uTorrent Web First Look

uTorrent Web is a web-based client of the still-popular uTorrent BitTorrent application. The developers of uTorrent announced plans to release a web-based version of uTorrent in early 2017.

Note: uTorrent Web is blocked by Windows Defender and possibly also other security software as potentially unwanted software. You may need to exclude the program or move it out of quarantine to download and use it.

The uTorrent Web client is available for Windows right now. It runs in the background on the Windows machine and starts a locally hosted server that you interact with using your browser of choice.

uTorrent Web

The app loads a basic interface on start that you may use to run searches on Google. You may want to click on the x-icon to close it to display the full interface.

From there it is possible to add magent links or torrent files using drag & drop, and download the files to the system right away. You may stream video content right away; uTorrent Web comes with a media player that you may use for that purpose. What that means is that you can use the service to watch the video while it is downloaded to the local system.

This is not a unique feature but some users may like it nevertheless. It is a good idea to check the options before you start to add torrent files or magnet links to uTorrent Web.

The settings list options to change the default download directory, auto-start options, and upload and download speed limits.  The settings are fairly limited when you compare what is available to uTorrent's settings or the settings of other BitTorrent clients such as qBitTorrent.

Out of the top of my head, important settings that uTorrent Web lacks include blocking IP addresses, changing ports, configuring proxies, checking peers and seeders, schedule bandwidth or ratio per torrent, or tracker management.

Closing Words

uTorrent Web is a work in progress. It is clearly labeled as beta and it would be unfair to judge it by comparing it to established BitTorrent clients. The client is easy to use and does not require any knowledge of ports or other advanced topics that come along with many BitTorrent setups.

While that is certainly good, its lack of options is concerning as it gives users little control over the whole operation. Besides that, I cannot really think of many scenarios where I'd prefer to use a web-based client over a desktop software.

Several security issues were discovered by Google Project Zero wizard Travis Ormandy who discovered that attackers may abuse the issues to download malware to user computers, change download folder locations, or obtain the RPC server's "authentication secret" to gain complete control over the uTorrent Web Client.

The most recent versions of uTorrent Web and uTorrent are patched. (via gHacks)

Now You: Which torrent client do you use, if any?