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Moving documents between your phone and PC
Device pairing moves documents straight between the Windows app and the Android app over your own Wi-Fi. Nothing is uploaded, no cloud account is involved, and the two devices never talk to a Keepsake server. It is free on both platforms.
The web app cannot take part: browsers have no way to open a connection to another device on your network. Use sync or Secure Send instead.
Pair the two devices
- On the PC: Settings → Pair with your phone → Show pairing code. A QR code appears, along with the PC's address underneath it.
- Tick any documents you want to send to the phone (optional — you can pair just to receive).
- On the phone: Settings → Pair with a computer, tick anything you want to send to the PC, then tap Scan the code on the PC.
- Both screens show the same six-digit code. Check they match, then let the transfer finish.
Everything the phone receives is imported like a normal upload — encrypted into the vault, read by OCR, and filed into the category the text suggests. Everything the PC receives goes through its own import path in the same way.
Why the QR code matters
The QR code carries the PC's network address and the public key it will use for this one pairing. Your phone's camera reads that key off the screen — a channel nobody else on the Wi-Fi can alter — and then refuses to talk to any device that presents a different key. Someone sitting between the two devices can therefore break the connection, but cannot read or change what crosses it.
If you type the address by hand instead of scanning, there is no such check, and the six digits are the only protection: if they don't match on both screens, that is not your device. Stop, and don't retry on that network.
What is and isn't protected
- Both devices generate a fresh key for every pairing, so a recorded session cannot be replayed later.
- Files are encrypted end-to-end between the devices and are never written to disk in the clear.
- The connection only works while both devices are on the same local network.
- Pairing does not replace sync: it is a one-off, on-demand transfer, not a continuous copy.
If it doesn't connect
- Make sure both devices are on the same Wi-Fi, and that the network isn't set to isolate clients (common on guest and hotel Wi-Fi).
- Windows may ask to allow Keepsake through its firewall the first time — allow it on private networks.
- If your phone has no camera or no Google Play services, use the address shown under the QR code and the Connect to this address button, then compare the six digits carefully.
- A code is good for one pairing only. Press Show a new pairing code on the PC to start again.
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Sign in to comment — website account only; your vault never touches it.