- Android users now cannot load all files to NextCloud, just because Google revoked a permit
- NextCloud says that Google is punishing smaller competitors while protecting their own applications from restrictions
- NextCloud users now get a worse experience of the application, not for failure, but control of control
The ability to carry all types of files from Android to the cloud has become a reference expectation for modern users, especially those who trust services such as NextCloud to administer their data.
In a movement that has caused a violent reaction, Google has blocked the complete file loading capabilities in the Android application of NextCloud Files, citing “security concerns.”
This unique policy change has significantly affected how users interact with one of the main cloud storage services available today, raising broader questions about equity, power and competition in the digital ecosystem.
NextCloud affirms an unfair treatment under the appearance of security
While users can still load multimedia files such as photos and videos, a central feature for anyone looking for the best cloud storage for photos, NextCloud has been forced to disable loads for all other types of files on Android.
According to NextCloud, the problem comes from Google’s refusal to grant an essential file permit that the application has used since 2011. This is the permission of “all access files”, which allows an application to read and write all files in the shared storage of a device, not just multimedia files.
“To make it clear: all of you, as users, have a worse client of the NextCloud files because Google wanted that. We understand and share your frustration, but there is nothing we can do,” said the company in a press release.
NextCloud argues that this is not simply a technical problem but strategic. The company states that it is fitting, not for security reasons, but because it represents a competitive threat to the Google cloud ecosystem itself.
“Google possessing the platform means that they can, and are, giving a preferential treatment,” says the company, noting that Google’s own applications, as well as those of other great technological players, continue to enjoy the same permits that NextCloud has now been denied.
Google’s recommendation to use alternative frames such as the Mediastore or SAF API has not solved the problem. NextCloud explains that these options do not meet their requirements, and the reviewers have misunderstood their functionality.
The situation echoes the past tactics of Microsoft by limiting Wordperfect’s access to Windows APIs, a historic parallel that NextCloud invokes easily.
Under the user’s security appearance, NextCloud states, Google is making competition difficult, particularly for smaller developers who offer cloud support solutions focused on privacy.
While regulators have the task of addressing such concerns, NextCloud points out that progress is slow. A collective complaint filed in 2021 along with 40 other organizations for a similar problem has not yet received an answer.
