ByteByson Release Notes v2026.11.01

ByteByson is now available on the Mac App Store. It's a native Mac app with one job: downloading files from your SFTP and FTP over TLS servers reliably, even when the connection won't cooperate. Queue up a big download, walk away, and come back to finished files, whether the Wi-Fi dropped, your Mac slept, the server hiccuped, or the app was relaunched.

This is the first public release, so these notes cover everything ByteByson does.

Get ByteByson Now

• Mac App Store
• TestFlight
• Web Download (notarized by Apple)

Highlights

• Downloads that don't give up. Unlimited automatic retries, stall detection, and resume from where a download left off.
• SFTP and FTP over TLS. Sign in with a password or an SSH key, and confirm every server's identity before you trust it.
• Drag straight to Finder. Drop remote files into any Finder folder and watch the progress on the file itself.
• A queue for every window. Each connection window has its own queue and its own limit on simultaneous downloads.
• Never overwrites anything. When a name is taken, ByteByson keeps both files, automatically.
• Your servers on every Mac. Saved connections sync through iCloud, and passwords and keys sync through iCloud Keychain.

Connect to your servers

Saved connections

• The first window lists your saved servers. Connect, Edit… or delete each one, or add another with New Connection…. ByteByson asks before deleting a connection.
• Save each server with a name, protocol, address, port, username, sign-in method, starting folder and default transfer limit. Leave the starting folder empty to start in your home folder on the server.
• If a server rejects your sign-in, ByteByson says so and offers Edit Connection to fix the username, password or key.

SFTP (SSH)

• Sign in with a password or an imported SSH private key. ByteByson supports OpenSSH Ed25519 keys, including passphrase-protected ones, and unencrypted PEM ECDSA keys.
• Choose… opens the key picker in your .ssh folder. ByteByson imports the key into your Keychain, so the original file isn't needed afterwards.
• The first time you connect, ByteByson shows the server's SSH fingerprint and asks you to confirm it. If the server's identity changes later, ByteByson shows a warning and waits for your approval before it reconnects.

FTP over TLS (FTPS)

• Explicit mode is for servers that upgrade to TLS with AUTH TLS (usually port 21). Implicit mode is for servers that start with TLS (usually port 990). Custom ports work too.
• Both the control and data connections require TLS 1.2 or newer, and both certificates are checked. There is no fallback to plain, unencrypted FTP.
• Certificates are verified by default. When a certificate is self-signed, expired or otherwise can't be verified, ByteByson shows its subject, issuer, validity dates and SHA-256 fingerprint, and asks before connecting. Trust and Connect saves your approval and connects.
• An approval covers that exact certificate at that server address, port and mode. It's reused for browsing, downloads and future launches, and it syncs with the connection. A replacement certificate asks again, even a renewal. Changing the connection's address clears its approvals.
• ByteByson reads modern MLSD/MLST listings and falls back to Unix and Windows-style listings. It asks each server which commands it supports and adapts to the answer, and it remembers any command a server refuses. Filenames are UTF-8.
• Data connections use passive mode. Each transfer logs in once, however many files a folder holds.
• Interrupted downloads resume on servers that support resuming (REST). On a server that doesn't, a download starts over from the beginning.

Browse remote files

• Open as many connection windows as you like, including several windows to the same server. Each window works independently.
• Sort by name, size or date from the column headers or the sort menu. Folders and files sort together, and a date sort puts the newest item at the top, so you can find what just arrived. Your choice carries across windows and launches.
• Type a path to jump straight to a folder, refresh the current folder, or go up a level with the enclosing-folder button.
• Open a folder by double-clicking it or pressing Return. Select several items at once with the usual Shift and ⌘ clicks.
• The browser keeps its connection open as you move between folders, so changing folders is quick. If the server drops the session, ByteByson reconnects without bothering you. If a folder can't be loaded, Reconnect tries again.
• An empty folder says so, and a folder that's still loading shows its progress.
• In a narrow window, the Modified column steps aside so filenames stay readable. Sorting by date still works from the sort menu.

Download

• Select files or folders and click Download…, or right-click and choose Download…, then pick a destination and click Download Here. You can also drag them straight into a Finder folder.
• Folders download recursively and keep their structure. A folder takes one transfer slot and downloads its files one after another.
• ByteByson sets no file-size limit of its own. Large files stream in bounded chunks. Testing included a complete 25 GiB download verified by SHA-256 checksum.
• A download appears in its destination right away as filename.partial, with a progress bar on the file in Finder. You can cancel it from Finder too. The file gets its real name only when it's complete.
• A download dragged to Finder keeps going to that folder even after ByteByson quits and relaunches.
• If you request an item again while it's still in the queue, ByteByson resumes the existing transfer instead of starting a second copy.

A queue you control

• Each connection window has its own transfer queue in a resizable pane beside the browser.
• Choose how many downloads run at once in each window, from 1 to 16. A new window starts with the connection's saved limit, and two windows connected to the same server each get their own. Lowering a limit lets running downloads finish rather than cancelling them.
• Pause, resume, reorder (with the arrow buttons or by dragging), remove and restart transfers. Reordering never interrupts a download that's already running.
• Each transfer shows its progress, bytes transferred, speed and estimated time remaining, such as 1h 23m. It also shows its destination folder, which you can click to open.
• Symbols and status text show whether a transfer is downloading, queued, paused, waiting to retry (with a countdown), needs attention or completed.
• Reveal a finished download in Finder, or clear all finished transfers with one click.
• Restart… discards a transfer's partial data and downloads the current version from the server, after asking first. Completed downloads are kept.
• Removing a transfer stops it and deletes its partial data. It never deletes a completed download.
• Switch the queue between This Connection and All Connections.
• All Transfers (⇧⌘T) manages downloads from every window, including windows you've closed. Closing a window never stops its downloads.

Built for bad connections

• Retries forever. After a network failure, ByteByson retries after 5, 15 and 30 seconds, then every 60 seconds, with no limit on attempts. Waking from sleep or a network change triggers an earlier retry.
• Catches stalls. Every network operation has a deadline, so ByteByson detects and retries a connection that looks alive but has stopped moving data.
• Keeps the line moving. A transfer that's waiting to retry gives up its slot, and a failing transfer never holds up the others.
• Picks up after a quit. ByteByson saves the queue and partial downloads as it goes. Quit the app or restart your Mac, and unfinished work resumes in its original order the next time ByteByson opens. Anything you paused stays paused.
• Checks before resuming. ByteByson resumes a partial file only if it belongs to the same transfer and the remote file still matches the version the download started with. If the file changed on the server, the transfer stops and offers Restart….
• Keeps folders consistent. ByteByson keeps a record of each folder download's contents, so a retry never duplicates or skips the files inside it.
• Keeps your Mac awake, if you want. Turn on Keep Mac awake during downloads in Settings → General to prevent idle sleep while ByteByson is downloading or waiting to reconnect. The display can still sleep, and paused downloads let your Mac sleep. If you put your Mac to sleep yourself, downloads pick up again after it wakes.
• Tells you what to do next. ByteByson never quietly abandons a transfer. When one needs you, it says why and offers the fix: Open Connection, Restart… or Locate Folder…. Reasons include a rejected password, a changed server identity, denied permissions, a changed remote file, a local storage problem, or a download folder ByteByson can no longer reach. Locate Folder… grants access again without losing what's already downloaded.

Never overwrites your files

• If a file with the same name already exists, ByteByson keeps both: movie.mkv, then movie (2).mkv, movie (3).mkv, and so on. There's no prompt waiting for you in the morning.
• ByteByson checks the name at the moment the download finishes, so it also protects a file that appeared in the folder hours after the download started.
• ByteByson never replaces an existing file, folder or link.

Back where you left off

• When you quit with connection windows open, ByteByson reopens them at the next launch, each on the folder it was browsing. All Transfers reopens too, if it was open.
• If a folder no longer exists, the window opens on the connection's starting folder instead. Windows you closed before quitting stay closed.

Know when it's done

• When the last download in the queue finishes, ByteByson tells you once, not after every file, with a notification and an alert sound. A folder of a thousand files is one notification.
• Click the notification to see the downloads in Finder.
• Choose and preview the sound in Settings → Notifications, where you can also turn either alert off. The sound plays even if notifications are turned off.
• A download that stopped and needs your attention is included in the announcement. Downloads you paused or removed aren't.
• ByteByson asks for permission to show notifications only when it first needs to, never at launch. If notifications are turned off in System Settings, Settings → Notifications says so and links straight there.

Sync across your Macs

• Saved connections sync through your private iCloud database, including their settings, certificate approvals and deletions. Edits you make offline sync when you're back online.
• Passwords, private keys and passphrases are stored in the macOS Keychain and sync through iCloud Keychain. They're never stored in connection records, logs or the queue.
• A connection and its password can reach a new Mac at different times. Until the password arrives, ByteByson keeps the connection, explains that its credentials may still be syncing, and lets you add them by editing the connection. Downloads wait for the credentials rather than failing.
• Queues, transfer progress and partial downloads stay on the Mac that's doing the downloading.
• See the sync status, or press Sync Now, in Settings → General.

Help when something goes wrong

• Turn on Keep a detailed log in Settings → Logging to record connection and download activity. Logging is off by default and stays as you set it.
• Logs stay on your Mac for 30 days. Show in Finder opens their folder, and Delete Logs removes them.
• Export Logs… saves a ZIP for a timeframe you choose, either a preset such as the last 15 minutes or custom dates, along with a short diagnostic report. You can export saved logs even after you turn logging off.
• Send Logs… sends the same ZIP to support with your description of the problem and, optionally, an email address for a reply. You get a reference to quote, with a Copy Reference button.
• Logs never include passwords, passphrases, private keys or file contents. They do include server addresses and file paths, and nothing is sent until you press Send.

Keyboard shortcuts

The standard selection shortcuts, such as ⌘A and Shift-arrow, also work in the file list. In the connection editor, Tab moves between fields and Escape cancels without saving.

Settings at a glance

• General: keep your Mac awake during downloads, connection sync status and Sync Now, the app version, and third-party notices.
• Notifications: the notification and sound for when the last download finishes.
• Account: Sign in with Apple, your trial or purchase, and support details.
• Logging: detailed logging, log export, and Send Logs….

Free trial and purchase

• Install ByteByson, add your servers and browse them without an account.
• To start downloading, Sign in with Apple in Settings → Account. Your first sign-in starts a free 30-day trial. One trial per Apple ID; signing in again later doesn't restart it.
• The connection window shows how many days of your trial remain, with an Account… button.
• After the trial, new downloads require a one-time purchase. Click Upgrade Now in Settings → Account to pay securely through Stripe in your browser. Downloads already in your queue can always finish, resume and retry.
• Your purchase is linked to your Apple ID. To use it on another Mac, sign in there or click Restore Purchase. Receipt and Billing… opens your receipt and billing details, and the Account tab shows your purchase date.
• Your sign-in stays on this Mac and isn't synced. Sign Out ends it, and a purchase that unlocked ByteByson on this Mac keeps working after you sign out.
• If the ByteByson service can't be reached, downloads already in your queue keep going, a purchased Mac is unaffected, and your trial keeps working.

Privacy and security

• Files travel directly from your server to your Mac. ByteByson never sends your files, file listings, connection settings or credentials to its service.
• There are no ads and no third-party analytics.
• ByteByson checks in with its service at launch and once a day to verify the app version and your trial or purchase. The privacy policy describes exactly what a check-in includes.
• ByteByson runs in the macOS App Sandbox and can reach only the folders you choose.

Requirements

• macOS 15.6 Sequoia or later.
• Runs natively on Apple silicon and Intel Macs.
• Supports Light and Dark appearance.

Not in this first version

ByteByson focuses on downloading. This release doesn't include:

• Uploads, server-to-server transfers, or renaming, deleting or editing files on the server.
• RSA SSH keys, OpenSSH-format ECDSA keys, SSH agents, jump hosts or importing your OpenSSH configuration.
• Protocols other than SFTP and FTP over TLS, including plain, unencrypted FTP.
• Following symbolic links on the server. ByteByson skips links and special files and reports how many it skipped when the download finishes. It doesn't preserve remote Unix owners or permissions.
• File previews, searching the server, bandwidth limits, scheduled downloads or folder sync.
• Downloading after you quit. ByteByson doesn't install a background service. Unfinished downloads resume when you open it again.

Get help

Questions or problems? Email [email protected] and mention the This Mac ID shown in Settings → Account. Send Logs… in Settings → Logging sends us the diagnostic details in one step.