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Share Locally in LockYit Version 1.0

· 5 min read
The LockYit Team
The LockYit Team
Security focussed. Privacy centric.

LockYit 1.0 ships with Local Sharing - a way to hand a specific item, like a password, a note, or a card, to another LockYit user you trust on the same network. Only the single item you choose is sent, re-encrypted just for that person, and no cloud server is ever involved. Here is how it works.

How Local Sharing Keeps Your Data Private​

Local Sharing works only when both people's devices are on the same Wi-Fi / local network and both apps are open and unlocked. Nothing is ever sent to the internet or stored on LockYit's servers, and all traffic is end-to-end encrypted (RSA-2048 + AES-256-GCM). Your master password and keys are never transmitted.

Only the single item you choose is shared - the rest of your vault stays private. Sharing is for handing items to other people; to keep your own devices in step, use Local Sync instead.

Connecting With a Trusted Contact​

You pair with a contact once. After that, you can share items with them whenever you are both on the same network and unlocked.

  1. Make sure both people are on the same Wi-Fi / local network with LockYit open and unlocked.
  2. Both people open the Local Sync screen and turn it on.
  3. In the Shared With section, tap Setup Sharing and pick the other person's device from the discovered list.
  4. Confirm with the 6-digit code, the same way as device pairing.

The other person now appears in Shared With as a contact, showing their email, online status, and device code so you can tell who is who.

For a full walkthrough, see the Sharing documentation.

Sharing an Item​

  1. Open the item (or select several) and choose Share.
  2. Pick one or more contacts.
  3. Choose the access level:
    • View only - they can view but not change it.
    • Edit access - they can make changes too.
  4. Optionally Set expiry so their access ends automatically on a date you choose.
  5. Tap Share.

The item is re-encrypted just for that recipient and copied into their vault, so they can open it even when you are offline. You can also share several items at once from the Home screen's selection mode - see Sharing multiple items.

Which Devices Actually Sync the Share​

When you set up sharing with someone, there is exactly one connection between the two of you - called the gateway. It is the specific pair of devices you used when you first ran Setup Sharing: one of your devices and one of theirs.

You can share and manage items from any device in your mesh - the settings travel over Local Sync to your other devices. But for the shared items to actually move between the two users, that original gateway pair of devices needs to be online (on the same network and unlocked). This is deliberate: it keeps both people aware of the exact devices through which shared items pass between them, rather than syncing silently through whichever device happens to be nearby.

Once the shared items have synced across the gateway, they reach each user's other devices the normal way - during that user's own Local Sync process. So the flow is:

  1. You share an item (from any of your devices).
  2. The item crosses to the other user over the gateway pair while both those devices are online.
  3. From there, it spreads to each user's remaining devices during their regular Local Sync.

On a device that isn't the gateway, the connection appears read-only with a "Connected via <device>" note, so you can always tell which device carries the share. For more on this, see One gateway per person in the Sharing documentation.

Managing and Stopping a Share​

  • Set an expiry to have access end automatically, or change it later.
  • Stop sharing a specific item to revoke just that one item.
  • Disconnect a contact entirely to end sharing with them altogether.

See Stopping sharing with a contact for the details.

A Few Tips​

  • Only connect with people you trust - a shared item is copied into their vault and stays there until it expires or you revoke it.
  • Choose the right access level. Use View only unless the other person genuinely needs to make changes.
  • Both people must be unlocked and on the same network for a share to go through - there is no cloud relay in between.

For more, see our earlier guide on setting up sharing with other LockYit users.

Get Local Sharing Free, Forever​

Local Sharing is free forever for anyone who joins early. Create your LockYit account before December 31, 2026 to become a Founding User and keep Local Sharing (and Local Sync) at no cost, for life - no subscription, no expiry.

After the deadline, the Founding User offer closes and these features will become part of a paid plan for new users. You can see the full breakdown on our pricing page, or read more in Become a Founding User.

Local Sharing gives you a simple, secure way to hand a single item to someone you trust while keeping LockYit's strict offline-first, zero-knowledge philosophy fully intact. Set it up from the Shared With section of the Local Sync screen in LockYit 1.0, claim your Founding User spot before the year ends, and if a share doesn't go through, the troubleshooting section has you covered.