldnt self host because of certain issues in my domicile.

I had contacts synced up but I moved locally for some reason. Now my contacts are all over the place and unsynced. I think I even forgot to greet a certain family member of their birthday because of this.

One more con for Proton Calendar, somehow it does not copy certain information like birthdays when imported from a contact list export.

I think I also had a lot of notes within my contacts with nextcloud/etesync.

Im so disappointed with Etesync. Insert you were supposed to be the one Anakin meme

16

So far, this is my solution:

For calendar, I am going to use Proton Calendar. This means using the web interface on my laptop. However, I realise now that it supports email notifications, so I can still get notifications on my laptop. On my Android phone I’m using the app, although it’s disappointing that it’s not open source at the moment. Hopefully it will be soon.

For contacts, I have my contacts on Proton Mail, and I have them imported to GNOME Contacts and Android. When I update them, I will do this on GNOME Contacts or Android, and then I should be able to import them to Proton Mail without creating a duplicate. For deletion, I will have to delete the contact three times. For new contacts, I can export those separately and import them on GNOME Contacts and Android. Hopefully in the future Proton Mail will support syncing the contacts to Android.

For tasks, I am using Proton Calendar for tasks that have a date, and my notes solution for tasks without a date.

This is not the best solution, but in some respects, namely the fact that Proton Calendar and Proton Mail are maintained, it is a better solution than EteSync.

In others, namely syncing contacts to devices, syncing calendar to GNOME Calendar, and proper tasks support, this solution is inferior.

17

The main issue with not using etesync now is in how to solve the contacts issue, because there are options with notes (standard notes, notesnook, joplin, etc), calendars (proton, tutanota, etc), tasks (now notesnook). But for contacts what I do is have local contacs on android and every so often export them to a syncthing folder. is not encrypted on my pc nor my phone but at least they are on transit. Then every onece in a while again I buck them up from my pc to within my main backup solution

18

It should not be an issue if the information is stored in an encrypted drive. I plan to sync my contacts via CardDAV and calendar via CalDAV.

19

yeah thats wher eI stored them the only issue is that I have to put it on the android phone on a folder that many apps could have access, but is not much of a problem actually.

20

Etesync made a blog post in December23 saying they’re still active:

Is anyone here using Etesync and can report how reliable the sync across different platforms (mobile, desktop, web) is nowadays?

21

It’s reliable for my usage on Android and desktop, have been a paying customer for over a year now. I dislike the CPU and RAM consumption of etesync-dav and wish that the web app was more functional, but if you just want reliable E2EE sync then it works fine.