Mobile App Brainstorming Session September 2025

[alperozturk96]

• Auto-upload functionality not working ✅✅✅✅✅✅✅✅✅✅✅✅✅✅✅✅

  • Users expect seamless background uploads.

• Difficulty finding recent files ✅✅✅✅✅✅✅✅✅

  • The “Recent files” feature should be more prominent and accessible.

• Interface feels overwhelming with too many actions ✅✅✅✅✅✅✅✅

  • Simplify and streamline the UI to reduce confusion.

• Better error handling, especially under poor internet conditions ✅✅✅✅

  • Improve resilience and provide clearer error feedback.

• Unimportant features placed next to critical features ✅✅✅✅

  • Reconsider feature hierarchy and visibility to improve usability.

• Over-explanation of features that should just work ✅✅✅

  • Reduce unnecessary instructions and aim for intuitive design.

• File request feature (clarity needed) ✅✅

• Notifications missing when another user edits a file ✅✅

• Folder coloring (and teams) for easier distinction ✅✅

  • Support folder and team color-coding.

• Teams & group folders support ✅

• Unclear difference between “Export” and “Download” ✅

  • Simplify or clarify terminology to prevent confusion.

• Confusing folder structure in collaborative scenarios ✅

  • Improve organization and navigation for shared workspaces.

• Conflict handling during uploads with external notifications ✅

  • Automatically resolve or clearly communicate upload conflicts within the application.

• Better search support ✅

  • Improve search speed, filtering, and relevancy.

• Boundaries between Nextcloud apps feel loosely connected ✅

• Translation issues due to overly technical source strings ✅

  • Simplify language for better localization and accessibility.

• Album management improvements ✅

• Mobile-to-web redirection in specific cases ✅

• Account switching errors during file sharing ✅

  • Resolve bugs when switching accounts mid-share.

• Better widget support and more useful widgets ✅

• Work on core functionalities and make the app more reliable ✅

• More contextual info in rich workspaces (e.g., links to events) ✅

• Quiz feature ✅

  • Potential new use case?

[camilasan]

For context, these are some notes of the brainstorming session (from Christoph):

How do you use the app?

• back up images
• quickly acces specific files (docs & pics)
• sync files
• What is missing:
  • access to recent files (not only edited files but also recently accessed files)
  • search function, esp in complex folder structures

Universities: What do they need?

• Teams or groupfolders, timetables etc (read only for students)
• file upload & file request for homework/papers etc

Complains when using Files app?

• auto upload often not working
• export/download: difference not clear
• file upload: conflict for redundant / error message only in overall phone notifications, not in app notifications

What can be implemented in Files from your favorite app?

• Google Photos: location heat map (based on metadata)
• search & further functions (search people, dogs, cats, cars,…)
• notifications when edits in documents or being tagged in doc etc

[jancborchardt]

@alperozturk96 could you modify the formatting so it is a task list, and the amount of upvotes is clearly indicated (maybe via emojis like at nextcloud/mail#10194 )

[jancborchardt]

@alperozturk96 @mpivchev the first 3 items are checked – could you add context, ideally as links to issues there? :)

[alperozturk96]

@jancborchardt Maybe someone or me accidentally checked? We didn't finish it. I am going to uncheck if it is okay? @tobiasKaminsky @mpivchev

[mpivchev]

I unchecked them