The default installation of owncloud only offers file syncing. Contacts and Calendar are extra apps that need to be activated via Apps menu.
For the Calendar I had to activate "Update timezone automatically" in the settings (in the left lower corner) or else all new entries would differ about one hour between owncloud and my android device. The entries imported from Google calendar didn't have this problem. I've later found out that in the ICS file that was exported from Google calendar the dates are in UTC. Btw. import. To import any ICS file just upload the file to owncloud and then click in the owncloud file explorer on the filename. You are then asked to which calendar you want to import. After the import you can delete the file.
For the contacts Google offers various exports formats. Some worked better than others but none was perfect for me. So you better use them all, then import them into a test setup and see which one works best for you.
On the android side the first step is to import the root certificate. For my 4.2 system I had to convert it from pem to crt format, open a file explorer and select the crt file there. This won't work on 5.1 and 6.0. On that systems you have to use Settings/Security/Install from SD card.
As the next step you have to get some apps that use the data from owncloud. The good news is that there are some free apps and there is a good chance that you have some of the already installed. The calendar and contacts app from Google aren't restricted to the Google servers. When you manage to add other accounts they will display the data of them too. The app "Easy DAV für ownCloud" is such an app. With its help I've created one account for the contacts and a second for the calendar. Now I can still use the installed calendar and contacts app but the data go to my owncloud and not to Google.
To view my pictures I had already installed the app QuickPic. It turned out that it can backup to owncloud. Backup means that any changes to the images/image folders on owncloud won't be brought back to the android device. For me the backup was all I wanted. So QuickPic was fine.
Things that didn't work out:
A list of things that didn't work out as expected.
You can't change the default calendar in the calendar app. For each new event I enter via my android device I have to change the calendar. My research has shown that I am not theonlyone.Update 02.04.2016: As I wanted to enter a new event today my owncloud calendar was selected. I've decided to accept it and won't investigate further.
- Android doesn't trust your root certificate and issues a Network
May Be Monitored warning after every reboot. This can only
be solved on rooted devices.
- Firefox mobile uses its own CA store and handles your server as it would use a self signed certificate.
- I've currently found no way to import ICS files directly from a url. Some organizations provide a list of their events as ICS files and I'd like to automatically import them in a calendar.
- The Bookmark app can't store all links. I've wanted to
bookmark a login page for a shop and it refused while it happily
stored other links.
The list may seem long but except the certificates they are only minor issue or issues about bonuses not planned at start. So I'm OK with them.
The certificate issues were a real disappointment. I've put a lot of effort in it and at the end I get only warnings.
This post is part of a series:
- Owncloud in home directory
- Creating your own CA and certificates to sign with
- Setting up owncloud and your android device to sync