Security
What it protects, and what it does not.
Elsewhere is built for one situation: someone else has your phone.
Three levels
A normal file
Anything outside the app. Elsewhere does not manage it and does not protect it.
A vault on the phone
Encrypted on the phone, open only in the app with that vault's password. The limit is you: being pressured into opening it yourself ends the protection.
A vault that is not on the phone
The phone stores nothing that reveals it. The files stream from our storage, so this one needs a connection.
What an attacker gets
Someone who has your phone
Encrypted data. There is no biometric unlock, so your face or thumb is no use to them.
Someone who copies the storage
The same. The app writes no decrypted copy to disk while you read a file.
Someone who forces you to unlock
Whatever you unlock. A vault kept off the phone leaves nothing to find, so opening every vault on the list does not show that another exists.
Us, and the company that hosts the storage
Encrypted objects, your email address, and your plan.
What it does not protect against
A phone that is already compromised
Malware watching an open vault sees what you see.
Someone watching you type
If a person or a camera catches the password, they have it.
Copies made before the file reached a vault
A photo your gallery already backed up elsewhere is still there. The app says so when you import.
The app being on the phone
Elsewhere does not disguise itself.
Losing both keys
No password and no recovery key means no way in, for anyone. We hold no spare.