Android cannot acquire sync lock

Operating system

Android

Joplin version

2.14.9

Desktop version info

Windows 11 / Joplin 2.13.15

Sync target

Dropbox

Editor

Markdown Editor

What issue do you have?

Hi,

I setup an encryption yesterday from my desktop Joplin app.
In the option I got : encryption : activated / private public keys: generated / decrypted : 769

Now on my Android I got an error message: Android cannot acquire sync lock
In the option I got : encryption : activated / decrypted : 1066

Why do I get this error message : Android cannot acquire sync lock
And why it is slower sync than before the encryption ? (i'm only using simple plain text notes)

Notes seems to be syncing from desktop to android / and from android to desktop ...

Thanks

1 Like

This might be related to recent mobile Dropbox sync issues:

A new iOS version with a workaround has been released. An Android version with the fix hasn't been released to the Google Play Store yet.

See also Android app no longer syncing.

Each Joplin instance, when syncing, locks others out in order to avoid everyone changing everything at the same time. Technically, this happens by creating a 'lock' file on the server, in a 'Locks' folder. On Dropbox this is located at:
https: //www.dropbox.com/home/Applications/Joplin/locks (I intentionally added a space to avoid my post showing the Dropbox banner instead of the url)
Connect to Dropbox with your bowser, go there. If this folder is not empty, nobody can sync until that lock file is deleted.
Now it may happen that you have quit or disconnected a Joplin instance without allowing it to finish the sync : wifi link loss, computer put to sleep, whatever. In this case the lock file stays there and just nobody can sync anymore.
My solution in that case is just to delete the lock file in the folder, and then reconnect the Joplin instances one at a time, waiting the first one's sync to be over, then the second, etc.

2 Likes

Hello,
I have one .lock (with the dot) folder that is empty
and i have a lock folder (without the dot) with one fil in it date created in 2023 ...

Thanks for this, syncing was stuck and removing a file found in my Dropbox/locks released it.

Are you the @Radnad from Dresden Codak? I'd be definitely proud to have helped you! :wink:

I occasionally have a similar problem with Joplin Coud. So far, I have been able to work around the problem by waiting a while after closing all my Joplin apps. After that, the sync process worked normally again for all newly started Joplin apps.

Is there a way to look for old lock files in the Joplion cloud?

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