How KolHive protects your files

Encryption in transit and at rest

When you upload a document from your Mac in Chicago, your device connects to our servers over encrypted HTTPS/TLS. The same connection protects KolWrite and KolChat when you open them on your iPhone, Android phone, or the web. Once your files arrive, Cloudflare R2 encrypts them at rest with AES-256. Connected Google authorizations and synced voice signatures are also encrypted in our database.

Hetzner hosts our main servers and database in Germany. Files you keep in the KolHive cloud drive are stored with Cloudflare R2, a storage service that operates globally. Our own GPU computers run in Israel.

We back up the database in encrypted form every night and test restoring it. You can read more technical details on our security page.

Who can see your files and messages

Files you store in KolHive and KolWrite are encrypted on our servers, but not end to end. Our servers process them to transcribe, translate and summarize, so the company can technically reach stored files.

KolChat works differently. Your messages, shared files, voice notes, and calls in KolChat use end-to-end encryption following the Signal protocol design. KolHive staff cannot read your KolChat content, though this implementation has not been independently audited.

If you use KolHive for companies, workspace administrators can see company spaces. For example, if Maya Chen is an administrator for her team in Toronto, she can open the shared team folders. She can never see the private files of her team members.

What happens when you use AI

When you use a feature that runs on your device, such as on-device transcription on a Windows laptop, your content stays on that computer. It does not send your data to any AI provider.

When you choose an AI model that runs in the cloud, your prompt and attached files go to our servers to generate a reply. We do not use your content to train AI models. Our managed cloud AI terms also restrict providers from training on your data, and we have not given them permission to do so. If our training policy ever changes, we will update the Privacy Policy first and offer an opt-out.

Our servers delete records of AI requests 30 days after each request. If you delete the chat before those 30 days pass, our servers delete the records sooner.

How apps and hardware permissions work

Every app in KolHive must state the permissions it wants in a declared manifest. Sensitive permissions include files, camera and microphone, location, local network, Bluetooth, sensors, infrared, notifications, AI, and internet access.

When an app asks for a sensitive permission, KolHive shows you a prompt stating the purpose and how your data will be used. If an app attempts to call a feature it did not declare in its manifest, KolHive refuses the call.

Apps that control hardware reach your devices through kolhive.lan, kolhive.bluetooth, kolhive.sensors, and kolhive.infrared. Each hardware interface must be declared in the app manifest with its purpose and data use. An undeclared hardware call is refused three times over: during the install check, on the page, and at the host.

How to delete your files and account

Your content stays in your account until you delete it. You can delete individual recordings, files, and chats from your iPad, computer, or phone at any time.

You can also delete your entire account at any time from the security settings inside the app, or by emailing info@kolwrite.com. When you delete files or your account, the deleted data may remain in our encrypted backup copies until those backups are replaced or deleted.

What we do not claim

KolHive holds no security or compliance certification today. If you are evaluating KolHive for a workplace, read our security review for IT.

Two-step sign-in and new-device verification are not available yet.