Nextcloud 4+

We are running a Nextcloud server on a Raspberry Pi 3b with a 2Tb HD for file storage.
We use this for calendars, contacts, photos and documents on Macs, iPhones and iPads. It gives us complete freedom with groups and sharing.
In backing up our documents to it, it keeps track of deleted documents which can be restored. It also keeps versions, so previously saved versions can also be restored. The user interface isn’t as fancy as Time Machine, but it works. It also means that I can access my files from my computer remotely from my phone, since I’ve set up outside access to Nextcloud.
This is our first step away from Apple after decades of being 100% Apple. There will be more.

While I love having my own cloud server, the app can at times make it very difficult to access and manage files in it. I find the app performs quite poorly, gets unresponsive at times and often reports errors. It’s impossible for me to determine if this is because of my server, network or just the app. I just know that using the web browser to access my cloud is better, much smoother to scroll, and functionality is consistently better. There’s also a number of important features only available to users in the browser.
I’d like to see app performance improvements, more features like server management and file conversion (heic to jpeg in-situ, rather than on upload only). I also don’t understand why the app stores SO MUCH DATA locally, like when it downloads ALL of the photos and videos I’ve just uploaded from my camera roll. I can’t turn this off. I can only “clear cache” manually. I find this one of the most annoying things about the app, and it probably contributes at least 50% towards the performance problems.

I spent hours setting this up as a home server and while the admin documentation is detailed, Nextcloud is not as good as just using an SFTP server. The problem is switching between local and remote network access and the problems associated with address resolution in the home environment. Connecting within the LAN and then later from the WAN yields unpleasant results with unsynchronised caching. Nextcloud presents itself as an opportunity to host your own cloud service but Its clear they’re aiming for enterprise implementation. The app is really only a portal for file transfer and nothing else. But even then, opening documents is hit and miss. Quite often after it opens a document, there is no way of backing out without quitting and reopening the app. Setting up a home Nextcloud server was an interesting experience in hardening the server’s backend but using Nextcloud itself was a let down.