Xecrets Ez features

* Pricing is in multiple currencies, including US dollars ($) and euro (€). The actual currency used is dependent on the jurisdiction of the payment method or your location, as determined by our payment provider Stripe. Typically if you are located in the US, you will be charged in US dollars, in the European Union in euro, and in the rest of the world in either local currency or US dollars. The actual price may vary slightly due to currency conversion and local taxes.

Xecrets Ez desktop desktop is entirely free of cost, but the additional Premium features are available with a Premium subscription, for $15/€15^* per year. Mobile is entirely free and has no Premium edition.

Xecrets Ez desktop desktop Free, desktop Premium and mobile use the same strong cryptographic primitives: AES-256 for encryption, SHA-512 for authentication and RSA-4096 for key exchange.

Xecrets Ez desktop can decrypt files encrypted by AxCrypt^[2] and vice versa using the original password.

Features and functions differ between the softwares, possibly making one or the other more suitable for your needs. Xecrets Ez desktop focuses on personal use, while AxCrypt^[2] is more focused on team and business use with a server based key management and licensing system. Xecrets Ez desktop on the other hand works entirely locally, with no server involved at all.

If you are considering switching from AxCrypt^[2], please ensure that you have tried and evaluated Xecrets Ez desktop first, and that it meets your needs.

The core feature of Xecrets Ez desktop is to password protect files by encrypting them. After encrypting the file, it will be saved with the extension .axx and the original file will be securely deleted. Supported in all versions.

The reverse of encryption is to decrypt files. After decryption, the contents and the original file name will be restored, regardless of any renaming of the encrypted file, and the encrypted file securely deleted. Supported in all versions.

Encrypted files are fully compatible with any and all cloud services such as Google Drive, iCloud, OneDrive, Dropbox etc. Supported in all versions.

Many other encryption solutions creates a special encrypted container or folder, and when you move or copy a file out of the container or folder, it is no longer encrypted. Operating system built in encryption such as Windows Encrypting Filesystem (EFS), macOS FileVault or Linux LUKS also have similar limitations.

With Xecrets Ez desktop, the encryption always follows the file, and it will remain encrypted regardless of where you move or copy it. Supported in all versions.

In addition to encrypting files, you can also encrypt and decrypt plain text directly. Copy and paste text, or write directly into the window, and encrypt it with a separate password you can share via a separate channel. The encrypted text is encoded as ASCII armored text, which can be copied and pasted into e-mails, chat messages etc. Decryption is supported in both Desktop editions, while encryption requires a Premium subscription. Not supported in Mobile.

Shamir's Secret Sharing is a method of splitting a secret into multiple parts, where only a certain number of parts are needed to reconstruct the secret. This is useful for example if you want to share a secret with a group of people, but you don't want any single person to have access to the entire secret. You can view shares and recover the secret in the Free version, but you need a Premium subscription to create the shares. Not supported in Mobile.

When setting a new password, a password strength meter will show you how strong the password is. If part of the password is found in a list of common passwords, it will not count to the strength. Not supported in Mobile.

When setting a new password, a strong password suggestion is available at a click. There's also a separate password generator feature available from the tray and the menus, to be used when setting passwords to other services and sites. The passwords generated are not just random characters, but are based on natural language, so they are often possible to pronounce, are relatively easy to type and often sticks to memory, but are still very strong. Not supported in Mobile.

There is no installation required, it comes as a single portable executable file and can even be run off a USB stick or similar, although we do recommend placing it in a suitable location. Not applicable to Mobile, which is installed as a normal mobile app.

There is no registration or account in the cloud, although you do create a profile using your email as identifier, it's entirely local, and no server is involved and no emails are sent. Supported in all versions.

No connection is ever made to the Internet, it's always offline. Supported in all versions.

When receiving files from others for example, you may need to use a different password than your own. You do this in the Edit|Add Decryption Password... menu option. Supported in all versions.

If you intend to work actively with a protected file and use, view and edit the file, it's important that it doesn't require a lot of manual work. With only simple file encryption and decryption, you have to manually decrypt the file, view or edit it, and then remember to re-encrypt it after use.

With Xecrets Ez desktop when you want to view or edit an encrypted file, it will automatically decrypt the file to a temporary location, open it in the default application, and then keep track of it so it can automatically, or with a single click, be re-encrypted, and the decrypted copy securely deleted.

Use the File|Open... menu option, the main window button, or drag and drop or copy/paste a single file into the main window to do this.

Only supported in Premium.

The Yubico YubiKey is a hardware security key that provides smart card encryption and two-factor authentication. It's a small USB device that you can use to secure your Xecrets Ez desktop password, making it much easier to use a strong password without having to remember it.

You can configure the YubiKey to require a PIN, a touch or just being inserted to automate entering your password. See the help page for more information.

Only supported in Premium.

As a separate feature, the File|Secure Delete... menu option can be used to really erase the contents of a file to make it much harder to recover the data. It should be noted that it may still be possible, using special tools that access the hard drive directly, bypassing the operating system and the file system but it makes it much harder and more expensive. Not supported in Mobile.

If you have older files encrypted with weaker encryption, or received files encrypted with a different password, you can re-encrypt them automatically with the File|Encrypt|Re-encrypt... menu option. Of course it can be done manually by first decrypting the files and then encrypting them again.

Only supported in Premium.

Sometimes it's useful to encrypt a copy of a file with the File|Encrypt|Encrypt Copy..., while retaining the original. Supported in all versions.

With the regular encrypt file feature, you can select one or more files to encrypt within the same folder. With the File|Encrypt|Encrypt Folder Files... feature, you can encrypt all files in a folder and all it's subfolders in one go.

Only supported in Premium.

When you want to send an encrypted file to someone else, you should not send a file encrypted with your own password, as you then need to share your password with the recipient. Instead, you should encrypt the file with an alternate password using the File|Encrypt|Encrypt Copy to Share... feature. They you can send the file and the password separately to the recipient using different channels. Typically you'd send the file with email or using a chat service, and text or call the recipient with the password.

The recipient can decrypt the file by adding a decryption password with the Add Decryption Password menu option. Supported in all versions.

Each user signed in on your computer of course have their own user profile and settings when using Xecrets Ez desktop. But with the User|Create New User... menu option, you can have multiple user profiles for the same user. This is useful if you for example have different sets of files that you want to keep separate, perhaps work and personal files.

Only supported in Premium.

With the regular decrypt file feature, you can select one or more files to decrypt within the same folder. With the File|Decrypt|Decrypt Folder Files menu option, you can decrypt all files in a folder and all it's subfolders in one go.

Only supported in Premium.

When you open a file received from someone else, it will be encrypted with a password that you have agreed on, but it will not be the same as the password you use for your own files. When you try to open or decrypt such a file, Xecrets Ez desktop can try alternate passwords, which you add with the Edit|Add Decryption Password... menu option.

With the Save in settings option checked, such passwords will be saved in your user profile for reuse so you don't have to remember and retype them.

Such decryption passwords are not used for encrypting files, just for decrypting files that are not encrypted with your own password.

Only supported in Premium. Mobile supports saved decryption passwords.

Authentication is the process of verifying that the data has not been tampered with. This is done with a Hashed Message Authentication Code (HMAC-SHA256) in Xecrets Ez desktop. This is a cryptographic hash function that uses a secret key in combination with a hash algorithm. Supported in all versions.

Depending on the original file contents, compression can reduce the size of the encrypted file. Xecrets Ez desktop will intelligently and conditionally compress files before encryption, but only if it significantly reduces the size. Supported in all versions.

Both when encrypting and decrypting files, the original file is securely deleted. Supported in all versions.