The fear
You long-pressed a folder. You tapped Select all without thinking. You emptied a cloud folder from a laptop while reorganizing. One tap, hundreds of files gone. Most sync apps treat that tap as your decision and mirror it to the other side without asking. By the time you notice, the damage is already on both sides.
What goes wrong with "obedient" sync
1. Storage cleanup, mirrored to your cloud
Your phone is almost full. Android prompts you to free up space — or you tap a "smart cleanup" yourself — and 120 photos get deleted from the device. The next sync mirrors that delete to the cloud, where you had hundreds of gigabytes to spare. The cloud loses files it didn't need to lose.
2. Cloud-side mistake, mirrored to your phone
Someone with access to your cloud folder reorganizes — or empties — a directory. The next sync brings that change down to your phone. Years of photos disappear from your gallery in one quiet reconcile.
3. Silent conflict resolution
Two edits to the same file from two devices. The app picks one — usually whichever has the newer timestamp — and the other is gone. You don't find out which one lost until you open the photo and see the wrong version.
4. The recycle-bin lottery
Some clouds keep deletes for 30 days. Some don't. Some keep them for the cloud account but not for shared folders. You don't know what your particular setup retains until you need to recover something — and by then it's too late to find out.
The common thread: the app made a destructive decision on your behalf, at scale, without asking.
What SyncGallery does instead
1. Thresholds you set, per rule
Each sync rule has two thresholds: max modifications and max deletions in a single run. Defaults are sensible; you tune them per rule. A family-photos rule might allow 5 deletes before it stops; a working scratch folder might allow 100. Set the threshold to 1 if you want every modification or deletion of even a single file to pause for review.
2. Over the threshold? Park and ask.
If a run would change more than your threshold, SyncGallery does not execute. It stops, files the batch as pending operations, and shows you the red "needs your review" banner. Nothing has moved yet.
3. Conflicts are always parked
We never pick for you. Two edits to the same file → both versions are kept, the conflict lands in the review list, you decide which side wins or keep both.
4. Batch-approve, your way
On the review screen you can:
- Select all of one type (e.g. all conflicts) and apply the same action in one tap
- Select per item when you want to mix decisions
- Select by operation type — only modified, only new, etc. — and execute only that group
- Ignore items so they never sync (restorable from Files excluded from sync)
- Cancel the whole batch and adjust the rule
We don't undo big mistakes. We refuse to make them in the first place.
After the threshold gate
Once you approve, the run executes the way you approved it. The next run inherits your threshold, not your one-time approval — so the next mass-delete also stops and asks. You set the rule once; SyncGallery enforces it forever.
Set a threshold. Sleep easier.
Install SyncGallery and tune the limits per rule, the way you'd tune any safety net.
Get it on Google PlayFrequently asked questions
What happens if I exceed the threshold and don't approve?
Nothing moves. The batch stays parked indefinitely. The next time you open the app you'll see the red banner reminding you that a sync is waiting for review. You can approve it then — or cancel and adjust the rule.
Does the threshold apply to both sides of the sync?
Yes. Whether the deletes originated on the device or in the cloud, the threshold is evaluated on the proposed batch — and the batch is parked regardless of which side caused it.
Can I have different thresholds for different rules?
Yes. Each sync rule has its own thresholds for modifications and deletions. Tighter limits on irreplaceable photo folders, looser limits on working folders.
What's the difference between Ignore and Cancel?
Cancel drops the entire current batch — nothing happens, but the same files will be re-evaluated on the next sync. Ignore permanently excludes the selected files from this rule; they'll never appear in pending operations again until you restore them from Files excluded from sync in settings.
Threshold of 1 — does that mean every single change asks?
Yes. With a threshold of 1, any modification or deletion in that rule pauses for review. Use this on rules where the cost of a mistake is higher than the cost of an extra tap.
Screenshots and labels in this page reflect the SyncGallery app at the time of writing. The exact wording of review-screen labels may evolve in future versions.