Shared Links

Introduction

Hippius lets you share any synced file as a public download link. Recipients don't need a Hippius account. They just open the link in any browser and the file downloads directly to their device.

To share a file, right click it in the desktop app and choose Share via link. Hippius creates a secure encrypted copy and generates a shareable URL, which is copied to your clipboard automatically.

After sharing, all your active links are tracked on the Shared Links page, at

Files

→ Shared Links in the Drive view. From there you can copy a link again, revoke access, reshare a file, and see a history of ended shares.

How Sharing Works

Every file on Hippius is encrypted

All your files are encrypted end to end on your device before they are uploaded to the Hippius network. The Hippius network stores ciphertext only. Nobody else can read your files because nobody else has your key.

How the desktop creates a share

The desktop app has a key advantage over the console when it comes to sharing: your synced files are already stored as plaintext on your local device. The sync engine encrypts them on the way up to Hippius, but on disk you have the originals. This means the desktop can create a share without needing to download and decrypt anything first.

When you right click a file and choose Share via link, the desktop:

1. Reads the local plaintext file from your sync folder directly. No download or decryption step needed.
2. Generates a fresh share key, a random 32-byte key unique to this one share. This key is completely independent from your folder key.
3. Encrypts the file with the share key using XChaCha20-Poly1305, then uploads the newly encrypted copy to Hippius as a separate object. This is independent of your regular sync copy.
4. Builds the recipient URL: https://console.hippius.com/share/<token>#k=<share_key>. The key is in the # fragment, and browsers never transmit fragments to servers, so Hippius never sees the key.
5. Shows the link in a modal and copies it to your clipboard automatically. The link is live immediately.

The server stores the encrypted copy and returns a share token. It never learns the decryption key.

Why is sharing fast on desktop?

The desktop reads your local file directly with no download required. For most files this means the entire share process is as fast as your upload connection allows, with no extra round trip to fetch the file first.

What this means in practice

• Your original folder key stays private. Only the share key is used for the share upload.
• Revoking a share deletes the encrypted copy and frees the storage.
• Sharing the same file twice creates two independent copies, each with its own key.
• The server can never read the file, even while serving it to recipients. It only ever holds ciphertext.

Before You Share

• The file must be in a synced folder. Shared Links only works for files in one of your Hippius sync folders.
• You need enough credits. Sharing uploads a new encrypted copy, which costs storage. The app checks your balance before starting. If you don't have enough, you'll see a credit error before the upload begins.

Creating a Share

1. In the
   Files
   view, find the file you want to share.
2. Right click the file (or click the ⋮ menu on its row) and choose Share via link.
3. The share dialog opens and runs the encrypt and upload steps automatically.
4. When complete, the share URL is shown in the modal and copied to your clipboard automatically.
5. Click Copy link if you need to copy it again, then close the dialog.

The link is live immediately. Anyone you send it to can download the file right away.

Active Shares

The Active Shares table shows every share currently live on your account, fetched from the server every 30 seconds. It includes shares created from any device or the console, not just this desktop install.

If a share was created on a different device (or on the console), this device doesn't have the share key, so the filename shows as <unknown> and some actions are disabled.

Copy link

Click Copy link from the row's action menu to copy the full recipient URL to your clipboard.

Copy link is only available on the device where the share was created. The share URL includes the encryption key, which is saved in a local database on the creating device. On any other device, the key isn't there and the option is disabled.

Reshare

Click Reshare from the row's action menu to create a fresh share for the same file with a new expiry and a new link.

Reshare is only available on the device that created the original share. It requires both the share key and the source file's location in your sync folder. See Reshare Mechanics below for the full details.

When reshare completes, the old link is immediately revoked and the new URL is copied to your clipboard automatically.

Revoke

Click Revoke from the row's action menu to permanently invalidate a share. Revoke works from any device, even if the share was created elsewhere.

A confirmation dialog appears first. When you confirm:

• The link stops working immediately for anyone who has it.
• The encrypted copy on Hippius is deleted, freeing the storage.
• The row moves to History as "Revoked."
• This cannot be undone.

Revoking is immediate and permanent

There is no grace period. Anyone with the link loses access the moment you confirm the revoke.

Shares from other devices

If a share was created on a different device or on the console, this device doesn't have the share key. In that case:

Action	Available	Reason
Name	Shows <unknown>	Filename is encrypted and decryption requires the key
Copy link	❌ Disabled	The URL includes the key fragment and only the creating device can reconstruct it
Reshare	❌ Disabled	Requires the key and the source file location, both stored on the creating device
Revoke	✅ Available	Only needs the share token, which the server returns in the list

You can always revoke a share from any device, even if you didn't create it here.

Reshare Mechanics

There is no server endpoint to extend the expiry of an existing share. Reshare is the desktop app's workaround: it replaces the old share with a fresh one.

When you click Reshare:

1. The old share token is revoked on the server. The old URL stops working immediately.
2. The desktop reads the source file from your local sync folder and creates a completely new share, with a new encrypted copy, a new key, and a fresh expiry.
3. The new recipient URL is copied to your clipboard automatically.

Why Reshare requires the creating device: The desktop needs to read the local plaintext file again to create the new encrypted copy. The source file's location (drive label and relative path) is stored in a local database on the device that created the original share. This information is not synced across devices.

If the old token has already expired by the time you click Reshare, the revoke step is skipped and the desktop goes straight to creating the new share.

Reshare is not available on the console

The console doesn't have access to your local files. It would need to download and decrypt the Drive copy to create a new share, which is a heavier operation. The desktop app can do this fast because the file is already on disk. Reshare is a desktop only feature.

Share History

The History section records shares that have ended, whether expired or revoked.

How history is captured

Every time the active shares list is fetched, the app compares it against the previous snapshot. Any share token that was present before but is now gone is classified and saved to history:

What happened	Recorded as
Its expiry time had passed	Expired
It disappeared while still in date	Revoked elsewhere (another device or the console revoked it)
You clicked Revoke on this device	Revoked, recorded immediately at the moment you confirm

Status badges

Badge	Meaning
Revoked	You pressed Revoke on this device.
Revoked elsewhere	The share was revoked from another device or the console.
Expired	The server's TTL elapsed.

Removing entries

Click the three dot menu on any history row and choose Remove from history to delete that entry from local history. No confirmation is shown, the share is already ended and this only affects what you see here.

Clear all history

Click Clear all history at the top of the History section to remove all local history entries at once. A confirmation dialog appears first. This does not affect any active shares.

What Recipients See

When someone opens your share link, they see a minimal download page, and no Hippius account is needed. The page shows the filename, size, and expiry time with a single Download button.

Clicking Download fetches the encrypted file from Hippius and decrypts it directly in the recipient's browser. On modern browsers (Chrome, Edge, Firefox), the decryption streams directly to disk with no memory limits. On older browsers, the file is buffered in memory up to 500 MB.

If the link has expired or been revoked, recipients see: "This link has expired or been revoked." The page does not say which, to prevent guessing whether a token was ever valid.

Storage Usage

Every active share stores a separate encrypted copy of your file on Hippius:

• Counts against your storage quota for as long as the share is active.
• Is independent of your sync copy, using a different key and living in a different location on the network.
• Is deleted when you revoke or when it expires, so storage is freed automatically.

Sharing the same file multiple times creates multiple separate copies, each with its own cost.

Revoke shares you no longer need

Each active share uses storage quota. Revoke temporary shares when you're done with them to free up space.

Desktop vs Console

Feature	Desktop App	Console
Create a share	✅ Yes	✅ Yes
How it reads the file	Local plaintext from sync folder, no download needed	Downloads and decrypts the Drive copy
Copy link (same session)	✅ Yes	✅ Yes
Copy link after restart	✅ Yes, key saved in local database	❌ No, key is in memory only and lost on tab close or reload
Reshare	✅ On creating device	❌ Not available
Revoke	✅ Any device	✅ Any device
History	✅ Yes	✅ Yes

Where to next

• File System: manage your sync folders and uploads.
• Console Shared Links: the console version, where you can create shares from the web interface.
• Billing: manage credits before sharing large files.