BitTorrent has developed a data sharing service called Sync that lets users share and sync files between devices without having to store any information on remote servers. Powered by BitTorrent’s peer-to-peer file-sharing technology, Sync reportedly transmits data between devices 16 times faster than today’s cloud services. Because there is no cloud, there are no user accounts or passwords either. Free and paid versions of Sync are now available on Mac, Windows, iOS, Android and Windows Phone. 

According to The Wall Street Journal, “Sync works the same way BitTorrent’s file-sharing tech works: an open-source protocol divides the file into pieces so the data can move more quickly over the Web, and then reassembles the file on a person’s computer or device.”

BitTorrent promises that Sync is as secure, if not more, than other competing file sharing services such as Dropbox, Google Drive and Microsoft OneDrive.

“In many ways, Sync is more secure than the cloud because there are no centralized locations where all the files shared by users live, there are no databases of usernames and passwords to hack,” explains Erik Pounds, BitTorrent’s VP of product management.To ensure maximum security, data shared between devices is always encrypted and each device is assigned a unique security key.

WSJ reports that a free version of Sync lets users synchronize as many as 10 folders without limits on size and transfer speeds. A premium version of the service, Sync Pro, offers unlimited sharing of any files on any device for an annual cost of $39.99.