Pros

• Beyond up-to-date: Ahead of the current/live version.
• Allows testing of new features.
• Delivers insight to experimental development.

Cons

• It may be buggy--and it's technically your responsibility to tell the developers to help them fix it.
• Features may not be available or polished in the future. Jot down the version number if you like a feature.
• Basic support. Fixes--if the happen--are for a future beta or future live version.

What Is uTorrent Beta?

This is the latest beta version of the uTorrent client for Mac. It contains a few experimental and testing features not available in the public, live version of uTorrent.

If you're looking for the Windows version or want to see the differences between beta performances on different Operating Systems (OS), look for the Windows version. Windows 7 and Windows 10 environments may behave differently, but it's mostly standard.

What Is uTorrent Used For?

uTorrent is a third-party torrenting program. You can use this instead of the standard BitTorrent program, both of which have Mac support.

There are a lot of different torrent programs out there, so it's important to know which program you're using and whether it's trusted by most people. Torrenting gives access to specific, deep details about data, so security is a concern.

While torrenting isn't illegal, it's popular for illegal activities. When games were still mostly on discs, downloading games via torrents without paying was a big use case.

Pirating movies, music, books, games, and other data aren't the only purpose for torrenting. Many companies that want more reliable or flexible downloads are including torrent files for their updates.

If you run a server that has lots of constant downloads from your user base, you'll deal with heavy server loads. Whether it's a popular new game, an update to your app, or other files that people crave, you're paying for either better internet or hardware.

Torrenting is a way around that problem. While the biggest companies should still have main download servers, they can feed torrent files to people with good connections so that they can share the load.

Torrent technology works by allowing clients to download bits and pieces of files in any sequence/order rather than downloading a bulk file from start to finish. It's like passing out copies of puzzle pieces for everyone to put together on their own.

All of the puzzle pieces are interchangeable with other puzzles. What ties it all together is a Cyclic Redundancy Check (CRC) that confirms the final product as legit, which stops hackers from slipping in malicious data that could break or infect systems.

Of course, a fake movie or game that is already a virus will pass a CRC check. Torrents won't stop you from downloading something that is already a complete set of garbage. It just stops tricky attempts at sneaking in data.

Or at least it should. Updates are always necessary to make sure security is at its finest and that the app runs efficiently.

Why Use Beta Instead of Live uTorrent?

There are always new features to experience and new tricks to try.

Some new techniques could work perfectly for what you want to do, or you could be using a certain set of apps that aren't compatible with your current version of uTorrent.

One example is uTorrent Remote. While it's a standard version of uTorrent, it was available only as a beta feature for a while.

This is because although some people can troubleshoot problems with their apps or don't mind exposing themselves to security flaws, the general public isn't so forgiving. Many people expect a standard, safe experience that doesn't require tech skill to use.

The best way to use any beta version of any program is to look at the patch notes. Although some forums will discuss new ideas, the patch notes will tell you what is included and you can decide if you want the beta.

Pros and Cons

Pros

• Beyond up-to-date: Ahead of the current/live version.
• Allows testing of new features.
• Delivers insight to experimental development.

Cons

• It may be buggy--and it's technically your responsibility to tell the developers to help them fix it.
• Features may not be available or polished in the future. Jot down the version number if you like a feature.
• Basic support. Fixes--if the happen--are for a future beta or future live version.