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[GH-ISSUE #2085] Android app 5.7.0 cannot sync on fresh install breaks xbel file #1396
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Originally created by @c3piio on GitHub (Oct 26, 2025).
Original GitHub issue: https://github.com/floccusaddon/floccus/issues/2085
Which version of floccus are you using?
5.7.0
How many bookmarks do you have, roughly?
2000+
Are you using other means to sync bookmarks in parallel to floccus?
No
Sync method
Google Drive
Which browser are you using? In case you are using the phone App, specify the Android or iOS version and device please.
Edge
Which version of Nextcloud Bookmarks are you using? (if relevant)
No response
Which version of Nextcloud? (if relevant)
No response
What kind of WebDAV server are you using? (if relevant)
No response
Describe the Bug
I use floccus on Edge, syncing to Google Drive, and it works fine. I have two Android devices. Device 1 has had floccus for a long time. It was running version 5.7.0 and was able to sync.
On Device 2 I downloaded floccus 5.7.0 from Google Play. I connected to Google Drive, chose the correct bookmarks.xbel file, and waited for sync. During sync, the app crashed. I started the app back up. Restarted sync, and after a long time, it completed but showed no bookmarks. On Edge, when trying to sync, it warned me other devices are trying to sync. On device 2, repeated syncing yielded no bookmarks. I then uninstalled version 5.7.0 and installed 5.5.6 on device 2. Tried to sync again but it warned that other devices are waiting to sync.
I deleted the xbel file in google drive and re-synced it via Edge (floccus 5.6.0 in Edge). The sync went fine. On devive 2 with floccus 5.5.6 installed, I re-did the connection and synced. Bookmarks now showed up.
Finally, on device 1 I re-installed floccus Android 5.7.0 and tried to sync, since it was now working with 5.5.6 on device 2. However, when device 1 with 5.7.0 connected to the xbel file, the same issue appeared, i.e. sync did not work, app crashed, and now both Edge and device 2 with version 5.5.6 gave a warning that other devices are attempting to sync.
Conclusion: Version 5.7.0 of floccus for Android, when connecting from scratch to Google Drive, somehow corrupts the syncing process, causing all other instances of floccus who are trying to sync the same bookmarks.xbel file, to show the warning that other devices are syncing. Deleting the bookmarks.xbel and using Android app 5.5.6 fixes the problem. If 5.7.0 is allowed to connect to the bookmarks.xbel file on a fresh Android install, it corrupts syncing for all other connected devices.
Expected Behavior
Sync to work
To Reproduce
Important point: Accessing with a fresh install of 5.5.6 works and does not break the xbel file. Subsequent updating to 5.7.0 might work since device 1 was running 5.7.0 after updating. I haven't tested this since now it works on 5.5.6. But it is clear that allowing 5.7.0 to connect on a fresh install to the xbel permanently breaks the xbel sync, and the only way to fix it is to delete the bookmarks.xbel, re-sync from Chrome/Edge, and use a fresh install of 5.5.6 APK, sync successfully, and possibly (haven't tested) update later.
Debug log provided
@github-actions[bot] commented on GitHub (Oct 26, 2025):
Hello! 👋
Thank you for taking the time to open this issue with floccus. I know it's frustrating when software causes problems. You have made the right choice to come here and open an issue to make sure your problem gets looked at and if possible solved. Let me give you a short introduction on what to expect from this issue tracker to avoid misunderstandings. I'm Marcel. I created floccus a few years ago, and have been maintaining it since. I currently work for Nextcloud which leaves me with less time for side projects like this one than I used to have. I still try to answer all issues and if possible fix all bugs here, but it sometimes takes a while until I get to it. Until then, please be patient. It helps when you stick around to answer follow up questions I may have, as very few bugs can be fixed directly from the first bug report, without any interaction. If information is missing in your bug report and the issue cannot be solved without it, I will have to close the issue after a while. Note also that GitHub in general is a place where people meet to make software better together. Nobody here is under any obligation to help you, solve your problems or deliver on any expectations or demands you may have, but if enough people come together we can collaborate to make this software better. For everyone. Thus, if you can, you could also have a look at other issues to see whether you can help other people with your knowledge and experience. If you have coding experience it would also be awesome if you could step up to dive into the code and try to fix the odd bug yourself. Everyone will be thankful for extra helping hands! If you cannot lend a helping hand, to continue the development and maintenance of this project in a sustainable way, I ask that you donate to the project when opening an issue (or at least once your issue is solved), if you're not a donor already. You can find donation options at https://floccus.org/donate/. Thank you!
One last word: If you feel, at any point, like you need to vent, this is not the place for it; you can go to the Nextcloud forum, to twitter or somewhere else. But this is a technical issue tracker, so please make sure to focus on the tech and keep your opinions to yourself.
Thank you for reading through this primer. I look forward to working with you on this issue! Cheers! 💙
@marcelklehr commented on GitHub (Oct 26, 2025):
Hey @c3piio
Thank you for taking the time to give feedback by opening this issue!
Mmh, this is curious. I cannot reproduce this offhand. For me even a sync with much more then 2k bookmarks takes a long time and admittedly the UI is non-responsive, but it finishes successfully. It could be that the app is running out of memory :/
This is also curious. A debug log, generated in the profile settings after one of these syncs would be helpful for me to figure out what's happening there.
@c3piio commented on GitHub (Oct 27, 2025):
Hello, I have done some more testing and here are my findings!
On device 2, as mentioned in my first post I had to install version 5.5.6 for the initial sync to work. I then allowed Google Play to update the app to version 5.7.0. Two way syncing still works on device 2 with version 5.7.0 installed. I just had to use 5.5.6 for the first sync to work.
On device 1, just installed a fresh version of floccus 5.5.6. Initial sync worked perfectly. I created a log file which is attached. I then uninstalled floccus 5.5.6 and installed floccus 5.7.0. The initial sync did not work. The app was trying for about 2 minutes, then crashed. Opening it again resulted in more blue line loading, but no bookmarks. Finally, it said it cannot sync because it is waiting for other devices. Worst of all, exporting a log file did not work (blank file).
I have now had to delete the bookmarks.xbel again in Google Drive, recreate it with Edge, install 5.5.6 to get sync going, and then updating to 5.7.0 via Google Play.
My only assumption is I have more than 2000 bookmarks given the log file size (150k lines in 5.5.6 log, almost 40k lines in 5.7.0 log). However, it still stands that 5.5.6 can handle initial sync of the bookmarks.xbel file (it is 1.3 mb in google drive) but 5.7.0 cannot.
As a final note, I have exported redacted logs from device 2 which runs 5.7.0 after the above mentioned update sequence (5.5.6 first sync, then update to 5.7.0).
floccus-5.5.6-2025-10-27-redacted.log
floccus-5.7.0-2025-10-27-redacted 1.log
floccus-5.7.0-2025-10-27-redacted.log
@marcelklehr commented on GitHub (Nov 14, 2025):
Could you open your bookmarks.xbel file and count the number of occurences of the string
</bookmark>? That should give us the exact number of bookmarks.@c3piio commented on GitHub (Nov 14, 2025):
5094 bookmarks
@marcelklehr commented on GitHub (Nov 16, 2025):
Mh, I had a file with 75k bookmarks lying around and tried with that, but still couldn't produce a crash. What are the devices you're running the app on?
@eclairevoyant commented on GitHub (Dec 6, 2025):
I'm encountering this exact issue on v5.8.1 (f-droid): crashlooping, no logs.
It simply creates the
.xbel.lockfile and doesn't sync anything - simply hanging for 60+ seconds then crashing until I open the app again, when the same thing recurs. The app also stutters when scrolling the bookmark list.It syncs correctly with 5.5.6 (gh releases), in under 5 seconds. There is also no local stuttering when scrolling in the app.
Worse, I have even fewer bookmarks (1498).
Device info: this is on a Pixel tablet (8 gb ram).
Syncing over webdav and no encryption, if that's relevant.
EDIT: with 5.5.6 all the local bookmarks got deleted somehow and I had to redownload them from the server - so staying on the old version is not a viable solution.
@marcelklehr commented on GitHub (Dec 13, 2025):
Which OS and version?
@marcelklehr commented on GitHub (Dec 13, 2025):
I'm sorry this happened to you. But yes, there is a reason I publish new releases :)
@eclairevoyant commented on GitHub (Dec 13, 2025):
Android 16.
Not an issue, it was a test run and I have backups, etc.
@marcelklehr commented on GitHub (Dec 14, 2025):
@eclairevoyant If you're up for it would you be able to check the logcat logs after such a crash loop? I cannot reproduce this using a virtual device.
@eclairevoyant commented on GitHub (Dec 17, 2025):
I don't have access to a machine for a bit, I'll follow up once I do.
@marcelklehr commented on GitHub (Dec 20, 2025):
@eclairevoyant @c3piio Could you try this again with v5.8.3 which I just released?
@eclairevoyant commented on GitHub (Dec 26, 2025):
I'll give it a try this weekend.