Synctrain: a rethought iOS client for Syncthing
Starting with the launch of Dropbox in 2007, we’ve slowly become accustomed to the fact that most of our digital files are always available on all our devices. Tech geeks were skeptical back in 2007 – after all, you can synchronize files yourselves using FTP and rsync, right? Dropbox and later Apple and Google have however since managed to make file synchronization so easy and smooth – to the point you often forget that it’s there – that these services have become ubiquitous. Still however they have their limits and downsides. For one, they come at a cost – entry-level subscriptions are cheap, but storing multiple terabytes can become expensive, in some cases much more so than what self-hosting the storage would cost you. More importantly however, leaving your files in the hands of tech giants may not always be a good idea – even if they are not monetizing your data.
If you don’t want to rely on these services, realizing a system that is as smooth is neigh impossible. Until 2013 that is, when the company behind BitTorrent released BitTorrent Sync (now spun off into its own company and called Resilio Sync). The idea, apparently borne out of an internal hackathon: use the BitTorrent protocol to exchange files between your own devices, without a central service. While a great tool, many were unhappy that it wasn’t open source. Why trust your files you didn’t want to place in the hands of tech giants in the hands to a closed piece of software that is more or less a BitTorrent client?
