Back in April, BitTorrent Inc. made a public alpha release of its BitTorrent Sync, an application that securely syncs folders like Dropbox, but without storing any data in the cloud. BitTorrent Inc. has just announced that its application has reached its beta stage and is now available to the public on Android via Google Play.
The mobile version provides several features including selective folder syncing, sending files between mobiles, automatic backing up of photos and other selected folders and options such as whether to sync over cellular, stop syncing on low battery and so on. Syncing a folder is very simple – The PC version presents a QR code for a chosen folder to sync. On the mobile, it’s just a matter of choosing a folder scanning the QR code displayed on the PC.
If all goes well, a series of 'Download Complete' notifications will appear as files are synced from the phone, such as the following example right after taking a picture on the phone.
According to BitTorrent Inc, over 8 Petabytes of data have been shared across its users since April, including film collaborations, remote backup, project management and so on. Its most recently added feature is archiving, where earlier versions of files are stored in the .SyncArchive folder, the same folder where deleted files are also placed. Other improvements include faster performance in syncing lists of files, reduced CPU usage, a much improved Sync protocol, faster syncing of small files and various bug fixes
Like the PC version, BitTorrent Sync for the mobile can sync in both directions as well as over the Internet. With a large enough storage, it can effectively act like a private cloud where selected folders on the PC are automatically backed up to the phone instead relying on Dropbox, SkyDrive, etc. By using the phone, the user can also sync folders between home, work and elsewhere without requiring two PCs to be simultaneously switched on, as new/changed files would automatically be synced with the phone and then when the user heads elsewhere, the updated files on the phone would sync to the other computer at that location.
While BitTorrent Inc. claims the PC and mobile versions will permanently remain free, it is likely that they will monetise on it later on with either premium features or even ads like they did with uTorrent.
