# Android sync from FS still very slow

**URL:** <https://discourse.joplinapp.org/t/android-sync-from-fs-still-very-slow/32807>\
**Category:** Support\
**Created:** [20 September 2023 06:37 UTC](https://discourse.joplinapp.org/t/android-sync-from-fs-still-very-slow/32807 "2023-09-20T06:37:40Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 7\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![joeschmoe](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/flex028/user_avatar/discourse.joplinapp.org/joeschmoe/32/9127_2.png) [@joeschmoe](https://discourse.joplinapp.org/u/joeschmoe)\
**Post date:** [20 September 2023 06:37 UTC](https://discourse.joplinapp.org/t/android-sync-from-fs-still-very-slow/32807/1 "2023-09-20T06:37:40Z")

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using android joplin 2.12.3  
using Filesystem method of synching

I feel like it's gotten worse and just doing a sync after finishing one takes a really long time. See some screenshots.

 ![7b564f0968ca9c275df5f4775ee4c251034c8aeeb186bf427071c4e05859324b](https://canada1.discourse-cdn.com/flex028/uploads/cozic/original/3X/4/1/41921cd11245b887c282c6a8efb0c1833b91c9b6.png)

if there are some notes, it's even worse

 ![2e2de799fbcade0f98142e444b083460a44aa6d19bb6ba8ae533de987c007ed8](https://canada1.discourse-cdn.com/flex028/uploads/cozic/original/3X/3/b/3b91c216611d32a7115d233668cb9ccb88d5e265.png)

Is there anything I can do to debug this? it's been an issue for quite awhile now. I'll happily donate to make this a priority

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**Author:** ![tomasz86](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/96bed5/32.png) [@tomasz86](https://discourse.joplinapp.org/u/tomasz86)\
**Post date:** [20 September 2023 08:05 UTC](https://discourse.joplinapp.org/t/android-sync-from-fs-still-very-slow/32807/2 "2023-09-20T08:05:04Z")

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The filesystem sync on Android is indeed very slow. It used to be faster before (see the discussion in [https://github.com/laurent22/joplin/issues/8759](https://github.com/laurent22/joplin/issues/8759) for some details).

I don't think you will be able to do much to improve the performance. I would suggest to either reduce your number of notes in general or create a separate profile with a small subset of notes that you really need to access on the mobile device and only sync that. You may also want to completely disable or greatly reduce note history.

Basically, the idea is to reduce the number of MD files that Joplin needs to sync to a minimum. Android's current filesystem access implementation is very slow when having to go through a large number of files. The fewer the files, the better.

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**Author:** ![Wladefant](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/flex028/user_avatar/discourse.joplinapp.org/wladefant/32/16820_2.png) [@Wladefant](https://discourse.joplinapp.org/u/Wladefant)\
**Post date:** [20 September 2023 08:39 UTC](https://discourse.joplinapp.org/t/android-sync-from-fs-still-very-slow/32807/3 "2023-09-20T08:39:05Z")

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Don't have that problem with Joplin cloud 😏

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**Author:** ![joeschmoe](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/flex028/user_avatar/discourse.joplinapp.org/joeschmoe/32/9127_2.png) [@joeschmoe](https://discourse.joplinapp.org/u/joeschmoe)\
**Post date:** [20 September 2023 08:44 UTC](https://discourse.joplinapp.org/t/android-sync-from-fs-still-very-slow/32807/4 "2023-09-20T08:44:21Z")

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> [@tomasz86](#):
>
> The filesystem sync on Android is indeed very slow.
> 
> ...
> 
> Basically, the idea is to reduce the number of MD files that Joplin needs to sync to a minimum. Android's current filesystem access implementation is very slow when having to go through a large number of files. The fewer the files, the better.

I can install an earlier version of Joplin to import my notes quickly, which would suggest there's nothing slow about androids filesystem. Also, there's no way an operating system of the magnitude of android would be able to function with a filesystem that slow. Something else is up

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**Author:** ![tomasz86](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/96bed5/32.png) [@tomasz86](https://discourse.joplinapp.org/u/tomasz86)\
**Post date:** [20 September 2023 14:32 UTC](https://discourse.joplinapp.org/t/android-sync-from-fs-still-very-slow/32807/5 "2023-09-20T14:32:22Z")

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> [@Wladefant](#):
>
> Don't have that problem with Joplin cloud 😏

Yes, the problem affects filesystem sync only 🙃.

> [@joeschmoe](#):
>
> I can install an earlier version of Joplin to import my notes quickly, which would suggest there's nothing slow about androids filesystem. Also, there's no way an operating system of the magnitude of android would be able to function with a filesystem that slow. Something else is up

How early of a version of Joplin? The older versions which targeted older SDKs were allowed to access the filesystem more directly (= faster). The current versions are forced to use FUSE which is more secure but also very slow (e.g. see [https://www.reddit.com/r/androiddev/comments/kpn68k/android\_11\_very\_slow\_file\_access\_performance](https://www.reddit.com/r/androiddev/comments/kpn68k/android_11_very_slow_file_access_performance)). This is a known issue if you look up "android fuse" in any search engine. The only way to work around this would be through root, but Joplin doesn't have any special root mode which would allow for direct filesystem access.

When it comes to most other applications, users usually don't need to access hundreds or thousands of files at the same time, hence the problem is non-existent for them. However, with Joplin specifically, the application creases lots of tiny MD files for each note, and all together they can easily add up to a few thousands, and accessing such numbers of files on modern Android is very slow.

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**Author:** ![joeschmoe](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/flex028/user_avatar/discourse.joplinapp.org/joeschmoe/32/9127_2.png) [@joeschmoe](https://discourse.joplinapp.org/u/joeschmoe)\
**Post date:** [21 September 2023 10:49 UTC](https://discourse.joplinapp.org/t/android-sync-from-fs-still-very-slow/32807/6 "2023-09-21T10:49:47Z")

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thank you for the detailed explanation!! Version was 2.11.32 so yeah, it's as you say it looks like. I have over 8800 files

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**Author:** ![system](https://canada1.discourse-cdn.com/flex028/uploads/cozic/original/3X/1/c/1c948e33314e232a0927789508474d8624f4270b.png) [@system](https://discourse.joplinapp.org/u/system)\
**Post date:** [21 October 2023 10:50 UTC](https://discourse.joplinapp.org/t/android-sync-from-fs-still-very-slow/32807/7 "2023-10-21T10:50:37Z")

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Closed on 21 October 2023 10:50 UTC

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