BitTorrent Sync between Ubuntu, Android, and iOS
I was happy to find our today that BitTorrent Sync is available for iOS, in addition to Ubuntu, Android, and a wide variety of other Linux platforms. My NAS has a MIPS processor though, so it can’t run Sync… yet.
I’ve been intrigued by the concept behind BitTorrent Sync, as I don’t like the idea of all my music, documents, etc having to go through the Internet and a third party just to be synced wirelessly. I’ve tried other options like SparkleShare (which works well for small files, but isn’t good on mobile at all) and ownCloud (more Dropbox-like, but needs polish). I’m hoping Sync will meet their shortcomings.
The iOS port seems much more limited than Android – probably because of platform constraints, which may explain why it took longer. For example, Android seems nicer in that BitTorrent Synced music can be played in any music app. Also, it doesn’t seem to support “Open In” for iOS, at least for PDFs. I really wish iOS app integration was more like Android in this respect. (Apple, there’s more on my iPhone than a shared photo library!)
That’s just my quick take, as I’ve used it very little so far.
Reactions
"It’s really time that Apple introduces something like Android’s intents into iOS" via @nicoritschel http://t.co/OuaWuINW0x #Android #iOS
— Benjamin Oakes (@benjaminoakes) September 6, 2013
@benjaminoakes I think it's inevitable at some point, or else APIs will be used more frequently for inter-app communication a la @Pocket
— Nico Ritschel (@nicoritschel) September 6, 2013
@nicoritschel When I run into things like that, #iOS starts to feel a little like Mac OS 9. (Cooperative multitasking also comes to mind.)
— Benjamin Oakes (@benjaminoakes) September 6, 2013
@benjaminoakes I had to look that up–shows my age lol. I very much agree, since most inter-app messaging is likely heavier than sending text
— Nico Ritschel (@nicoritschel) September 6, 2013
@nicoritschel Yeah, Mac OS 9 didn't have proper multitasking unless you used their API to do little bits of work in the bg. Similar in a way
— Benjamin Oakes (@benjaminoakes) September 6, 2013