Editor’s note: Following intense public criticism, Google has reversed its decision and agreed to reinstate the permission.
In a blog post, Nextcloud announced, “Google contacted us this morning to restore the permission, returning full file upload capabilities to our users.”
Pending successful testing, Nextcloud expects to release the update to all users within the week.
Original story: Google weaponizes Android permissions to block Nextcloud’s file uploads
- A single permission revocation strips Android users of full file upload functionality
- Nextcloud alleges Google shields its own apps while targeting smaller competitors
- Users suffer degraded service—not due to technical failure, but deliberate restriction
For modern users—especially those reliant on Nextcloud for cloud storage—uploading any file type from Android is now table stakes. Yet Google has restricted this core capability in the Nextcloud Files app, claiming security risks. This single policy shift has fundamentally disrupted how millions interact with the platform, sparking wider concerns about market fairness and tech platform gatekeeping.
Nextcloud argues Google weaponizes security concerns to mask anti-competitive tactics
While photo and video uploads remain functional, Nextcloud has been forced to disable uploads for all other file types on Android. The culprit: Google’s refusal to grant the “All files access” permission—a capability the app relied on since 2011. This permission allows apps to read and write all files on a device’s shared storage, not just media.
Nextcloud pulled no punches in its response: “All of you as users have a worse Nextcloud Files client because Google wanted that.”
The company insists this is strategic, not technical. Nextcloud argues it’s being systematically disadvantaged not for security reasons, but because it threatens Google’s cloud dominance. “Google owning the platform means they can—and are—giving themselves preferential treatment,” the company stated, highlighting that Google’s own apps and other Big Tech platforms retain the very permissions Nextcloud was denied.
Google’s suggested alternatives—MediaStore API and Storage Access Framework—don’t meet Nextcloud’s needs, the company contends, and have been misunderstood by reviewers. The parallels are stark: this mirrors Microsoft’s historical playbook of restricting WordPerfect’s Windows API access, a comparison Nextcloud itself has drawn.
Under the banner of user safety, Nextcloud argues, Google is erecting barriers to competition, particularly harming smaller developers focused on privacy-centric cloud solutions. Regulatory intervention moves slowly, however. A collective complaint filed in 2021 with 40 other organizations on a similar issue remains unresolved.