Gear Drop offline

Open Gear Drop on your other devices to send files

Pair a device or open a room to be found on other networks

Add a device Pair once. After that it reconnects on its own, with no code.

Show this code
······
valid 2:00
or
Enter their code

Six characters. O reads as 0, I and L as 1. One wrong guess kills the code.

Room A five-character code everyone types in. Anyone in the room can see everyone else.

Create one

You get a code to read out. It works for anyone who types it, on any network.

or
Join one

Five characters.

Anyone with the code can join, so check the safety words before you send.

Who can find you Paired devices always reach you. This sets who else can.

What this means

Only your paired devices can still reach you. Nobody else sees this device at all.

Settings Everything here stays on this device. Nothing syncs anywhere.

Appearance Follow the system, or pick one.
Language A language appears here once it’s fully translated.
Lock with a passphrase Your browser holds the key, so anyone who copies this profile can open it elsewhere.

Gear Drop is open in another tab It runs in one tab at a time. This one takes over by itself when the other one closes.

Locked This device is protected by a passphrase. Nothing here can be read without it.

It can’t be reset. Everything stays locked, so the only way in is to erase it all and start again.

Paired devices Remembered on this device only. Nothing is kept on a server.

Auto-accept takes files without asking you first. Use it only for your own devices.

Confirm the safety words

Both devices should show the same four words. If they differ, something is sitting between you.

…

Incoming

From Safety words Size

Chat With

This link wants to change your encrypted connection The encrypted connection is what introduces your devices to each other. It never sees your files, only who you meet and when.

Currently This link wants
  1. It can’t read a file, a name or a message. Those stay locked the whole way.
  2. It can see which devices you meet and when, and it could try to sit in the middle. That’s what the safety words catch.
  3. Not expecting this? Keep yours. A link that quietly swaps your encrypted connection is how someone would watch who you talk to.

Language Each one shows how much of it is translated.

Gear Drop v0.7

Nothing in the middle can read your files, pretend to be one of your devices, or recognise you from one visit to the next.

  1. The code is the password. Both devices turn it into the same key without ever sending it. Nothing in the middle can work the key out, and it gets one guess at the code.
  2. Everything is locked before it leaves. File names and sizes too, and each one is padded so nothing in the middle can guess how long it was.
  3. Safety words. Both devices work out the same four words from the connection itself. If someone’s in the middle, the two lists won’t match.
  4. Files go straight to disk. Nothing piles up in memory, so a huge file needs no more room than a small one.
  5. Paired devices stay anonymous. They meet under a name that changes every ten minutes, so nothing in the middle ever sees the same one twice.
  6. Built for later, too. The key is agreed in two separate ways at once, and you’d have to break both. One of them is designed to hold up against quantum computers, so a recording saved today stays shut.
  7. Your address. On the same network, devices use a throwaway name and your real address is never looked up. Further away, everything goes through the encrypted connection, so the other device learns nothing about where you are. The site you connect to still sees your address, like any website does.
  8. What is still visible. The server that introduces two devices can see that they met, and roughly when. It never sees who you are, or what you sent. Hiding that too takes Tor, and this works there.
  9. One thing to know. This is a web page, so every time you open it you’re trusting the code it sends you. That is the one thing no design here can remove.