Install SMBSync2 without the Play Store on Android 13 or higher.
In another blog post, I wrote how to synchronize your phones photos and videos with your NAS in your WIFI, without the need of an external service. SMBSync2 was used do to this. While the app is still available on the Google Play Store, it is no longer possible to install it on newer Android devices.
It will just tell you, that the app is not available for your Android version. Despite the Play Store claiming, that the application does not run on newer Android versions, we have tested the app on Android 13 and it works perfectly. So it just seems to be a setting in the Play Store.
Install the APK version manually
SMBSync2 is open source. The developer provides an APK package on GitHub, which can be used to manually install SMBSync2. Just search for “smbsync2 github” on Google. This will bring you to the project page, click on the download link and then click on the latest APK file in the assets section.
It is best to use the Chrome browser for that. Chrome will bring up a warning message. Click “Download anyway” and “Open” after the download.
By default, Chrome will not allow you to open the file. For sideloading APK files and install them, click on “Settings”. Activate the installation for Chrome, after that click “Install”.
After that, SMBSync is installed and can be used on your phone. The manually installed app will behave like the version from the Play store. However, there are no automatic updates, since you have installed the application manually.
