[afturner]

The local first approach is the primary reason I use Obsidian. I trust that I can _depend_ on Obsidian because of this.

On the other hand, this has also caused some headaches around using it on mobile.. but so far this has been a worthwhile tradeoff. Thanks for all the hard work!

[gavi]

I use iCloud Drive as a vault location. The trick is to create it first on the Mobile app and then use the desktop app later to point to that vault.

If you are transferring from desktop to mobile, make sure the .obsidian folder inside the vault is copied also

[reneberlin]

Syncthing comes to my mind for that specific need. https://syncthing.net/

[nine_k]

Syncing bytes is easy, many solutions exist (and syncthing / syncthing-fork is good at it).

Syncing by merging changes and resolving possible conflicts is a much harder task. Theoretically git has all the right bits, including the pluggable diffing and merging. In practice, I haven't seen it seriously used in this capacity.

This is to say nothing about files you only want on one node but not on another (heavy stuff lives on server and laptop, but not mobile, etc.)

This is why special-case syncing tools that know how to sync semantically are indispensable.

[Macha]

Syncthing on mobile is a little clunky because of OS limitations on background processes. Basically the reason I pay for Obsidian's own sync addon

[vageli]

I use syncthing together with wireguard to keep my vaults synced across devices.

[1MachineElf]

Syncthing works well on Android for photos, music, movies, and downloads. Not so much for notes. You'll end up with conflicts, and there aren't many great ways to merge changes on mobile.

[bachmeier]

Obsidian Sync is by no means cheap, but I've never used a better syncing service. I'm on my second year and can't think of a single issue I've had across laptops, desktops, an Android phone, and a Chromebook.

[runjake]

I can think of a number of other notes syncing that's better -- probably even Evernote's. As a happily paying Obsidian Sync customer, I'll drop some reality, so new people aren't caught off-guard.

- Obsidian Sync is pretty slow.

- Obsidian Sync doesn't happen in the background, at present. That means, if you just made a bunch of updates in Obsidian, or you haven't opened the Obsidian mobile app in a while, you're in for a wait.

- Obsidian Sync occasionally has sync errors that involve manual interaction.

That said, it's fine and the overall Obsidian experience makes it worth it (well, if you can swing a discounted price).

[xmprt]

I love Obsidian Sync as well but to be devil's advocate, it doesn't "just work" as a lot of people claim. It's still a bit rough around the edges. For example, it doesn't sync settings or starred files immediately. I've also noticed it dropping some text if I edit the same file on multiple devices simultaneously (or even in quick succession before sync is able to catch up). I'm sure these issues and more would exist with a 3rd party syncing solution but Obsidian sync still needs some work before it's perfect.

[redrobein]

It depends on your workflow. I use git to sync my obsidian vault. There's plugins to automate this, but doing it manually isn't that bad either. I use mobile mostly to read notes, and occasionally I'll write down a short line or two which I can sync over and edit and organize on desktop.

[LordDragonfang]

Some options for syncing on mobile:

Obsidian sells a first party syncing solution, which I hear works well:

https://obsidian.md/sync

I do git syncing on Android via termux (It works most of the time, except when git decides to shit itself every now and then on my tablet):

https://forum.obsidian.md/t/guide-using-git-to-sync-your-obs...

I can't vouch for it because I don't have any iOS devices new enough to support it, but supposedly you can use Working Copy to sync via git on iOS:

https://forum.obsidian.md/t/mobile-setting-up-ios-git-based-...

[blensor]

I went for the paid syncing because I want it to "just work" while still having the futureproof way of storing the data locally in an accessible way.

So far it has worked absolutely flawless. If I change a file it's changing on my connected device in seconds. Not exactly like working on a shared google doc but close enough that I would even use it as a hack to quickly share links between my mobile and my desktop

[kevingyori]

I’m using Working Copy on iOS with the setup described in the post. It’s working like a charm for me

[hyperific]

I just use DropSync and put all my Vaults in one synced Dropbox folder (to get around DropSync's folder limit). Works like a charm.

[gocartStatue]

I use it with Working Copy git client, nice and properly nerdy setup. There are nice ready-made guides for this combo.

[klabb3]

So simple, they combine the best of all eras: local first, open, published formats and pluggable/byo multi-device sync/backup – Cloud if you wish, but not required. It gives me hope for the future, I wish more software these days followed this model.

Caveat: not an obsidian user (although I am a big step closer after this)