https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2025/05/nextcloud-accuses-google-of-big-tech-gatekeeping-over-android-app-permissions/ Skip to content Ars Technica home Sections Forum Subscribe * AI * Biz & IT * Cars * Culture * Gaming * Health * Policy * Science * Security * Space * Tech * Feature * Reviews * Store * AI * Biz & IT * Cars * Culture * Gaming * Health * Policy * Science * Security * Space * Tech Forum Subscribe Story text Size [Standard] Width * [Standard] Links [Standard] * Subscribers only Learn more Pin to story Theme * HyperLight * Day & Night * Dark * System Search dialog... Sign In Sign in dialog... Sign in Low-level turbulence Google restores Nextcloud user's file access on Android Nextcloud's public story of Play Store problems seems to have helped. Kevin Purdy - Updated May 15, 2025 11:30 am | 102 Android robot mascot, its head in rainbow stripes, peeking above a white background horizon, with people blurred in motion moving past. Android robot mascot, its head in rainbow stripes, peeking above a white background horizon, with people blurred in motion moving past. The Android mascot at Google's pavilion during the Mobile World Congress 2025 in Barcelona, Spain, on March 5, 2025. Credit: Joan Cros/NurPhoto via Getty Images The Android mascot at Google's pavilion during the Mobile World Congress 2025 in Barcelona, Spain, on March 5, 2025. Credit: Joan Cros/NurPhoto via Getty Images Text settings Story text Size [Standard] Width * [Standard] Links [Standard] * Subscribers only Learn more Minimize to nav Nextcloud, a host-your-own cloud platform that wants to help you "regain control over your data," has had to tell its Android-using customers for months now that they cannot upload files from their phone to their own servers. Months of emails and explanations to Google's Play Store representatives have yielded no changes, Nextcloud wrote in a blog post. That blog post--and media coverage of it--seem to have moved the needle. In an update to the post, Nextcloud wrote that as of May 15, Google has offered to restore full file access permissions. "We are preparing a test release first (expected tonight) and a final update with all functionality restored. If no issues occur, the update will hopefully be out early next week," the Nextcloud team wrote. [nextcloud_update-Large] A notice in Nextcloud's Android app regarding file uploads. Credit: Nextcloud A notice in Nextcloud's Android app regarding file uploads. Credit: Nextcloud Ars has reached out to Google for comment, both before and after Nextcloud's update, and will update this post if we get a response. "Because Google wanted that" Nextcloud stated that it has had read and write access to all file types since its first Android app. In September 2024, a Nextcloud Android update with "all files access" was "refused out of the blue," with a request that the app use "a more privacy aware replacement," Nextcloud claimed. The firm states it has provided background and explanations but received "the same copy-and-paste answers or links to documentation" from Google. "To make it crystal clear: All of you as users have a worse Nextcloud Files client because Google wanted that," reads Nextcloud's blog post. "We understand and share your frustration, but there is nothing we can do." Nextcloud's story of confusing communications about file permissions, and ultimately giving up trying to get file access, echoes the story of iA Writer. That Markdown editing app similarly lost access to system file syncing--a crucial aspect of a file-based text editor--and declined to take part in an annual CASA Tier 2 assessment to seek that access again. Oliver Reichenstein, founder of that app's maker, Information Architects (iA), notes that Google did not request a security review for Nextcloud but "simply shut them out--which is even harder to justify under the DMA," Reichenstein wrote. The European Union's Digital Markets Act (DMA) broadly restricts companies deemed to be "gatekeepers," including Google, Apple, and Meta, from unfairly steering users to their own services. "While we [iA] might be seen as a competitor in a very loose sense, Nextcloud very clearly is one," Reichenstein wrote. Nextcloud eventually issued an update of its app that restricts uploads to media files. Downloading and side-loading the Nextcloud app from the F-Droid external store and granting the app necessary permissions restored the ability to upload any files to a Nextcloud instance. The company told The Register that it had more than 800,000 Android users. The company's blog post goes further than pinpointing technical and support hurdles. "It is a clear example of Big Tech gatekeeping smaller software vendors, making the products of their competitors worse or unable to provide the same services as the giants themselves sell," Nextcloud's post states. "Big Tech is scared that small players like Nextcloud will disrupt them, like they once disrupted other companies. So they try to shut the door." Nextcloud is one of the leaders of an antitrust-minded movement against Microsoft's various integrated apps and services, having filed a complaint against the firm in 2021. This post was updated at 11:30 a.m. on May 15 after Nextcloud announced Google's change in policy. Photo of Kevin Purdy Kevin Purdy Senior Technology Reporter Kevin Purdy Senior Technology Reporter Kevin is a senior technology reporter at Ars Technica, covering open-source software, PC gaming, home automation, repairability, e-bikes, and tech history. He has previously worked at Lifehacker, Wirecutter, iFixit, and Carbon Switch. 102 Comments Staff Picks f fknuckles I thought the whole point of permissions was to put the power in the hands of the user/owner of the device. It really is a sad state of computing that users no longer have control over their own computing hardware. May 13, 2025 at 9:24 pm Comments Forum view Loading Loading comments... Prev story Next story Most Read 1. Listing image for first story in Most Read: For the first time in the US, a rotating detonation rocket engine takes flight 1. For the first time in the US, a rotating detonation rocket engine takes flight 2. 2. 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