One of the founders of WeTransfer—a popular free file-sharing service used by millions worldwide—is publicly criticizing the company’s new direction. Dutch businessman Naldenwho co-founded the platform in 2009, says he’s deeply unhappy with the changes since Bending Spoons — a Milan-based tech company known for buying and retooling popular apps — acquired the service last year.
“Bending Spoons doesn’t really care about people. While I understand that’s their private equity strategy, I’ve noticed that since I left [WeTransfer] in 2019, there were a lot of updates that basically killed the product, in my opinion,” he told TechCrunch.
After the acquisition, WeTransfer made vague changes to how transfer links work and laid off 75% of its staff. This year, the company sparked controversy over its use of user content to train artificial intelligence models and had to retrogression to changes in its terms.
Soon after, Nalden says creatives started sharing their frustration with WeTransfer. He realized he wanted to create an alternative to WeTransfer that reclaimed the service’s original ethos around simplicity. This service is called Boomerang and users can transfer files without logging in.
“Why do tech companies always make things so complicated? I’ve always struggled with this and just wanted to offer another tool that [is entirely focused on the] user experience, its ease of use. It’s the simplicity of sharing something quickly and that saves time. You don’t have to sign up, you don’t have to do email verification,” Nalden told TechCrunch of the service.
For casual users, the offline experience should be sufficient, though it has its limits. 1GB total storage and 1GB file size limit with seven day expiration. Creating a free account increases to 3GB of total storage and a 3GB file size limit. You’ll also get upload history, the ability to add and delete files at any time, and custom emojis for file sharing pages.
If you want even more, a €6.99 per month tier offers 200GB per folder and 500GB of total storage with a 5GB file size limit, plus custom folder covers, password protection, file expiration up to 90 days, and unlimited user invites per folder.
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Nalden says it won’t serve ads or collect unnecessary user data. He feels advertising adds complexity and with Boomerang he wants to collect as little information as possible.
“I just want to provide a tool that works for users. It’s like buying a hammer. You probably don’t want to buy a fancy hammer, but a hammer that works,” he noted.
Boomerang’s interface is intentionally bare, which Nalden says is a refreshing change from the design intended to impress investors. While many companies are adding more and more AI capabilities, Nalden said he uses AI to build the product, but won’t add AI to user-facing features.
Boomerang is available on the web, with a dedicated Mac app coming soon.
