Your First Five Minutes with Sino
Set Sino up the right way, once. Five minutes now means you can always get your files back, even if you lose your phone or PC.
Before you start
A cloud account
Google Drive, MEGA or any S3-compatible storage. A free account works to begin with.
Pen and paper
For your 24-word recovery phrase. Not a screenshot, not a notes app.
Five minutes
Set up once, properly, and you can always get your files back.
Seven steps
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1
Install Sino
Get Sino for Android or Windows from the Downloads page. If you install the Android APK directly, check its fingerprint there first.
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2
Create your vault and set a master password
Choose Secure My Files (on Windows, Create New Vault) and pick a strong master password.
Your master password unlocks Sino on this device only. It is never uploaded, nobody can reset it (including us), and it cannot restore your vault on another device: your 24 words do that.
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3
Write down your 24 words
Sino shows your recovery phrase, the IronSeed, once. Write the 24 words on paper, in order, and keep it somewhere safe and private. Android asks you to type them back at the end of setup; on Windows, check them any time in Settings → Verify 24-Word IronSeed.
These 24 words restore your whole vault on any device. Anyone who has them can do the same, so never photograph them or type them into another app or website.
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4
Connect a cloud
Sign in to Google Drive, MEGA or your S3 storage. Sino makes its own folder there and uploads an encrypted backup of your vault key, which only your 24 words can open. Connect a second cloud to keep an extra copy of everything.
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5
Add a recovery passkey (recommended)
A passkey lets you restore your vault with your fingerprint, face, PIN or security key instead of typing the 24 words. Android offers it during setup (Seal Vault via LatticeGate) and later in Settings → Passkey Backup. On Windows, open Settings → Verify 24-Word IronSeed, then Add Windows Hello Passkey.
Keep your written words anyway: if you lose the passkey, the phrase still works.
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6
Protect your first files
Two ways, and you can use both. A backup folder (Add Sync Root: Camera, WhatsApp, Downloads or any folder; on Windows, in Settings → Local Folder Management) keeps your files where they are and sends encrypted copies to your clouds. The Local Vault (the lock icon on the Android dashboard) moves files into Sino, hidden from other apps; each of its folders is kept on this device only or backed up.
Files kept in the Local Vault on this device only are lost with the device. Back up anything you cannot afford to lose.
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7
Turn on quick unlock
Unlock with your fingerprint or face on Android, or Windows Hello on a PC, so you do not type your master password every time. Its key stays in your device's security chip.
Three things to remember
- Your 24 words restore everything. Keep them offline, private and somewhere you will find them in five years.
- Your master password belongs to one device. It unlocks Sino there, and nowhere else.
- There is no back door. If you lose your 24 words, your passkey and every device that can unlock your vault, nobody can open it, including us.
When you are ready
None of these are needed on day one. Each is explained in the User Manual.
A decoy vault
PhantomVault opens a separate, believable vault with a second password, if you are ever forced to unlock Sino.
An emergency wipe
The Terminus Protocol and the Android Panic Widget wipe Sino from a device in one step. Your cloud backups stay safe.
Legacy Handover
Let people you trust claim your vault if you stop unlocking Sino for a time you choose.
Your device list
See every device that can open your vault, and revoke a lost one so it wipes itself when it next connects.
Wondering what Sino cannot protect you from? Read the honest list. Changing phones? See the recovery guide.
Get Sino