Who can read my files?

Nobody but you. The key is derived from a signature made by your wallet on your device; it never leaves it and is never sent anywhere. The host receives ciphertext with a random id — no key, no file name. We relay the bytes and store the ledger; we cannot decrypt either.

0.1 GALU per gigabyte per copy per day. A 1 GB package kept in two copies is 0.2 GALU a day. You pick the size in whole gigabytes when you buy and can grow or shrink it afterwards.

What happens if a host disappears?

The copy is rebuilt somewhere else automatically. A host that stops answering proofs has its copy dropped, and the package picks up another owner with enough free space. You do nothing.

Do my files go through your server?

Only when they have to. If your device or the host can be reached directly, the bytes go straight between the two and we only arrange the meeting. Behind NAT on both sides, they take the old route through us — encrypted either way.

How do I know the file that came back is the right one?

The app hashes it block by block and compares with the signature it made when uploading. A file that does not match is not kept, and the host that served it gets checked by a proof.

A thousand files per gigabyte of package. Every file is a row in our ledger, and with millions of tiny files that ledger would grow larger than the data it describes. Pack a source tree into one archive and it counts as one file.

Which systems is the desktop app on?

Windows, Linux and macOS — all three as test builds, unsigned, straight off the build machine. There is no official release yet. The phone app is Android.

Encrypted backup on other people's nodes — Sensmos Store for node owners

What this is

A node owner has a disk that is on anyway. You have files you would rather not lose. Store connects the two: you buy space by the gigabyte, your device encrypts every file before it leaves, and the ciphertext lands on the disks of other node owners — people, not a data centre.

You are never introduced to them and never deal with them. The backend picks who holds what, moves the bytes, checks that they still have them, and settles the daily charge in GALU.

The key never leaves your device

Every file gets its own random key. That key is wrapped for your box — a keypair derived from a signature made by your wallet, on your device, and nowhere else. There is no copy of it on our side and no code path that could produce one.

What the host receives is a blob with a random identifier. What we store is the ledger: whose file it is, how big it is, block hashes for the proofs, and the encrypted name. We cannot open the name any more than the host can open the file.

One thing we can see, and it is fair to say so plainly: since folders became a real field, the backend knows the shape of your tree — how many folders you have and how many files sit in each. Not their names, not their contents. That is what buys you a file list that opens instantly instead of one that has to be downloaded whole.

The desktop app

Sensmos Store on Windows: folder tree, file list, and a track playing with its cover and tags — The desktop app — folders on the left, the package above them, and a preview that reads the cover straight out of the file

Pair it once from the phone: Settings → Paired devices, type in the code the computer shows. The token is sealed to that computer's own key, so the parcel travels through us without us being able to open it. You choose what the computer may do, and you can revoke it.

What it does:

Folders — back at the top, folders under it, files below, exactly like a file manager. Drag and drop anywhere in the window.
Watched folders — point it at any number of local folders and it keeps them backed up here: encrypted, one way. Deleting something on your disk never deletes the copy.
Previews — pictures, and music and video played in place. Cover art and tags are read out of the file you already fetched, so they cost no extra transfer.
Duplicates — compared by the actual content, not by name and size. Same name and same size only means they might match; the app reads both and hashes them before it dares select anything for deletion.
Transfers and log — what went where, and whether it went straight to the host or through us.
Buy or grow the package from the desktop, without reaching for the phone.

Download — test builds. There is no official release yet. They come straight off the build machine and are not signed, so Windows SmartScreen and macOS Gatekeeper will both object; on a Mac, open it through right-click → Open the first time.

Windows x64 — unpack anywhere and run SensmosStore.exe. No installer.
Linux x64 — unpack and run sensmos-store.
macOS — unpack and move the app wherever you keep them.

The phone app

The same package, the same files, the same folders. Storage lives under the node list; if you have no nodes yet, it is the only thing on the home screen. Files uploaded from the computer show up on the phone and the other way round — it is one package, not two.

What you pay for

You buy whole gigabytes. The price is 0.1 GALU per gigabyte per copy per day, so a 1 GB package kept in two copies costs 0.2 GALU a day. The size is yours to change: grow or shrink by the gigabyte whenever you like, as long as what you already keep still fits.

Payment is for the package, not for files. Uploading a thousand small files or one big one costs the same, as long as they fit in the space you bought.

If a day's fee does not go through, uploads pause and a notice tells you why. Your files stay downloadable the whole time — nothing is deleted for a missed day, and a single paid day starts everything again.

When something goes wrong

A host goes offline. Its copy stops passing proofs and gets dropped; the package takes on another owner with enough free space, and the copy is rebuilt from the surviving one. You are not asked and do not need to act.

An upload is interrupted. The app remembers what it was sending before it sent it. Anything left unfinished is shown for what it is — not as a file you own — and offered back with Send again, straight from the original on your disk. Entries that never received a single byte anywhere are removed by the backend so the space comes back to you.

A file comes back wrong. It is not kept. The app hashes what it downloaded against the signature it made at upload, and reports the host, which is then put through a proof of its own.