Prepare a controlled share
- Select the encrypted sharing action for the files you intend to send. Review the share’s contents before creating the link; sharing uses a separate secret rather than disclosing your vault pattern or recovery phrase.
- Choose an expiry date, access allowance and whether saving/export is permitted. If you set a first-access destruction timer, its countdown starts after access begins and is separate from the absolute expiry date.
- Send the link and pass its secret privately through a separate channel. Keep your vault’s own recovery phrase and connection code out of the conversation.
Open a link someone sent you
- Open the share link on your phone to hand it to Revault. A desktop visitor can scan the page’s QR code with the receiving phone. Install Revault first if the app is not available.
- Follow the shared-vault unlock prompts and enter the secret supplied by the sender. You do not need the sender’s pattern, and the flow does not ask you to unlock a personal vault first.
- Browse the temporary shared vault while its access rules allow. Ask the sender for a new invitation if the link expired or its access allowance was consumed; repeatedly reopening does not reset those rules.
What the controls can and cannot do
Controlled server shares can enforce deadlines and access sessions. An optional unrestricted CloudKit invitation between Apple users has different controls: it does not supply those server-enforced counters and deadlines. Choose the route that matches the permissions you need.
View-only sharing hides saving/export actions. Android secure windows block operating-system screenshots and recordings. On iOS, recording is hidden, but screenshot notifications arrive after capture; Revault can close access, not erase the screenshot. Another camera or an earlier exported copy is outside these controls.