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Apps

Desktop app

A native desktop build of zcrypt for people who'd rather have a real app window than a browser tab: with OS-level file handling and the exact same client-side encryption.

What it is

The zcrypt desktop app is a native build for macOS, Windows, and Linux, packaged with Tauri. Tauri renders the same zcrypt interface in a lightweight native shell using your operating system's own webview, so you get a proper application window and OS integration without a heavy bundled browser.

Underneath that shell, encryption, compression, chunking, and storage sync run in zcrypt-core, an in-process Rust engine, not a browser sandbox and not a background subprocess. The same engine backs the Android app, so a file encrypted on desktop opens cleanly there too.

Native conveniences

Running natively unlocks a few things a browser tab can't do as cleanly:

  • •Native file picker: choose files and folders to upload through your operating system's own dialog.
  • •OAuth via your system browser: signing in with Google or GitHub opens your default browser rather than an embedded webview, so you authenticate in a trusted, familiar environment and the app receives your tokens through a one-time, single-use hand-off. See Sign in with Google or GitHub.
  • •A dedicated app window that lives in your dock or taskbar, separate from your browsing.

Same zero-knowledge core

The desktop app is the same zcrypt, not a stripped-down sibling. Encryption and decryption still happen entirely on your device, your vault passphrase is still never sent to the server, and the session vault lock behaves just as it does on the web. Anything you learn about how zcrypt protects your data applies here unchanged.

One thing does differ: BYOS-direct: desktop and mobile upload straight to the user's own GitHub, GitLab, Hugging Face, or Telegram account using credentials from the OS keychain, so the backend never touches the platform token. The web app is the exception, because browser sandboxing blocks direct platform access, so it relays ciphertext through the backend.

Because the cryptography is identical to the web app, the recovery rules are too: lose your vault passphrase and your files cannot be decrypted on any platform. Keep it in a password manager. See Account recovery.

Getting it

Desktop builds are published on the project's GitHub releases page. Grab the asset that matches your platform from there:

Or install from a terminal. These installers are unsigned (the macOS build is not notarized, and Windows signing only turns on once it is configured), and the scripts skip the first-launch "unverified app" prompt for you:

macOS and Linux
curl -fsSL https://zcrypt.cloud/install.sh | sh
Windows (PowerShell)
irm https://zcrypt.cloud/install.ps1 | iex
macOS (Homebrew)
brew tap wosmos/zcrypt
brew trust wosmos/zcrypt
brew install --cask zcrypt

If your OS warns you

If you installed a downloaded file by hand, the first launch may be blocked. On macOS, open System Settings, then Privacy & Security, and choose Open Anyway. On Windows, choose More info, then Run anyway in the SmartScreen prompt.
The desktop app is young and ships from GitHub releases, so installers and platforms can vary between versions. The Linux build is x86_64 only. If you don't see a build for your OS yet, the web app gives you the full product in the meantime.

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