Security and privacy
FoxQuill keeps your writing on your computer. It has no account and sends no usage data.
What leaves your computer#
Only these, and only when you use the matching feature.
| When | Where | What |
|---|---|---|
| Activating a license | Polar, the shop | Your key, the app version, the name of your computer |
| Starting a trial | FoxQuill’s trial service | A hash of your computer. Nothing readable |
| Checking for updates | GitHub | Nothing. It asks which version is newest |
| Looking a word up | Wiktionary and Datamuse | The one word |
| Sharing a link | FoxQuill’s share service | Your text, encrypted before it leaves |
| Spell check, on Windows and Linux | Google (redirector.gvt1.com) | The dictionary for a language other than English, including the language of your computer. English ships with the app |
| AI features, if you turn them on | The server you chose | Only what the AI may see, as below |
The AI may see the scenes you have not hidden with the eye icon, the cards you have not set to AI: never, the notes with The AI can read this checked, and the book’s description and style guide. A card’s own fields go only if you switch them on. Statistics never go. AI setup has the full list.
The page itself may load nothing but FoxQuill. The local writing server answers only the app’s own window, using a secret that is new on every launch.
Encrypt my data#
The switch is in Settings > This app > Security. It is off unless you turn it on. On the Mac, Encrypt my data is off for now; see Installing on a Mac.
Your books are kept in one file. With this on, that file is encrypted. The key sits in your computer’s keychain, tied to your account, so you never type a password.
- The key belongs to this account on this computer.
- A new computer, a reinstalled system, or another user account cannot open the file. There is no recovery code.
- The daily copies and the backup zip are encrypted with the same key, so
they cannot be opened there either. Only a book file (
.foxquill) or a book’s JSON backup gets your work back in that case. - Before it encrypts, FoxQuill copies your books file beside it, as
foxquill.db.before-encryption-and the time. That copy is not encrypted, and neither are the daily copies from before. The copy stays until you delete it. The daily copies go as fourteen newer ones replace them. - While it is on, FoxQuill does not write the readable Markdown copies of your books, since anyone could open them. The ones already in
backups/readableare removed the next time the daily copy is made. - Encryption is not a backup. Keep making backups.
Password on a backup#
In Settings > Files > Backup, check the box and type a password. The file is
saved as .foxquillenc instead of .zip.
To use it again, press Restore and type the password.
Lose the password and nobody can open the file, you included.
Can someone copy FoxQuill?#
Yes, with enough effort. Any app on your own computer can be taken apart. FoxQuill makes that harder where it practically can.