BitTorrent Sync surpasses one million users, celebrates with major update

Way back in January, BitTorrent released its sync app, though it was early days, and the organization wished to keep testing to a private level. Since then, there has been steady progress, including making a beta version available to the masses. Now it seems the service reaches critical mass with today's news.

The company starts its announcement with news that Sync has surpassed one million users, along with more than 30 petabytes of data synced so far. The company points, in part, to the recent security climate as one of the reasons for its popularity. "BitTorrent Sync is a beta project in cloud-free syncing. Our goal is to build a sharing tool that lets you move big files, and big ideas, freely. Without surveillance. Without speed limits. And without size caps. Your data belongs to you. Sync is designed to keep your stuff yours; with you and your team, wherever you are", the announcement states.

But the news goes beyond the numbers and vague references to NSA activity. Version 1.2 is rolling out and, while still a beta, it promises a number of improvements. For starters, a speed boost claims to have been clocked at 90 MB/s, which doubles the previous version of the app. Beyond that, BitTorrent also unveils an iOS feature set -- "You can now send and sync files in other apps using Sync, and save media from your Sync folders direct to your camera roll", the company says.

Finally, BitTorrent is also rolling out a developer API, claiming "the new API will allow developers to create distributed social media, communications, and enterprise apps on top of the platform. It’s designed to work across major operating systems; including Windows, Mac, and Linux".

BitTorrent Sync arrived just in time to fill the seat that had previously been occupied, at least in my home, by Live Mesh. The app has done a more than adequate job of filling in for the service Microsoft decided to kill off. This update promises more good things to come.

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