Ferry has no accounts, analytics, ads or tracking, and no server of ours ever receives your files. Files go from the sender's device to the recipient's, end-to-end encrypted. To connect, Ferry uses network services that see your IP address and device ID, never your files: n0's relays and discovery service, and update checks. On Android, Google's QR scanning library sends Google usage statistics.
Who we are and what this covers
Ferry is developed and published by XenVault Interactive (“we”, “us”). This policy covers the Ferry apps for Windows, macOS, Linux and Android, and this website, ferry.xenvaultinteractive.com.
Ferry is open source under the MIT license. Its source code shows exactly what the app does. For privacy questions, contact info@xenvaultinteractive.com.
Your files
Ferry sends files directly from the sender's device to the recipient's. We don't operate a server that stores, scans or forwards them, and we can't see what you share, its names, or who you share it with.
Connections are end-to-end encrypted (QUIC with TLS 1.3, with keys tied to each device), and every file is checked against its fingerprint as it arrives. When you share, Ferry serves the files from where they are on your device; when you receive, it saves them to the folder you chose, or to Downloads/Ferry on Android.
What a share link reveals
A share link, its QR code and a .ferry ticket file contain your Ferry device ID (a public key created when Ferry first starts), your device's current network addresses (local and public IP addresses), your home relay, and a fingerprint of the shared files. Anyone who has the link can download the files while you share them, and learns those addresses. Send links privately, and use Stop sharing when you're done.
The person you share with receives the files with their names and sizes. Their Ferry connects to yours, so each side sees the other's IP address, as with any direct connection.
A .ferry ticket file can be protected with a password. Ferry encrypts it on your device; we never see the password.
Network services Ferry uses
Ferry is built on iroh. To let devices find and reach each other, it uses services run by n0, the company that develops iroh. They see network information, never your files:
- Discovery. Ferry publishes your device ID with your current network addresses and home relay to n0's public DNS service, and looks up the other device the same way. This keeps links working when your IP address changes. What you share is not published.
- Relays. When a direct connection isn't possible, the encrypted data passes through a relay. By default these are n0's public relays, which see both devices' IP addresses and device IDs and the amount of data, but can't read it. In Settings → Connections you can use your own relay instead, or turn relays off.
n0 processes this information under its own terms and policies. See n0.computer.
Data on your device
Ferry keeps its data in its own folders on your device: its identity key, the list of your shares and downloads, partly downloaded data, settings, and diagnostic logs. None of it is sent to us. Uninstalling Ferry, or clearing its data on Android, removes it; files you received stay where they were saved.
On Android, Ferry asks for these permissions:
- Camera, only while you scan a QR code. The image is analysed on your phone and never stored or uploaded.
- Notifications, to show a transfer's progress. A transfer keeps running in the background while that notification shows.
- Install apps (Ferry Direct only), to install Ferry's own updates when you choose to.
Google services in the Android app
The QR scanner uses Google's ML Kit through Google Play services. ML Kit analyses camera images on your phone. Google says ML Kit may contact Google's servers to download models and fixes, and sends Google statistics about how the scanning library is used and how well it performs, such as device model, Android version and the app's name and version. These statistics don't contain camera images or your files. See ML Kit's terms and Google's privacy policy.
The Google Play version of Ferry asks Google Play whether an update is available. Google Play handles that check, and installing the app, under its own terms.
Update checks
If update checks are on (Settings → Updates), Ferry asks for the latest version:
- On Windows, macOS and Linux (except the .deb), from GitHub, which hosts Ferry's releases.
- In Ferry Direct for Android, from downloads.xenvaultinteractive.com, which we run on Cloudflare.
- In the Google Play version, from Google Play.
Like any web request, an update check reveals your IP address, and the request identifies Ferry. The answer only describes the newest version. We don't use it to count or identify you.
No accounts, analytics or ads
Ferry has no accounts, and contains no advertising, analytics, tracking or crash-reporting service of ours. We don't sell, rent or share personal data, because the app doesn't send us any.
When you contact us
If you email us, we receive your email address, your message and any attachments. We use them to answer you and keep them only as long as that requires, or as the law requires. Please don't send share links you want to keep private, or confidential files.
This website
Cloudflare hosts this website. Serving and protecting a page involves technical information such as your IP address, the address requested, your browser and the time. Cloudflare may keep it in infrastructure logs. See Cloudflare's privacy policy.
The site sets no cookies and has no analytics or trackers. When a share link opens the /get page, the part after “#” (the share ticket) stays in your browser: browsers don't send it to websites, and the page only passes it to Ferry on your device. The Android download page reads the latest release's details from downloads.xenvaultinteractive.com.
Security, children and your rights
No method of storage or transmission is perfectly secure, but Ferry encrypts every connection end to end and verifies every file it receives.
Ferry doesn't collect personal information from anyone, including children. If a child has emailed us personal information, a parent or guardian can ask us to delete it.
Depending on where you live, you may have rights to access, correct, delete, restrict or object to the processing of personal information you gave us, to receive a copy of it, and to complain to your data protection authority. Contact us to use them.
Changes and contact
We'll update this page, and its effective date, if Ferry's data practices change.
Privacy contact: XenVault Interactive, info@xenvaultinteractive.com.