Yeah, phone to laptop, and I recently synced all backups and files from an old phone to a new one, too. Once you have the computer setup, you can basically connect phones by reading its QR code.
If the official Syncthing Android app is giving you a hard time, maybe try Syncthing-fork? IIRC that’s only the daemon and web GUI wrapped as an app. But I’ve used the main app only for the past few years.
You’re probably making them feel stupid, people downvote for no good reason. It’s a them problem, not a you one; everybody should check AlternativeTo before asking for recommendations.