Help with switching from Android to iOS

Hi everyone,

I’m a long-time Android user currently using a Android on Samsung Galaxy S21, Galaxy Watch, Windows, and an iPad 6th gen. I’m considering switching to an iPhone to simplify my life, but I’ve hit a few roadblocks I can’t seem to solve.

1. Moving photos from iOS to NAS (without Apple Cloud)

I want my photos to stay in a folder structure on my NAS and to be moved, not just copied.

I understand that currently iOS blocks third-party apps from accessing photos (that's why there are no apps that have two-way sync, but are limited to backing up and then deleting what was backed up from the phone) - I don't exactly want that. And I heard somewhere that it should be possible in future iOS versions ( https://ec.social-network.europa.eu/@EUCommission/113163726247010286 ) but again I didn't notice that it would be a big topic, which it probably should be, and that confuses me a bit.

1a) Current setup on Android:

I use the FolderSync Pro app to sync my photos to OneDrive (where I have 40 GB of storage). It’s a two-way sync: I have albums (folders) on my phone, and when I move a folder from OneDrive to the NAS, the sync ensures the photos are also removed from my phone. For example, if I batch resize a certain album, the photos will also be synced to the phone and overwrite the originals. OneDrive serves as temporary storage, from time to time I move old albums (folders) to the NAS.

1b) Problems on iOS:

On iOS, I’ve encountered the following issues:

• iCloud Photos on Windows Photos cannot be moved (Ctrl+X), only copied and then deleted. When I try to move them, I get the error: "Error 0x8007017B: The operation is not supported by the cloud sync provider." (dozens of topics on the apple forum for this error, many years ago and unresolved) I’ve tried working around this with Total Commander, but it sometimes breaks the sync. Additionally, iCloud for Windows doesn’t handle updates well (e.g., if I edit a photo on Windows, the change doesn’t sync back to iCloud unless I create a duplicate of photo).
• Shortcuts automation I couldn’t figure out how to save files to OneDrive or other sync providers (like Syncthing or Synology Drive).
• PhotoSync – transfer photos Moving photos works, but it requires being on the same LAN and using a Windows app. The process feels overly complicated and more like a last-resort solution.

2. Syncing music and finding a player on iOS

I often listen to recorded Twitch streams (music) and delete the files after I’m done listening.

2a) Current setup on Android:

I use Synology Drive (previously Resilio Sync) for two-way syncing of music files. When I move a file to a folder on my NAS, it syncs automatically to my phone. If I delete the file on my phone, it’s also deleted from the NAS. This setup works perfectly for me.

I would have to find a way to two-way sync music files (around 500MB per file) to the phone - that probably won't be a problem. But I'm afraid the problem will be how to continue playing the files and working with them from the player.

2b) Requirements for a music player:

I need a music player that can:

• Play local music files (probably from folder of synch provider like Synchthing?)
• Allow me to delete files directly from the player (and have them removed from both the phone and NAS).
• Remember the last played position for all files (since Twitch streams can be 2, 3, or even 5 hours long).
• Have a visualized seek bar that shows where there’s speech versus music, making it easy to skip around (like this: https://media.invisioncic.com/r156363/monthly_2024_01/Screenshot_20240119-173151_Gallery.jpg.89374ad377122b1df8929591e04ea0a8.jpg ).

On Android, I use Poweramp, which meets all these needs.

Can anyone help me figure out how to accomplish these things on iOS? Or is it safe to say that iOS simply isn’t the right platform for me? I find it hard to believe these tasks should be this difficult, but I haven’t been able to solve them yet.

Thanks a lot in advance!

[Re-Titled by Moderator]