Under the hood
How your data moves, what is encrypted and when, why files at home never touch the internet, how face grouping runs on your own PC, and how we compare with other services.
For techies
The technical side
You do not need any of this to use DRL-FileSync. It is here for people who like to know how things work, and for developers who want to build on it.
Build with DRL-FileSync Connect
Let your own app keep its files in a user's storage, on their PC, with their permission. A Flutter package and a Kotlin library, free and open source, with a five-minute guide.
Privacy and permissions
What the website knows (your account and which devices are yours), what the apps ask your phone for and why, and how to delete everything.
Downloads
The Windows program and the Android app, and earlier versions. The developer libraries are part of the developer guide.
The short version
- Your files stay on your devices. Photos go from your phone to your PC, directly. The website only keeps your account and introduces your devices to each other.
- Encryption is yours to switch on. With it on, your PC stores your photos and files scrambled and only your account's key opens them.
- Apps that use your storage are signed and checked. Every request from an app is signed with the app's own key and checked by your PC, and each app only ever sees one folder of its own. You can remove an app in one tap.
- Your PC remembers how it was set up. If its settings are lost, it keeps copies, and offers to restore them before you start over. The website recognises the same PC when you sign in again, so your phones stay paired.
- Open source where it helps you. The developer libraries and the sample app are free to use and change (MIT licence).
What is new
- DRL-FileSync Connect 0.1. Apps on your phone can keep files in their own folder of your storage: you approve in the DRL-FileSync app, and remove an app any time under Settings, DRL-FileSync Connect. A Flutter package and a Kotlin library for developers.
- Apps that were reinstalled get their folder back. DRL-FileSync notices an app that has been here before and asks whether to keep using its folder.
- Restore your earlier setup. On a PC that was set up before, DRL-FileSync offers to bring back your folders and settings, from copies it keeps next to the settings and inside your library folder.
- Hand over for a replaced PC. On the Devices page, an old PC entry can pass its phones and duplicate servers to the new one.
Coming: a JavaScript version of DRL-FileSync Connect for web services, a simulator for developing without a PC, and a "Is this one of my earlier PCs?" question when you sign in on a new computer.