SambaLite

egdels42

About this app

SambaLite is a lightweight, modern, and open-source Android client for SMB/CIFS shares (Samba). The goal is to provide a minimalist, reliable, and secure tool that allows users to access SMB shares on their local network - without any unnecessary features, ads, or bloat.

The app is designed for tech-savvy users who are looking for a lean, transparent solution and value privacy and open source.

Main features:

• Manage connections: Enter SMB server (hostname or IP) and share/path, username, password, optional domain (workgroup)
• Manage multiple connections with individual names
• Connection testing with clear error messages
• Automatic, secure storage of credentials (Android Keystore)
• File browser: Navigate through the share directory tree, display of name, type, size, and modification date
• Refresh view ("Pull-to-Refresh")
• Sorting options (name, date, size)
• File operations: Download, upload, delete, rename
• Display file properties
• Dark/Light Mode (system default)

Security & Privacy:
• No telemetry or third-party connections
• No unencrypted storage of sensitive data
• Minimal permissions (only network and access to user-selected storage locations)

SambaLite is the open-source Samba client for Android that many have wanted for years: Modern, lean, secure, without unnecessary features, but with everything needed for practical access to SMB shares.

Ratings and reviews

I would give it four stars but you must add a way to shutdown the service and app, no app should make you force close it to shutdown the service. It's also a bad design to have "add connection" on the screen both in the main view and the button at the bottom, the button should stay and the welcome text is nice but the add connection button in the welcome text should not be there. Other than these issues the application is great and I applaud you choosing to go open source and share.

I don't see how to open a file using an external (android) app. SambaLite's description claims it can do that, but the only file actions SambaLite actually offers are Download, Rename, and Delete. If there's a way to open a file, it's not obvious, and there's no documentation about how to navigate the user interface. (I want to stream video files & audio files from my pc to a player app on my android device, which is what I expect "open with external app" to do.)

I'm not tech-savvy but quickly managed to connect to my Samba NAS and backup files from my phone. The only problem is that I can't select multiple files at once on my phone - it's either an individual file or a whole folder.

What’s new

1.3.2
- UX: Improved button visibility in dialogs for large font settings.
- UX: Increased dialog height for better usability on various displays.
- Polish: Streamlined welcome screen layout.