It’s funny how email can only handle so much before we need to use other tools to send files, especially really big ones. With the Smash file transfer service, you can send massive files (no size limit) to your contacts. No more breaking up stuff into multiple parts or trying to squeeze it through some compression tool.
Background Info on Smash
Smash is developed by a European team headquartered in France. It was first launched in 2016 and has gone on to tremendous growth. They have major customers including but not limited to Coca-Cola, Disney, Warner Bros., and Sony Music.
Smash transfer features
There is no shortage of services that provide file transfers. The popular ones include WeTransfer, Dropbox, and Firefox Send. I usually use Telegram for sending large files, but not everyone has it and sometimes you just need to get a heavy file to someone by sending them a link. What makes Smash file transfer worth using?
Design and Simplicity
After you agree to the terms, you’ll be presented with a soothing purple/pink gradient background with a big S button in the middle. To get started, all you need to do drag the file you want to send on top.
Sending a file with Smash
Your file will begin uploading in the background with the option to add more files if you need to. While waiting for that, there is the email information box on the right to fill in. You can say who the file is from, where to send it, and a personal message to go along with it.
Here’s what it looks like when someone receives an email with the link.
Security
If you want a little more privacy or protection from prying eyes, you can use a password that only you and your recipient would know. You can also customize how long Smash should retain the file. (The max is 14 days for free accounts)
Personalization
Probably only companies would care about this, but you have the option to change some of the colors, backgrounds, and what extra content is displayed on the download page of your file. I wouldn’t use this, but great to have.
Privacy
All companies say they are private, but do they mean it and what things do they keep?
While the files themselves will be deleted after the expiration period, any information including contact names, addresses, and messages are kept for 1 year counting from the last use of Smash Free.
If this bothers you, I recommend choosing the “link” option instead of email. You input your email address and Smash will let you know when your link is ready to copy. Less information is given to Smash this way.
WeTransfer vs Smash file transfer
One of the most well-known file transfer services is WeTransfer because it works well. However, it has a 2 GB file size limit which might not be enough for some users. Smash claims that free users can upload files of any size with no restrictions. Having looked into this a bit further, there was a disclaimer saying that uploads over 2 GB will be a “non-priority transfer”. To me, this probably means that super large files will not download at the faster speeds that files smaller than 2 GB would.
Final Thoughts on Smash file transfer
As someone that often shares large files with friends and family, I was glad to find a service that did not have the 2 GB size limit that WeTransfer has. Also, the company Smash is being used by major organizations and companies, which gives it staying power. This is not a startup that is going to disappear next year.
Link: Go try it!