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Comment by microtonal | Hacker News Reader

Resilio Sync (formerly Bittorrent Sync) pretty much offers that. They use relays in case both peers cannot pierce NAT, but the relays only see ciphertext. They also have apps for Android and iOS, making transfers to mobile devices also possible. Since it is closed-source software, it's up to you to decide whether you trust the software.

SyncThing is a free software alternative, but I wouldn't say that it is usable (yet) for the average user.

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Instead of Resilio Sync, I would suggest that people take a look at Syncthing. They have similar features but Syncthing is open source.

There is no iOS app for Syncthing as far as I can tell

You can use fsync() [0] for that.

[0]: https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/fsync/id964427882?mt=8

Thank you! So as it is available on iOS, I need to adjust my comment to reflect what I mean. There isn’t a free, open-source, community-driven implementation for iOS, keeping with the nature of the project.

They're crowdfunding one: https://www.bountysource.com/issues/7699463-native-ios-port-...

(There's also a closed-source iOS app called fsync(), but I found it too slow/unstable to use.)

That’s great to know, and I can see there has been quite a bit of discussion the topic. I’m glad I’m not the only one that was missing an open implementation for iOS.

I haven't tried Synthing in about a year, but to me Resilio and Syncthing look like they are from completely different classes of apps/they target different markets.

Syncthing is simply not designed for the mainstream. Resilio is. If Syncthing devs can fix that, I'll gladly start using it over Resilio with my non-technical friends.

How do you fix "not being mainstream"? What exactly is your issue with Syncthing?

I used BitTorrent Sync for a couple of years and loved it. Has it evolved much under the Resilio banner?

Me too. I stopped using it after I read somewhere that it could be hacked to include new peers to your connection without your awareness, which is a serious concern. I don't know how legit the claim was... but I opted to avoid the risk.

I keep mine updated to the latest version and still love it. The 'Ignore' file that is in the top-level of each share alone is worth the admission (similar to .gitignore). Dropbox/OneDrive/etc. all lose their damn minds if you try to sync a folder with 'node_modules' or 'vendor' to the share.

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