Create your account

Setting up Databeamer takes two steps: creating a login, and setting up the keys that make your data readable to you alone. The login is like any other account. The keys are what make Databeamer different, so this guide spends most of its time there.

1. Create your login #

Go to app.databeamer.eu. You arrive at the sign-in page of Databeamer's identity service. Choose Register, below the sign-in form.

Fill in your first name, last name and email address, choose a password and accept the terms and the privacy policy. Then choose Next.

We send you an email with an activation code. Open the link in it, or type the code on the Activate user page, to confirm that the address is yours. Then sign in with your email address and password.

Your password protects the login only. It does not unlock your files; that is what the next step is for.

2. Set up your keys #

The first time you sign in, Databeamer opens Welcome to Databeamer and walks you through creating your keys. Choose Get Started and follow the steps in order.

Choose a PIN #

Pick a 6-digit PIN. The PIN unlocks Databeamer on this device only. Each device you add later gets its own PIN, and changing one does not change the others. Very simple PINs like 123456 are rejected.

Your browser will ask for the PIN whenever you open Databeamer. If you prefer, you can later switch to passkey unlock with Touch ID, Face ID or Windows Hello.

Generate keys #

Databeamer now creates your keys on your device. This takes a few seconds and needs nothing from you. Only the public halves are sent to the server; the parts that can read your data never leave the device.

Security detailsWhat is this?

• The browser generates a random master key. It is never stored anywhere; it is rebuilt at each unlock and wiped from memory afterwards.
• From the master key it derives a symmetric identity key (ChaCha20-Poly1305), a hybrid exchange key pair (X25519 + ML-KEM-768) and a hybrid signing key pair (Ed25519 + ML-DSA-65). Both key pairs are post-quantum hybrids: an attacker must break the classical and the post-quantum algorithm.
• The master key is split with Pedersen verifiable secret sharing, threshold 2 of 3: a device share, a server share and a recovery share. No share is derived from the PIN or the password.
• The device share is sealed on the device under a key derived from the PIN with Argon2id. The server stores the server share and the public keys, and holds nothing derived from the PIN.
• A personal group with its own key set is created, so personal files use the same key model as shared ones.

Save your recovery phrase #

You are shown a list of 24 words. This is your recovery phrase. Together with the part we keep on the server, it can rebuild your keys if you ever lose all your devices.

Security detailsWhat is this?

The phrase encodes 32 random bytes as 24 BIP39 words. From them the browser derives a recovery key pair; the recovery share is encrypted to that key pair and kept on the server, where only the phrase can open it. The phrase is never sent to the server and cannot be reconstructed from the password or the PIN. See Recovery phrase and shares.

• Use Copy phrase or Download PDF and store it somewhere safe: a password manager, a printed copy in a locked drawer, or both.
• Do not keep it only on the device you are setting up. If that device is lost, the phrase is lost with it.
• Choose I have saved my recovery phrase. Databeamer asks once more whether you are sure; confirm with Yes, I have stored my phrase.

This step cannot be skipped, and for good reason. Databeamer cannot recover your account for you. Without the phrase or a signed-in device, your data is gone.

3. You're in #

All set! Choose Get Started. The dashboard offers a short tour and a Get started checklist: send a transfer, request files, upload to Drive, or create an organisation.

Next: Find your way around.