Looking for a solution to upload files from Android to Ubuntu via a remote network connection

[shag00]

Earlier this year I updated my phone to a model that does not contain a slot for a memory card which has now come back to bite me. I have decided to go on a long vacation and expect my wife to be snapping photos and videos all day which can realistically be expected to exceed the phone's storage capacity. I wish to upload the phone's media files to my home server on an ad hoc basis, or automatically if feasible. My home server is a samba server as well. My only experience with samba is connecting to it on it's LAN, not remotely and only with other Ubuntu PCs.

I have looked in the Google play store for android apps that don't make me feel all that confident see link comments below. So now I am just looking for a simple/basic setup to achieve my goal, any thoughts?

[Snowhog]

For expediency, the simplest way would be to create a Google Account. 15GB of free Photo storage among other things.

[claydoh]

Syncthing may be the easiest and simplest way to do this, making doubly sure it is a one-way only sync. It still may be a bit awkward to set up. But once done and tested, it should Just Work. Setting up the correct sync setting is vital, as it IS a sync tool, not a backup, so if not set up correctly, once you delete from the phone, it could delete on the remote computer. I haven't used this in a while now, though I did use it for over a year in a local one-way sync. There is no networking work to do here, other than maybe a port forwarding on your home router.

Another option to check is your home router - some have built-in VPN servers expressly for this sort of thing. Connecting your phone to that makes it act as if it were connected to your home network, so accessing Samba share would be the same. But this takes manual work (may require setting up OpenVPN app on phone), and remembering to copy your files.
I have this on my router, and have used it to set up a VPN connection. It does work, and I can access the Samba shares on my NAS when away from home , but I sure have forgotten to upload some things

A harder, more involved, but maybe more fun thing would be to install Nextcloud, but that will involve setting up networking for a dynamic DNS, or your own domain name, to be able top connect to it. Or set one up on a VPS
it is a bit overkill for just syncing or sharing files. But I use it on my NAS via Docker, and took some work to learn copy-paste-edit on how to set up with a domain blah blah on my NAS. The phone app is set to upload my image and video directories to nextcloud

I know there are other things. these are what I have used, and do use. Syncthing may be a good choice, as it is not hard to install and set up, though I think I recommend some testing and research on others using it for the same purpose as you.

[claydoh]

For expediency, the simplest way would be to create a Google Account. 15GB of free Photo storage among other things.

Often you can get a 100Gb trial for this, as well. 15Gb fills up fast with video content, unless you go lower res.

[shag00]

Yes, 15 GB is not a lot when using video especially if shooting UHD video which the new phones can do. I checked my router which does have a VPN server and does support access to samba and seems like the way to go. Thanks for that suggestion.

[shag00]

And wouldn't you know it, from Android 12 pptp support has been removed.