Good to Know
Here we answer questions about technology, security, and our philosophy.
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What does 'Fair Source' mean?
Fair Source is a way of combining transparency and sustainability. Our code is published under the 'Functional Source License, Version 1.1, ALv2 Future License'. This means: You can view and audit the code – creating security and trust. We would love to use classic Open Source, but we must protect ourselves: We want to prevent large hyperscalers (like Amazon or Google) from simply copying our work and selling it as their own product. That would drain the resources we need to develop Freeshard for you.
Where can I find your code?
You can find our entire source code on GitHub: https://github.com/FreeshardBase/freeshard. Feel free to take a look!
Do you sell everything if an investor gives you money?
No, we have no intention of doing that. We started Freeshard out of conviction and use it daily for our own data. Selling it would mean handing over not just yours, but also our own private data. We build Freeshard to remain independent – not to make a quick buck.
Why do you charge money if I can use the apps for free?
That's true: The apps themselves are often free. But running them reliably under one roof requires a lot of work in the background: hosting costs, installation, storage management, backups, and complex database migrations during updates. We handle this technical 'orchestration' for you so everything runs smoothly, and we constantly develop Freeshard further. If you have the technical know-how and want to invest time, you can of course benefit for free by hosting your Shard yourself or running the applications individually.
Why can't I use Freeshard anonymously?
Honestly: We would prefer anonymous usage. Unfortunately, reality makes this barely feasible. There are people who abuse anonymous services to distribute illegal content that is beyond anything we can imagine or want to tolerate. As operators, we would constantly have to deal with abuse reports and legal consequences, which would be disproportionate to the benefit. If you really want to run your Shard completely anonymously, we recommend looking for a specialized hoster designed exactly for that.
Do I need technical knowledge?
No. We built Freeshard to feel like the apps you already know. We take care of the technology, updates, and security in the background.
Why only PayPal and no Wero or Direct Debit?
That's a fair question. We are currently a small, efficient team and need to pool our resources. With PayPal, we reach most people easily and securely. Other payment methods like Wero or Direct Debit are firmly on our wish list for the future.
How is my shared content (e.g., photo albums) accessible?
Your Shard gets its own subdomain on freeshard.cloud automatically at signup. Under that address you can share links to your photo albums or files with friends. We're exploring custom domain names for the future.
What happens to my address if I leave Freeshard?
Your auto-assigned subdomain is tied to our infrastructure, so it can't follow you. What you can do is export your entire Shard — all data and settings — and run it yourself under your own domain. Your data is truly portable.
Can I really take my Shard with me?
Yes, absolutely. That is part of our philosophy of independence. If you no longer want to use Freeshard, you can request an export of your entire system — including all data and settings — via our support, and run it on your own server at home or with another provider. Self-service export is planned for the future.
Can I come back to you with an exported Shard?
Technically, that is unfortunately not possible, as we must ensure the integrity of our systems. Our tip: You can download your Shard to test the export and simply keep your contract with us running. That way you have both.
What do you do with my data?
Nothing, except storing and providing it for you. We do not scan photos, read documents, or sell absolutely anything to advertising companies. We only do what you explicitly hired us to do: Hosting.
Is my data encrypted?
Yes, the hard drives of our servers are encrypted. This means: If someone were to physically steal the hard drive, they couldn't do anything with it. However, there is currently no end-to-end encryption where only you have the key. This is not just a limitation of ours — it is a fundamental technical constraint: because your Shard runs actual applications (not just passive storage), the server must be able to read and process your data to function. True end-to-end encryption, where only you hold the key, is essentially incompatible with running software on your behalf with current technology.
Can you access my data?
Technically speaking: Yes, because we maintain the system for you. But: We don't do it. First, it contradicts our ethics. Second, we forbid it to ourselves in our Terms of Service. Third, it would be a severe violation of the GDPR. And fourth – and this is most important to us – the resulting loss of trust would be the immediate end for us. Your trust is our most important asset.
Can you see my passwords?
No, never. Your password manager (Vaultwarden) encrypts all your data right on your device (phone or computer) before it is even sent to our server. We only store the encrypted data salad. Without your master password – which only you know – this data is absolutely unreadable to us (and anyone else).
I want to encrypt my Shard myself anyway. Is that possible?
Not yet. But we listen closely to our community: If many users want this feature, we will examine how we can implement it in a user-friendly way.
What happens if police or courts request my data?
We adhere to applicable law. If an official request comes in, we check it very carefully legally. Only if it is absolutely lawful and unavoidable must we comply with it.
Would end-to-end encryption protect me from that?
Yes and no. Even if we encrypted end-to-end, authorities could attempt to compel us to adapt the software so that data is diverted at the moment of access (when it is decrypted). If that is your concern, self-hosting on your own hardware is the only secure way. Consequently, you would then also have to check every single update to see if a backdoor has been hidden in it that breaks the encryption. Incidentally, this applies not only to us, but to all providers of such solutions without exception.
There was a ruling that OVH must hand over data to Canada. Is my data safe?
That is a valid point, and we are watching the case closely. Should it really develop that OVH in Europe can be forced by the Canadian court ruling to hand over European data, we will have to re-evaluate the situation. However, the last word has not yet been spoken on this, as this issue has reached the government level in both Canada and France. Either way, nothing will come as a surprise here, but will announce itself well in advance, and we will react accordingly.
Why don't you offer email or calendar functions?
Email and calendar are actually core functions we would love to offer — the reason we don't is purely technical. Email hosting is notoriously difficult: getting emails reliably delivered without being filtered as spam by major providers requires a level of infrastructure and reputation management that is genuinely hard to get right. For calendar, the problem is different: there simply are no self-hosted calendar solutions we consider good enough yet — that is a real gap in the ecosystem. We are keeping a close eye on both areas and will add them as soon as we are confident we can do it well.
Why don't you offer Nextcloud?
There are already very many specialized Nextcloud providers on the market. We are not ruling it out for the future, but first want to offer alternatives that are often leaner and faster.
Where is my data located?
Your Shard runs on OVH servers in the EU (France). Encrypted backups are stored separately, also within EU data centers. All data is subject to strict European data protection laws (GDPR).