$1 / $2 / $3 add-on
Password-protected file sharing.
Lock a file with a ten-character code. The link by itself is useless. Designed for the moment you need to grab a file on a borrowed computer without logging into Google in public.
The reason this exists.
Your printer is broken. You walk to the library to print a tax form. You sit at a public computer. Your Google account uses a passkey on your phone and a 90-character recovery password you cannot remember. You stare at the 2FA prompt with a queue forming behind you.
The alternative: at home, drop the file on quik.space, toggle the lock, pay $1, save the ten-character code. At the library: paste the link, type six characters, print, walk out. No account, no recovery dance, no shoulder-surf risk.
When the lock makes sense.
You have to use a borrowed computer
A library kiosk, a friend's laptop, a hotel business center. You do not want to type your real password where the shoulder-surf is real and the browser cache is shared.
Send a file to someone you only trust halfway
A contractor, a tax preparer, a one-off freelancer. They get the link. You text them the code separately. If either piece leaks, the file is still safe.
Share over an untrusted channel
If the link rides over a chat platform or an email you do not fully trust, the code keeps the file private even if the platform itself indexes the link.
How it works.
- 1. Drop a file. Up to 100 MB. No account.
- 2. Toggle the lock. The pill below the email reads “Lock with a passcode — $1.”
- 3. Pay $1. Stripe takes the payment. No subscription, no stored card.
- 4. Save the code. A ten-character code appears once. Email it to yourself before you leave the page. We cannot recover it.
- 5. Share separately. Send the link the usual way. Send the code through a different channel (text, voice, a sticky note in your pocket).
How the lock holds up.
- 32-symbol alphabet, no ambiguous characters. 6 positions yields roughly 1 billion combos. Paired with the file id’s 8-character namespace, that’s in the quintillion range.
- Hashed with SHA-256, salted per file. We never persist plaintext. The hash is one-way and useless without the file id.
- 5 wrong tries → one-hour lockout. Per file. Even a correct code is refused during a lockout.
- Per-IP cap of 30 unlock attempts per hour. Stops a distributed attacker from chunking the alphabet.
- Constant-time compare on verify. No timing channel that leaks correct prefixes.
FAQ
How does the passcode protect my file?
When you toggle Lock with a passcode at upload, quik.space generates a random 10-character code. The code is shown to you exactly once and emailed to the address you provide. We never store the plaintext; we store only a one-way SHA-256 hash salted with the file's internal id. Anyone visiting the share link is asked for the code and gets nothing else until they type it correctly.
Why pair the code with the URL instead of letting the code be the URL?
If the code alone unlocked any file, a guessing attacker could brute the entire user base. Pairing means an attacker must also know an unguessable 8-character file id, which raises the bar from 1 billion combinations to roughly 1 quintillion. After 5 wrong codes on a single file we lock that file for an hour, and we cap unlock attempts per IP across the whole service.
Can quik.space see my file or read my code?
We can see file metadata (filename, size, expiry) because we serve the download. We cannot see the passcode after it leaves your screen — only the hash is persisted. We do not train AI models on user files and we do not sell, share, or analyze the contents.
What happens if I lose the code?
The file is unrecoverable. We have no recovery flow, no support reset, no admin override. The hash is one-way. This is intentional: a recovery flow would defeat the point. The expectation is that you email the code to yourself at upload and treat the email as your record.
How long does the file stay up?
Seven days, then it is permanently purged. The default free-tier expiry is 72 hours; passcode-protected uploads get a longer window because the typical use case (printing at a library, picking up a file on a trip) needs runway.
Can I lock more than one file with the same code?
Yes. Up to 25 files at 100 MB each in one upload, all locked under a single 10-character code. Pricing tiers: 1 file is $1, 2 or 3 files is $2, 4 through 25 is $3. The recipient (or future-you) types the same code per file. Each row stores its own hash because the file id is part of the salt, so the on-disk hashes diverge even though the plaintext code is identical.
Why does the price scale with file count?
More files mean more storage and more unlock-endpoint pressure to defend. The ladder: 1 file is $1, 2 or 3 files share one code for $2, then every additional group of 3 files adds $2. So 4-6 files is $4, 7-9 is $6, 10-12 is $8, and so on up to $16 for 22-25 files. No subscription, no auto-renew, no stored card.
Lock a file in under a minute.
No signup. $1 per file. 7-day expiry.
Upload + lock a fileAlready have a code? Open with code.