Every cloud, one login
A personal-cloud app for a Brighton software company that unifies a person's separate cloud storage accounts behind a single login, so files drag and drop between services, backups run from every device, and storage rebalances itself to keep the bill down.
Category
- Personal-cloud aggregation
Model
- A layer over existing clouds
- Not storage itself
What we did
- Product concept UX
- Cross-device app
Runs on
- Any spare device
- No special hardware
One login for every cloud
AggregationCombicloud connects a person's separate cloud accounts and presents them behind a single login, so the whole digital world is reachable in one place instead of a dozen apps.
- Unified view
- Single sign-in
Drag and drop between clouds
Move filesFiles move directly between two cloud services by dragging them, rather than downloading from one and uploading to the other.
- Direct transfer
Access without re-uploading
AnywhereReach or share a file at home or the office without having to upload it first, because it is already in a cloud Combicloud can see.
- Reach & share
Back up from every device
Multi-deviceCombicloud backs up from several devices into the connected clouds, so a phone, a laptop and a tablet all fold into one protected set of files.
- Device backup
- Protected copies
Balance storage to cut cost
CheaperIt rebalances files across accounts to make the most of the free and paid space you already have, keeping the total storage bill down.
- Cost control
Reach out to IoT
Connected homeThe same app can manage connected devices, smart-home heating and lighting, wearables and in-car internet, so it extends past files into the wider digital world.
- Smart home
- Wearables
How does Combicloud unify separate clouds?
Combicloud is an aggregation layer, not another place to store files. It sits over the clouds a person already pays for and makes them behave like one, in a deliberate sequence.
- 01
Connect the accounts
A person links their existing cloud storage accounts once, behind a single Combicloud login.
User - 02
See everything at once
All the connected clouds appear as one unified view instead of a dozen separate apps.
Combicloud - 03
Drag files between clouds
Moving a file from one service to another is a drag, with no download-then-upload round trip.
User - 04
Balance the storage
Files are rebalanced across accounts to use the space already paid for and keep the bill down.
Combicloud - 05
Back up every device
Phones, laptops and tablets back up into the connected clouds automatically.
Combicloud - 06
Extend to devices
The same app reaches connected home, wearable and in-car devices, past files into the digital world.
User
Scroll the path sideways
What does an aggregation product have to get right?
A layer that sits over other people's services lives or dies on a few principles. They came out of shaping this one and hold for any product that unifies accounts a user already owns.
- Be a layer, not another silo. The moment an aggregator becomes just one more place to store things, it has failed at its own premise.
- Move data where it lives. Transferring between services directly, not via a download and re-upload, is the whole point of unifying them.
- Make one login mean one world. A single sign-in should genuinely present every connected account as one, not a switcher between silos.
- Turn spare space into savings. Rebalancing across the accounts a user already pays for is a concrete reason to keep the app installed.
- Fold every device in. Backup only earns trust when a phone, a laptop and a tablet all protect into the same unified set.
- Run on what people already have. Working on a spare tablet or an old phone, with no special hardware, keeps the barrier to trying it near zero.
Building a cloud-aggregation product
What founders ask before building a layer over existing services.
Ask us yoursHow long does it take to build a cloud-aggregation app?
A product that connects to several third-party cloud services and presents them as one is a multi-phase build, because most of the effort is in the integrations and in keeping a unified view consistent as each provider's API changes. What moves the date is how many services are supported and how deep the sync goes. We usually ship one or two integrations end to end, prove the unified experience, then widen coverage.
Is an aggregator different from cloud storage?
Fundamentally, yes. Cloud storage is a place your files live. An aggregator like Combicloud stores nothing itself, it is a layer over the accounts you already have, letting you move, share, back up and balance across them. Getting that distinction right in the product is what keeps it from becoming just one more silo.
How do you move files between clouds without downloading them?
By transferring server-to-server through each provider's API rather than routing the bytes down to the device and back up. To the user it is a drag; underneath, the app orchestrates the transfer between the two services directly, which is faster and does not spend the user's own bandwidth.
Can a product like this run on low-end hardware?
Yes, and it is a real advantage. Because the heavy storage stays in the clouds it connects to, the app itself can run on a spare tablet, a development kit or an old smartphone with no special hardware, which keeps the cost of trying it, and of running it continuously, very low.
Related work
Building a layer over services people already use?
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