BurnPony: Self-Destruct Notes

Send a secret without making the other person install anything.

Write a note, set the self-destruct rules, share one link. The note is encrypted on your device with AES-256-GCM before anything is uploaded, and it decrypts only in the recipient's browser. The decryption key travels in the part of the link after the #, which browsers never send to any server, so the server stores ciphertext it cannot read, plus a note ID, a view count, and an expiry. No accounts, no names, no analytics.

THREE KINDS OF NOTE

• Simple: one note, one link, optional passphrase

• Double bottom: one link with separate compartments, each opened by its own passphrase. Hand over one passphrase and only that compartment shows; nobody can prove the others exist

• Split key: the note opens only when enough key links are combined, for example any 2 of 3

WHAT YOU CONTROL

• Views: burn after 1 reading, or allow up to 100

• Expiry: 5 minutes to 30 days, changeable later, counted from now

• Scheduled opening: the note stays hidden, looking like it does not exist, until the time you pick

• Optional passphrase, stretched with PBKDF2 and mixed into the key. Send it through a different channel than the link

• Open immediately: skip the confirmation screen when a note should open on the first visit

• Auto-hide: the revealed note re-hides after a timer

• Read receipts, disclosed to the recipient before they reveal the note. BurnPony does not do silent read tracking

• Defaults for new notes, set once in Settings

• A private label for your own list; it never leaves your device

• QR code for in-person handoff: the whole link, key included, transfers with no network at all

SAVED COPIES (OPTIONAL, OFF BY DEFAULT)

Keep a copy of a note you send so you can reread it after it burns. You choose per note. Each copy is encrypted to a key held in your phone's secure hardware, which only releases it after your fingerprint, face or screen lock. Double bottom notes are never saved.

TOR AND PROXIES

Route BurnPony through Tor with Orbot, or through any SOCKS5 proxy, with stream isolation. If the proxy is unreachable, requests fail instead of falling back to a direct connection.

HONEST LIMITS

Whoever has the full link (and passphrase, if set) can read the note. A recipient can always copy or photograph a note while it is visible. Self-destruction limits future access; it does not control the moment of reading.

OPEN

The app, the server, the viewer, and the wire-format specification are open source (Apache-2.0), with cross-implementation test vectors shared with the iOS app and the web viewer. Self-hosters can point the app at their own server from Settings. Protocol: https://burnpony.app/protocol

BurnPony is part of the pony family of privacy tools: encryption you can inspect instead of taking a developer's word for it.