RsyncUI and RsyncOSX are GUI´s on the Apple macOS platform for the command line tool rsync. The main difference between the two apps is how the User Interface (UI) is built. It is rsync which executes the synchronize data tasks in both apps. The GUI´s are only for organizing tasks, setting parameters to rsync and most likely make it easier to use rsync.

If you are on macOS Sonoma use RsyncUI. RsyncUI is under active development now and in the future. There is also some info about how the apps are built. It is high level info only, most towards RsyncUI and SwiftUI, but you will get the idea.

Both apps might be installed by Homebrew or by direct Download. The apps are signed and notarized by Apple.

The development of RsyncOSX commenced in 2015 as a private project to learn Swift. In 2019, Apple released SwiftUI, which is a development framework for building user interfaces for iOS, iPadOS, watchOS, TVOS, and macOS. SwiftUI quickly became very popular, and after some investigation, I decided to commence another private project to learn SwiftUI. The model part of RsyncOSX was at that time quite stable, and I decided to refactor the GUI part of RsyncOSX by utilizing SwiftUI. And that is the short story behind the two applications.

According to Apple, SwiftUI is the future. In my own experience, coding in SwiftUI is easier and more predictable than by Storyboard and Swift, which are the basis for RsyncOSX. Both apps are maintained, but RsyncUI is the future, and new development is within RsyncUI. And with every new release of macOS, Swift and Xcode there are new exciting features in SwiftUI.

Both apps might be used in parallel, but not at the same time due to the locking of files. Data is read and updated from the same location on storage.

The UI of RsyncOSX and RsyncUI can for users who dont know rsync be difficult to understand. Setting wrong parameters to rsync can result in deleted data. RsyncOSX nor RsyncUI will not stop you for doing so. That is why it is very important to execute a simulated run, a --dry-run, and verify the result before the real run.

Please be aware it is an external task not controlled by RsyncOSX or RsyncUI, which executes the command-line tool rsync. The progress and termination of the external rsync task are monitored. The user can abort the task at any time. Please let the abort finish and cleanup properly before starting a new task. It might take a few seconds. If not, the apps might become unresponsive.

rsync supports a ton of parameters and most likely the advanced user of rsync wants to apply parameters. Both RsyncOSX and RsyncUI supports utilizing parameters.

RsyncUI is released for macOS Sonoma. Latest build is 18 December 2023.

• the documentation of RsyncUI
• the changelog

RsyncOSX is released for macOS Big Sur and later. Latest build is 13 April 2023.

• the documentation of RsyncOSX
• the changelog