Encrypted Sync

Something interesting happens when your AI is stored only on your device: It’s stored only on your one device.

What does that mean? Let’s say you worked on a concept with your local AI this afternoon. Your AI knows the project, the background, and all three attempts that didn’t work. Then, in the evening on the train, it suddenly hits you: the idea you were missing this afternoon. ownAI also runs on your phone, but the AI on it knows nothing about it. And why would it? Unlike with many providers, the data isn’t stored in the cloud. And the AI that knows everything is sitting on your desk inside your closed laptop.

Not All Encryption Is Created Equal

A simple solution would be to just put everything in the cloud—just like almost all providers do. But that also means: Everything you entrust to your AI can be read by your provider. In many cases, they will do just that. Your private thoughts or ideas are no longer private as soon as you use a cloud-based AI provider. And besides: companies get sold, government agencies issue subpoenas, servers get hacked, and employees get curious.

Some providers claim that your data is encrypted. Almost always, this means it’s encrypted as it travels between your computer and the server and, at best, remains encrypted on the server’s hard drive—but with a key that the provider itself holds. This, of course, means they can also read your data.

The crucial question, therefore, isn’t just whether encryption exists. It’s rather: Who has the key?

For ownAI, there’s only one answer to this question: You. And never us. This guarantees that we don’t even have the ability to read your data.

How Sync Works

When you set up Sync in ownAI, your device generates a random key. All data is encrypted with this key before it leaves your device: all messages, all memory entries, and all files.

Your other devices now need the same key to decrypt the data. But the key doesn’t travel in plain text. Instead, it’s enclosed in your passphrase—a string of ten random words that only you know. This encrypted package is transmitted to our server, but since we don’t know your passphrase, we can’t open it. As soon as you set up sync on your other device, it retrieves the package; you enter your passphrase, and only then can the data be decrypted.

The encryption isn’t homemade; it’s based on proven and publicly audited methods. All technical details can be found in our methodology and can be verified directly in the code.

What Sync Doesn’t Protect

Sync is designed to protect data transfers between your devices. Data transfers to language models are separate from this. So if you use a language model that doesn’t run on your device, the data is transferred there. The model provider can read the data. That’s exactly why ownAI offers the option to run language models locally on your device. This way, your data always stays with you and isn’t shared with third parties.

Sync and: Your AI Comes With You

With Sync in ownAI, your private and local AI is available on all your devices. What you worked on in the afternoon on your laptop is now accessible on your phone while you’re on the train. Whatever you type on one device appears on the other seconds later. And if you’re offline on the train, you can simply keep working. As soon as you’re connected again, your devices will automatically sync.

“The AI that belongs to you”—that’s what it says in our Manifesto. That would be an empty promise if we could read everything. That’s why ownAI uses end-to-end encryption within the app, not on our server. The app’s code is open source, and everything in this text can be verified.

ownAI itself is free. Since we need server capacity to transfer the encrypted data, Sync is a paid service. By using it, you support the development of ownAI and help us cover server costs. You can try Sync for free for 30 days: download ownAI, set up Sync in the menu, and write down your passphrase. And: Your AI comes along with you.