FAQ

What is Instacrypt designed to encrypt?

Sensitive files that people need to share with each other or backup: images,documents, spreadsheets, presentations, compressed archives (zip, tgz, etc.) — even something as simple as a text file containing a password that needs to reach someone who doesn't use the same password-safe solution. It also does git signing, and a Go library (icfx) is available for developers who want to build on top of Instacrypt.

Why use encryption?

We now live in a society where computers and mobile devices are a necessary part of our lives. This increases the chances of identity theft and raises privacy concerns, as the services we use to communicate are either unsafe — like email — or run by companies that are not to be trusted. According to an InformationWeek article from December 10th, 2019: “A total of 2.7 billion email addresses, 1 billion email account passwords, and nearly 800,000 applications for copies of birth certificates were found on unsecured cloud buckets.” Not encrypting your data before you send it is really just asking for trouble.

But I have nothing to hide, and I'm probably the last person anyone would hack…

That's what everyone says until a copy of their passport, sent to a travel agent, gets intercepted — and the same hacker uses it to apply for credit cards and spend half a million dollars on their behalf. Extreme? A little (though not at all uncommon). But even something as small as a hacked email or cloud account is enough to get your head spinning.

How does Instacrypt work?

Everyone using Instacrypt gets two things: a lock and a key. Your lock is public — share it freely, print it on a business card if you like. Your key is private and never leaves your device.

To send someone a file securely, you encrypt it with their lock. From that moment, only their key can open it — not you, not us, not the email or chat service carrying it. You can also encrypt one file with several people's locks at once — each opens it with their own key. When they send something back, they encrypt it with your lock, and only your key opens it. No shared passwords, no secret handshakes — the hard parts of cryptography happen invisibly, using a post-quantum-ready hybrid of proven algorithms. Every file is also signed, so the recipient's app can confirm who really sent it.

What makes you a safer and more secure alternative to what's out there?

• No invented cryptography. Instacrypt wraps battle-tested open source (age) in a hybrid of classical X25519 and post-quantum ML-KEM encryption, with ML-DSA signatures — the same algorithm families standardized for the post-quantum era.
• Private by default. An Instacrypt file reveals nothing but its size — no file name, no sender. That's less than OpenPGP gives away, which exposes recipient key IDs on every message.
• A cloud that can't read your data. Everything is encrypted on your device before upload. Shared files have no download links to leak — they arrive only inside the recipient's signed-in app, and the sharing record is deleted once the share ends.
• Keys stay home. Your key lives in your device's keychain, optionally guarded by a hardware key tap. Losing a device? Sign it out remotely from any other device.
• Everything is open source. The apps, the CLI, the library — inspect the code, or build your own tools on it.

What encryption algorithms does Instacrypt use?

Instacrypt is built on age and uses a hybrid of classical X25519 and post-quantum ML-KEM for encryption, plus ML-DSA-65 (FIPS 204) signatures on every file. It's not custom cryptography. These are battle-tested, standardized algorithm families chosen for the post-quantum transition.

Is Instacrypt post-quantum secure?

It's post-quantum ready. Encryption pairs today's proven X25519 with ML-KEM in a hybrid construction, so files stay protected against a future quantum computer while remaining at least as strong as X25519 in the meantime. Signatures use ML-DSA-65 (FIPS 204), NIST's standardized post-quantum signature scheme.

Is Instacrypt an alternative to PGP or GPG?

For the everyday jobs people reach for PGP or GPG (encrypting and signing files, and signing git commits), yes, and a friendlier one: no keyrings to curate, no web of trust to reason about, and post-quantum-ready cryptography out of the box. It's an alternative, not a replacement, though. Instacrypt uses the modern age format rather than OpenPGP, so it won't read your existing .gpg/.asc files or interoperate with PGP keyservers and clients. If you want an easier way to do what you'd normally use PGP or GPG for, it's a great fit; if you need OpenPGP interoperability, keep your existing setup. A gpg-agent-style key daemon, ic-agent, is on the roadmap.

How is Instacrypt different from traditional password-based file encryption (Cryptomator, gocryptfs, ccrypt, pefs)?

Tools like ccrypt, or encrypted vaults and filesystems like Cryptomator, gocryptfs, and pefs, are password-based (symmetric): a passphrase derives an AES key that both locks and unlocks the data. They're a solid choice for protecting your own files at rest on your own machine, at least for now.

Instacrypt is built for a different job: sharing. It's key pair encryption, so you encrypt with the recipient's lock (their public key), and only their key (private key) can open it. There's no shared password to agree on, which is the usual weak point of password-based sharing. Every file is also signed, so the recipient can confirm who sent it, and the encryption is post-quantum-ready. Password-based tools give you neither (yet). You can still encrypt to yourself for backup. And if what you really want is a transparent, always-mounted encrypted folder to work inside, a filesystem tool like gocryptfs is the right fit; Instacrypt encrypts individual files and archives (zip / tarball / etc) for sharing and storage.

How do I share files?

Two ways, your choice:

• Your own medium — encrypt locally, then send the file over any chat, email, or cloud storage. It's safe wherever it travels.
• Instacrypt Cloud — one click uploads the encrypted file and notifies your chosen contacts; they decrypt with one click inside their app. Only the intended recipients can receive it.

Can I send files to my other devices?

Yes — encrypt a file with your own lock, hit IC Share, and it's waiting in the app on every device signed in to your account, end-to-end encrypted the whole way. See use cases for more ways people use Instacrypt.

Can I send to several people or a group?

Yes — pick several contacts (and optionally yourself) when you encrypt or share, and everyone receives it, each opening it with their own key. Bundle contacts you send to often into a group and reach the whole group in one step; your groups sync across your devices along with your contacts.

Can other apps use Instacrypt?

Today, developers can build on the open-source icfx Go library — it powers our own apps. On the roadmap is ic-agent, a key daemon other applications can talk to (the way gpg-agent works for PGP), so your keys stay in Instacrypt's custody while any app can request a signature or a decryption.

I have files from the pre-2026 Instacrypt — can the new app open them?

No — the 2026 Instacrypt is a complete redesign with different cryptography, so it can't open files made with the pre-2026 app. That app (a public alpha, last released in 2020) is still available at ic-desktop and will keep decrypting your old files, as long as you still have your old keys backed up. We recommend decrypting anything you want to keep and re-encrypting it with the new Instacrypt.