CipherKey
This summary is here to be useful, not to replace what follows. Where the two differ, the full text governs.
These Terms of Service (“Terms”) are an agreement between you and O’Shane McKenzie (“we”, “us”), the developer of the CipherKey Android application (the “App”). By installing, enabling, or using the App you agree to them. If you do not agree, do not use the App and uninstall it.
Our Privacy Policy forms part of these Terms.
You must be at least 13 years old, or the age of digital consent in your country if that is higher, to use the App.
CipherKey is an Android input method — a keyboard. Alongside ordinary typing it can encrypt text locally before you send it through another app, and decrypt text that somebody sends you, using encryption keys that both of you hold.
It is a tool that operates on text. It is not a messaging service, does not transmit your messages, and does not sit between you and the person you are writing to. We operate no servers and hold no copy of anything you write.
We grant you a personal, non-exclusive, non-transferable, revocable licence to install and use the App on devices you own or control, for your own purposes, subject to these Terms. No other rights are granted.
The App is provided free of charge. We may change, suspend, or discontinue it, in whole or in part, at any time.
Your encryption keys are generated on your device and wrapped by the Android Keystore, which is tied to that device. This is what stops anybody — including us — from reading your messages.
It also means loss is final. If you uninstall the App, reset your phone, lose it, or clear the App’s data, your keys are destroyed and every message encrypted under them becomes permanently unreadable. We cannot recover them. There is no reset link, no support escalation, and no copy anywhere else, because the design deliberately does not create one.
The App includes an encrypted key backup protected by a passphrase you choose. Use it, keep the file somewhere safe, and remember the passphrase — we cannot recover that either.
You are solely responsible for backing up your keys, for keeping your backup passphrase, and for the security of the devices your keys are on.
CipherKey uses established cryptography — AES-256-GCM, Argon2id, the Android Keystore — and its message format is published so it can be examined. We have tried to build it carefully and we have documented its limitations rather than hiding them.
Nevertheless: the design and implementation have not been independently reviewed or audited by a qualified third party. Software of this kind can contain flaws that are not apparent to its author. We make no representation that the App is free of vulnerabilities or that it will protect your communications against any particular adversary, and specifically not against a well-resourced one.
Do not use CipherKey where the consequence of a failure would be serious — for example, where disclosure could endanger someone’s safety, liberty, or livelihood. If that is your situation, use software that has been formally audited and is maintained by a team.
Encryption also cannot protect you from a compromised device. If your phone has malware on it, or somebody else can unlock it, no keyboard can help.
The App includes optional AI tools provided by Google’s Gemini API. They are disabled until you supply your own Google API key.
The App displays banner advertisements supplied by Google AdMob in three places, described in the Privacy Policy. By using the App you agree to their display.
Advertisements are selected by Google, not by us. We do not endorse advertisers or what they offer, and any dealing you have with an advertiser is between you and them. We are not responsible for the content of advertisements or for anything on the sites they lead to.
We may add, remove, or reposition advertising, or offer a paid option without it, at any time.
You must not:
The App contains cryptographic functionality. The import, possession, use, or export of encryption software is restricted or prohibited in some countries. It is your responsibility to determine whether using CipherKey is lawful where you are, and where you travel, and to comply with any applicable law. We make no representation that the App may lawfully be used in any particular jurisdiction.
You confirm that you are not located in, and will not use the App in, a country subject to an embargo that would prohibit its supply to you.
The App, its source code, its design, and the CipherKey name and logo remain the property of O’Shane McKenzie and, where applicable, of the authors of the open-source components the App includes. Nothing in these Terms transfers any of that to you.
Your content is yours. We claim no ownership of, and no licence to, anything you type, encrypt, or store using the App. We never receive it.
The App includes third-party open-source components under their own licences, which continue to apply to those components.
THE APP IS PROVIDED “AS IS” AND “AS AVAILABLE”, WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED. TO THE FULLEST EXTENT PERMITTED BY LAW WE DISCLAIM ALL WARRANTIES, INCLUDING THE IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, SATISFACTORY QUALITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE, AND NON-INFRINGEMENT. WE DO NOT WARRANT THAT THE APP WILL BE UNINTERRUPTED, ERROR-FREE, OR SECURE, THAT DEFECTS WILL BE CORRECTED, OR THAT IT WILL BE COMPATIBLE WITH ANY PARTICULAR DEVICE OR APPLICATION.
Nothing in these Terms excludes or limits any liability that cannot lawfully be excluded or limited, including liability for death or personal injury caused by negligence, or for fraud. If you are a consumer, you have statutory rights that these Terms do not affect.
TO THE FULLEST EXTENT PERMITTED BY LAW, WE WILL NOT BE LIABLE FOR ANY INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, CONSEQUENTIAL, OR EXEMPLARY DAMAGES, OR FOR ANY LOSS OF DATA, LOSS OF KEYS, LOSS OF MESSAGES, LOSS OF PROFITS, LOSS OF BUSINESS, OR LOSS OF GOODWILL, ARISING OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH YOUR USE OF OR INABILITY TO USE THE APP, WHETHER IN CONTRACT, TORT, OR OTHERWISE, AND EVEN IF WE HAVE BEEN ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGES.
OUR TOTAL AGGREGATE LIABILITY ARISING OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH THESE TERMS OR THE APP WILL NOT EXCEED THE GREATER OF (A) THE AMOUNT YOU PAID US FOR THE APP IN THE TWELVE MONTHS BEFORE THE CLAIM AROSE, AND (B) TEN POUNDS STERLING (£10). THE APP IS PROVIDED FREE OF CHARGE, SO IN MOST CASES (A) WILL BE ZERO.
In particular, and without limiting the above, we are not liable for the loss of keys or messages described in section 4, for any consequence of the absence of an independent security review described in section 5, for the content or accuracy of AI output, or for anything Google does with data you send it.
You agree to indemnify and hold us harmless from any claim, demand, loss, or expense (including reasonable legal fees) arising from your use of the App in breach of these Terms or in breach of applicable law, or from content you create, send, or store using it. This does not apply to the extent the claim arises from our own breach of these Terms.
You may stop using the App and uninstall it at any time. Doing so ends this agreement — and, as section 4 explains, destroys your keys.
We may terminate or suspend your licence if you breach these Terms. Sections 4, 5, and 10 to 18 survive termination.
We may update these Terms. The effective date at the top of this page changes when we do, and the current version is always the one published at this address. Material changes will be notified in the App before they take effect. Continuing to use the App after a change means you accept the updated Terms; if you do not, uninstall it.
These Terms and any dispute arising out of them are governed by the laws of JAMAICA, without regard to its conflict-of-laws rules, and the courts of JAMAICA have exclusive jurisdiction.
If you are a consumer resident in the United Kingdom, the European Union, or another territory whose law grants you the right to bring proceedings in your local courts and to the protection of your local mandatory consumer law, nothing in this section removes that right.
O’Shane McKenzie
Developer, CipherKey
Email: litecodzofficial@gmail.com