> Andy Schertzinger, Director of Engineering at Nextcloud, confirmed this to The Register, saying, "Google has decided to restore the permissions to our Android app so we can bring back the full file syncing functionality."
We went through this song and dance for actual file explorers more times than I can count. It usually "sticks" for a few updates before the rejections start again.
The policy hasn't changed.
It also doesn't change the fact that they demand access to every single personal photo, media item and document on device instead of using an API that allows user to have control over what they share with the app - it's the same behaviour as Facebook, Instagram and other companies showed before the policy was enacted. Instead of respecting the user, they demand the user gives them access to everything with "trust us, we won't do anything bad" attitude while refusing to do better.
Google and apple are the ones "not respecting the users" by focusing exclusively on lowest common denominator users and pushing to increase their monopoly controls.
The day Android stops letting Syncthing have access to my entire filesystem is the day Android becomes entirely useless to me.
I agree that this access is indeed exploited by Facebook and the like, but the solution simply can't be to remove the capability entirely.