Operating system
Android
Joplin version
3.5.8
Desktop version info
3.5.13
Sync target
Joplin Server
Editor
Rich Text Editor
What issue do you have?
Is there still hope for me and Joplin?
I am reporting a severe Android sync issue that I have spent about a week trying to isolate.
My Joplin Desktop data is complete and consistent. The Android app repeatedly syncs only a much older and much smaller subset of the dataset, while reporting that synchronization is complete.
What makes this especially confusing is that I have already tried essentially all obvious recovery steps multiple times, including rebuilding the sync target from scratch.
Current desktop sync status (correct dataset):
Note: 9712 / 9712
Folder: 3 / 3
Resource: 13833 / 13833
Tag: 11 / 11
NoteTag: 494 / 494
Revision: 6087 / 6087
Total: 30140 / 30140
Conflicted: 0
To delete: 0
Current Android sync status (incorrect dataset):
Note: about 3505-3605 / same
Folder: 1 / 1
Resource: 3 / 3
Tag: 0 / 0
NoteTag: 0 / 0
Revision: 5 / 5
Total: about 3514-3614 / same
Conflicted: 0
To delete: 0
Android reports no errors and says sync is complete, but the result is obviously wrong:
many notes missing
notebooks missing
all tags missing
note-tag relations missing
In the UI it effectively falls back to only the default “Welcome” notebook, despite thousands of notes being counted in the sync status.
What I tried repeatedly:
Re-syncing from Desktop to OneDrive
Re-syncing from Desktop to Joplin Cloud
Re-syncing from Desktop to my own Joplin Server
“Re-upload local data to sync target” from Desktop
Clearing Android app data
Clearing Android cache
Uninstalling and reinstalling Android app
Rebooting Android device
Connecting Android to the same server URL and same user as Desktop
Creating a completely new Joplin Server user
Creating a new Desktop profile
Importing JEX into the new Desktop profile
Syncing that fresh Desktop profile to the new server user
Syncing Android against that new server user
Even after all of that, Android still ends up with essentially the same wrong partial dataset.
Important observations:
Desktop and Android are using the same Joplin Server URL.
Desktop and Android are using the same server account when tested together.
I also tested with a completely new server user and a new Desktop profile.
In the Joplin Server web interface I can see recent desktop changes that never appear on Android.
So this does not look like a simple wrong-URL or wrong-account issue.
Android does not seem to be “still syncing”; it reports finished sync with the wrong counts.
Server URL format used:
Desktop: http://192.168.178.100:22300
Android: same effective URL, same server
Server user test:
original admin account
fresh non-admin sync account
Both produced the same Android failure pattern.
What makes this especially serious:
The app gives the impression that sync succeeded, but the local dataset on Android is badly incomplete. That is much worse than a normal sync error because it can mislead users into trusting an incomplete database.
At this point I would like to know:
Is this a known Android delta-sync bug?
Is there a way to force Android to discard all server-side sync state and pull the full dataset, not just a stale partial one?
Are Folder / Tag / NoteTag objects handled differently in Android sync in a way that could explain this?
Is there any server-side state that survives even when using a new user and a new Desktop profile?
Which logs should I provide from Desktop, Android, and Joplin Server to help isolate this?
I can provide screenshots of:
Desktop sync status
Android sync status
Android sync settings
Joplin Server user overview
At this point the only reliable way to get the current data onto Android seems to be local JEX import without sync, which defeats the purpose of synchronized mobile use.
