The short version

GravesZIP does not connect to the internet, and GravesWare receives nothing from it. Your files and your passphrases stay on your computer.

What we collect

Nothing.

GravesZIP makes no network connections of any kind. It contains no telemetry, no analytics, no crash reporting, no update check, and no licensing call-home. There is no account to create and nothing to sign in to.

GravesWare, LLC does not receive your archives, your file names, your passphrases, or any record of what you do with the software. GravesZIP itself sends GravesWare nothing at all. What Microsoft reports to GravesWare about a copy bought from the Microsoft Store is described under The Microsoft Store version below.

What is stored on your computer

Your preferences

The language you pick from the Help menu, so the program comes back in it next time.

• Windows — %APPDATA%\GravesZIP\settings.json
• Linux — ~/.config/GravesZIP/settings.json
• macOS — ~/.config/GravesZIP/settings.json

It holds a language code and nothing else. No passphrase, no file path, no list of the archives you have opened, and nothing identifying you. It is written so that only your user account can read it.

The Microsoft Store version keeps the same file in the private folder Windows gives each Store app, under %LOCALAPPDATA%\Packages, and Windows removes it when the app is uninstalled.

Archives and extracted files

Wherever you choose to put them.

GravesZIP writes nothing else. It keeps no list of recent archives, writes no temporary copies of what it extracts or tests, and keeps no log.

Passphrases

Your passphrase is never written to disk. There is no passphrase store, no keychain integration, and no “remember this password” option.

While an archive is being created, read or extracted, the passphrase is held in memory, because the encryption cannot be performed without it. GravesZIP keeps its own copy in a buffer that is overwritten with zeroes as soon as the operation finishes, rather than in an ordinary text string, which cannot be erased once created.

One qualification, because it is true and you should have it: the compression library GravesZIP uses accepts a passphrase only as a text string. For the length of an operation a copy therefore exists in a form that cannot be wiped, and it goes when the program’s memory is reclaimed rather than the moment the operation ends.

This narrows the window in which the passphrase exists in memory. It does not eliminate it. An attacker who can read the memory of a running process, capture a crash dump, or read a swap file written while the operation was in progress may still recover it. No application-level measure can prevent that.

If you forget a passphrase, GravesWare cannot recover it and neither can anyone else. There is no backdoor, no recovery key, and no master password. This is the intended behaviour of the encryption, not a limitation of the software.

What an encrypted archive reveals

Encryption protects the contents of an archive. It does not hide everything.

A ZIP encrypts the contents of each file. It cannot encrypt the list of what is inside: the names, sizes and timestamps stay readable to anyone holding the archive. That is a limit of the ZIP format, which every ZIP tool shares, and GravesZIP says so at the time rather than letting you assume otherwise.

If the names themselves are sensitive, rename the files before archiving them.

The archive file also has its own name, size and modification date, none of which are encrypted. An archive named “resignation-letter.zip” has told most of the story before anyone opens it.

What leaves your computer

Only what you send yourself:

• Saving. Archives and extracted files go where you tell them to. If that location is a network drive or a synchronised folder, they travel with it — including into any cloud backup that folder is configured to use.
• Email Support. The button on the About page opens your own mail program with the support address and GravesZIP’s version filled in. Nothing is sent unless you send it, and it is sent by your mail program, not by GravesZIP.

GravesZIP initiates no other transfer.

Archives you open

GravesZIP reads the archives you open in order to list and extract them. It does not index, upload, scan, or otherwise transmit their contents.

Be aware that an archive from someone else is untrusted input. GravesZIP refuses to write any file outside the folder you chose, so an archive cannot use a crafted path to overwrite files elsewhere on your system. It does not scan extracted files for malware; that is your antivirus software’s job, not this program’s.

The Microsoft Store version

GravesZIP is sold through the Microsoft Store. That involves Microsoft, not GravesZIP, and it is described here so nothing is left out.

Purchases

Microsoft processes the purchase. GravesWare, LLC does not receive or store payment card details, and is not told your name or email address when you buy.

Your licence

Windows and the Microsoft Store check that your copy is licensed, as they do for every app bought from the Store. GravesZIP makes no licensing check of its own and contacts nothing to run.

Reports Microsoft gives GravesWare

Microsoft gives every publisher reports on its Store apps: how many copies were bought, in which countries, and the ratings and reviews customers choose to post. Depending on your Windows diagnostic data settings, Windows may also tell Microsoft how often apps are used and when they crash, and Microsoft shows publishers totals and crash summaries from that. These reports are made by Windows and Microsoft, are governed by your Windows settings and Microsoft’s privacy statement, and do not identify you to GravesWare. GravesZIP adds nothing to them.

To limit what Windows sends, see Settings > Privacy & security > Diagnostics & feedback.

Children

GravesZIP is a general-purpose tool and collects no information from anyone, including children.

Changes

If this statement changes, the revised version ships with the release it applies to. Because nothing is collected, changes here describe the software’s behaviour rather than any use of your data.

Contact

Questions about this statement, or about what GravesZIP does with your files:

GravesWare, LLC
Support: support@gravesware.com
Website: gravesware.com/graveszip