Synchronising calendar with Android (free software and services)

Tried this as a free trial - couldn’t get it to work…

Hi,

when I got my First smartphone I was looking for one, too. MyPhoneExplorer was the best I found, but it was not satisfying at all. I also Tryed to Sync my Callender via IMAP. But the result was also not very pleasant.

Every Tool I tried hat problems and I got doubled Appointments (assigning failed) wrong Start and End Times (problems with Time zones) or Series Appointments changing there Start and End Times (problem with clock change). It was very frustrating.

After weeks I tried the google calendar and it worked perfectly from the first moment, but I was not really happy with giving google an overview of all my dates.

So after some time I installed Owncloud on my Synology NAS as CalDAV and CardDAV Server (i prefer Synologys Cloud Station for File Sync) and use CalDAV Sync and CardDAV Sync on my Phone and I’m very Happy with this solution.

I just want to say, that Smartphones are made for the cloud, you will find really nice Tools to do thinks over the cloud but trying to do thinks locally with a cable can be torturous.

regards,
Shiny

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I don’ care for cloud and I’m not setting up a server to synchronize my contacts with my PCs.

I’ll do it manually, too bad. Smartphone aren’t as smart as they are advertised to be. :stuck_out_tongue:

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As an alternative to google and if you don’t want to maintain your own server you can look at https://fruux.com/ ; it works.

Hey @wires are you using this yourself? It sure looks like a very interesting and easy alternative, I might try it.

You can download the packages from their community page:
https://community.zarafa.com/

There is an installation article in their wiki:
http://www.zarafa.com/wiki/index.php/Installing_Zarafa_from_packages

Hello!

I now installed ownCloud on my Debian running on a VM and use it through DavDroid (I also consider donating some money to the developers, see: I introduce: Free Software Donation Day)

Since the ownCloud client is available for download on F-Droid, I might even start putting some files in the cloud.

For security reasons synchronisations only works if I am in my local network.

Edit: Also synchronising calendar and contacts with Mozilla Thunderbird.

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Congrats !
I’m doing the local network only syncing, too.

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Dear Stephan

for a complete newby like me could you please be a bit more specific regarding the use of “Add to calendar”?
I downloaded it and I transfered a ics file via USB to the Fairphone. I cannot find a possibility to import it in the stock calendar which comes with the phone. What am I missing?

Best regards,

George

Ok, fiddling around I found the solution to the riddle posed:

DL & install “Calendar ICS adapter” from F-droid.
Transfer an ICS file to your Fairphone.
Open the file manager and tap on the ICS file. You are offered
two possibilities, select “import to calendar”

Regards

George

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Thanks George. I also found one could subscribe to a calendar ics file on internet, thanks to the app “Icalsync2” that you just need to point to the url. That’s cool to permanently keep an up-to-date copy of home-published calendars…

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@Kris_S at the moment I am googlified, but I have used it in the past (free account); it was more limited then but calendar and contact syncing worked well. I believe they now also have a web based calendar interface. I might try it again myself…

Mmh, seems interesting, but it isn’t clear if the service is free or fee-ed…

There is a very good (and secure, and advert-free) email and calendar etc. provider in Germany, called posteo:

“Posteo is an independent email provider based in Berlin. We offer encrypted, anonymous and sustainable email accounts, address books and calendars. Our service is completely ad-free and self-financed.
Posteo was founded in 2009. We want to provide an impetus for greater security, privacy and sustainability on the internet, and offer alternatives.”.

They are a good combination with my Fairphone (google-free, I only use open source / f-droid Apps).
And in combination with DAVDroid it is very easy to sync the calendar.
Posteo costs a little fee, but it is possible to pay anonymously as well (and you get some free aliases to the main emailadress) so it is very good
My only calendar problem is that the script / numbers of the dates are so very small on the FP. Is there any way to set them bigger?

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Posteo does not integrate anything, it just provides another server service.

I should probably respond in a seperate topic, but I’ll write it here anyway: The only solution would be to make the overall letters bigger. (Settings > Display)

Thank you!
But it is only a problem with the calendar, the letters / scripts are bigger in all other apps.

Where are they very small? At th Calendar or Calendar Widget?
If this is the case you can simply use alternate Apps. Because this are just “viewers” they have nothing to do with syncing the data. I love aCalendar+ but it is not Open Source so it won’t be an option for you. But I am confident that F-Droid offers some alternative Calendar Apps, too. So you might be able to find one with bigger scripts.

regards,
Shiny

DAVDroid really kills it. And it’s available for free on F-Droid.

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Consider donating to them, the makers are from Austria (in fact a town near to where I live…) :wink:

The MyPhoneExplorer application seems to not work anymore on Windows 10… anyone else got that too?

What could I use now to sync my data? Thunderbird, etc…