The future of selfhosted services is going to be… Android?

Wait, what?

Think about it. At some point everyone has had an old phone lying around. They are designed to be constantly connected, constantly on… and even have a battery and potentially still a SIM card to survive power outages.

We just need to make it easy to create APK packaged servers that can avoid battery-optimization kills and automatically configure an outbound tunnel like ngrok, zerotrust, etc…

The goal: hosting services like #nextcloud, #syncthing, #mastodon!? should be as easy as installing an APK and leaving an old phone connected to a spare charger / outlet.

It would be tempting to have an optimized ROM, but if self-hosting is meant to become more commonplace, installing an APK should be all that’s needed. #Android can do SSH, VPN and other tunnels without the need for root, so there should be no problem in using tunnels to publicly expose a phone/server in a secure manner.

In regards to the suitability of home-grade broadband, I believe that it should not be a huge problem at least in Europe where home connections are most often unmetered: “At the end of June 2021, 70.2% of EU homes were passed by either FTTP or cable DOCSIS
3.1 networks, i.e. those technologies currently capable of supporting gigabit speeds.”

Source: https://digital-strategy.ec.europa.eu/en/library/broadband-coverage-europe-2021

PS. syncthing actually already has an APK and is easy to use. Although I had to sort out some battery optimization stuff, it’s a good example of what should become much more commonplace.

cc: @selfhosted
#selfhosted #selfhosting

  • Wander ΘΔ :verified_paw:@packmates.orgOP
    0·
    1 year ago

    @selfhosted Update:

    1. Just to clarify, the the whole point is that Android makes it easy for less tech oriented people to host small single user / family services.

    It does not need to be perfect, have massive throughput or allow for massive amounts of read/write cycles.

    If people can host their own media server like Jellyfin or note taking apps like Joplin instead of using commercial services by simply installing an APK on an old phone they can leave connected at home, that’s already a big win.

    1. Regarding device longevity, Android 13 apparently supports / will support full KVM emulation. Windows can be run if you have root while android based VMs are expected to be possible without the need for root. Since this type of virtualization allows VMs to run their own kernel, keeping the “server app” updated should allow the user to be protected even if the host OS is outdated as long as these server-app-VMs are trustworthy themselves.
    • lav ΘΔ@packmates.org
      0·
      1 year ago

      @Wander @selfhosted digging into the updates or running linux instead of android that other comments are mentioning feels like missing the point a bit.

      the accessibility that this would provide could easily surmount the hurdle that prevents most from being able to get off big central services. self hosting, or even any alternative that doesn’t hold your hand 100% of the way (cough, mastodon) is beyond most people.

      even if it’s wrapped up nicely and not precisely long term, it would do a lot for the learned helplessness that big tech trains and to bridge that accessibility gap. even if the typical end user doesn’t get that involved, it could be an easy way in to understand how you might manage your own data.

      not like it’s much less safe having a limited security patch lifespan than (insert big company data breach here) :vlpn_happy_blep:

        • lav ΘΔ@packmates.org
          0·
          1 year ago

          @Wander @selfhosted more folks need to read this https://www.nngroup.com/articles/computer-skill-levels/

          it’s kinda easy to overlook this in techy circles. it’s why web 2.0 was able to reach most of the world, and why the old ways of building your site / hosting your services from scratch will always be limited in reach. most people just… don’t even know that’s an option, never mind have the background to know where to begin.

          unless you want to tell everyone to stop using the internet (fat chance), or continue to support the centralized corpo hellscape, we need easy ways for people to spin up their own digital infrastructure, and build platforms for themselves without a profit driven middleman.

          /rant
          sorry, this is a bit of a personal crusade to me, i love this idea :ms_awoo: