Sync vs. Autosync: One App Per Service, or One App

Feature comparison

Sync compared with Autosync, feature by feature
Feature	Sync	Autosync
Works on iPhone, iPad, Android, Mac and WindowsThe same tasks and the same drives on every device you own	Yes	Android only
Google Drive, Dropbox, OneDrive, Box and Amazon S3 in one appFive services connected from a single install	Yes	A separate app per service
Amazon S3 supportAccess key, secret, bucket and region	Yes	Not stated
USB and external drive supportCopy straight to a drive you can unplug	Yes	Not stated
Private DriveIn-app isolated storage on iPhone, iPad and Android	Yes	Not stated
Five named task operationsBackup, Backup Sync, Restore, Restore Sync and Full Sync	Yes	Not stated
A backup mode that never deletes at the destinationBackup only adds and updates, so a deletion does not travel	Yes	Not statedIts listing describes deletions propagating both ways
Whole-folder tasks, no picking files one at a timeA task takes a source folder, not a hand-made selection	Yes	Not stated
Built-in file manager for every driveBrowse, upload, download, rename and delete inside the app	Yes	Not stated
Share files over Wi-Fi from a built-in web serverOpen a browser on any device on the same network	Yes	Not statedOn iPhone, iPad, Android and Mac
One-time lifetime purchaseBuy once, no recurring charge	Yes	Not stated
Free tierUsable without paying	Yes	YesUploads capped at 10 MB per file

“Not stated” means Autosync’s own published material does not say either way. We only mark a feature as missing where their material says so.

Pricing

Sync

Free$0

Any one drive, ad-supported
One task, up to 100 MB or 50 files per run
Built-in file manager

Pro Monthly$1.99per month

Every cloud service at once
USB and external drives
Wi-Fi web server, no ads

Pro Yearly$14.99per year

Everything in Monthly
Around 37% less than paying monthly

Pro Lifetime$29.99one-time, yours for good

Everything in Pro, no recurring charge

Autosync

Autosync$0

Free, with ads and in-app purchases
Uploads capped at 10 MB per file
One folder pair

PremiumIn-app purchase

Multiple folder pairs and accounts
Larger uploads, shared drives, no ads

Autosync pricing is taken from its own published material and may have changed since we last checked.

Two different shapes of the same job

Autosync is built around one pairing: an Android device and a cloud account, reconciled two ways on an interval. Its listing is candid about what that means — new files on either side are copied to the other, and a file deleted on one side is deleted on the other.

That shape is also why the app is sold one service at a time, and why it stops at the edge of Android.

One app, or one app per service

The version of Autosync most people install is Autosync for Google Drive. Dropbox, OneDrive and the rest are separate apps, each configured on its own. If your files live in one cloud, that is tidy. If you keep photos in Google Drive, work documents in OneDrive and an archive in Amazon S3, it means three installs, three setups and three places to check.

Sync treats each service as a drive inside one app. You add Google Drive, Dropbox, OneDrive, Box or Amazon S3, plus local storage and USB drives, and every task you build draws from the same list. Connecting more than one drive at a time is what the paid upgrade unlocks.

Deletions, and deciding whether they travel

The most expensive misunderstanding in this category is assuming a sync is a backup. It is not. A two-way sync that mirrors your deletion is working correctly; it just repeated a mistake at machine speed.

Sync makes you name the behaviour when you build the task. Backup and Backup Sync copy one way and never delete at the destination, so an accidental deletion on your phone leaves the cloud copy intact. Full Sync is the two-way reconciliation, and it does mirror deletions — the point is that you chose it.

One app, five services, five platforms

Buying a separate app per cloud service works right up until your files stop living in one cloud — and they usually do, because work hands you OneDrive, phones hand you Google Drive, and archives end up on S3 or a USB drive.

Sync treats every one of those as a drive inside a single app, on iPhone, iPad, Android, Mac and Windows. One task list, one place to check, and five named operations so you decide per task whether deletions are allowed to travel.

Start free with any one drive, on whichever device is in your hand right now.

The bottom line

Most people's files are not in one cloud, on one phone. Sync connects Google Drive, Dropbox, OneDrive, Box and Amazon S3, plus USB and local storage, from one app on iPhone, iPad, Android, Mac and Windows — one task list rather than an install per service. Its free tier is capped by transfer size rather than blocking any file over 10 MB, and its five named operations mean a Backup never deletes at the destination. Autosync runs on an interval where Sync waits for a tap; that automation is what you would be weighing against everything above.

Frequently asked questions

Is there an Autosync equivalent for iPhone?

Autosync is an Android app with no iPhone version. Sync covers iPhone and iPad alongside Android, Mac and Windows, with the same tasks and drives on each.

Do I need a different app for Google Drive and Dropbox?

Not with Sync. One install connects Google Drive, Dropbox, OneDrive, Box and Amazon S3, plus local and USB storage. Autosync is sold as a separate app for each service.

Does Sync sync automatically in the background?

No — Sync tasks run when you tap them, so you always know when a transfer happened and what it moved. Autosync runs on an interval, on Android. Sync's trade is that one app covers five cloud services across iPhone, iPad, Android, Mac and Windows.

Will syncing delete my files?

It can, if you choose a two-way operation, because making two locations match means deletions travel. Sync's Backup and Backup Sync operations only add and update at the destination, so nothing is removed there.

Sync vs. Autosync