Optus has written in a letter to users that its online backup service Smart Safe will close, effective December 1 2014. The Smart Safe site has not yet been updated to reflect the closure.
The service, which provided backup solutions for PCs and mobile devices, was provided for Optus customers by F-Secure – who also previously provided antivirus software for Optus customers. F-Secure has advised Optus that they’re shutting the Smart Safe product down (curious wording, that), and will offer its own services under its younited service.
The termination of the product could reflect low customer uptake, which might itself reflect on the service failing to move with the times – it lists the Galaxy S III and Samsung-branded handsets. There’s no mention of Windows 8, Mac OS X Mountain Lion – or even Lion – either.
For existing customers
Optus has set up an FAQ on the Smart Safe closure. You can also contact a special hotline number F-Secure & Optus have set up to find out more about the closure and alternative products on offer at 1300 195 516 and press option 5.
If you’re an Optus Smart Safe customer, you can switch to younited but you’ll need a new app. It seems that you won’t be able to port over any content saved within your Smart Safe account and so you’ll need to download it and reupload it in your new younited account.
You should also be aware that there are other cloud storage products out there which offer similar pricing structures with a free membership level and various storage amounts. These include Google Drive, DropBox, Box and OneDrive. Younited is currently offering 200GB of storage space free for 6 months. It’s a good idea to check out what competitors are offering in the space before you switch, especially if management of your data is all on you.
Were you a Smart Safe user? How does the service closure affect you? Tell us in the comments.
Can I say “Yuhuh I use an Optus WinXP backup service and I read Ausdroid” without sounding more troll-y than I want?
Probably not, alas. Deleting comment in a tic