What Lifetime means,and what happens if we close

A one-time payment for storage is a long promise. This page states exactly what the promise is, the limits on it, and what you get if ShieldFive stops operating. Each point is binding through the Terms of Service, section by section.

Last updated 23 October 2026

Definition

A Lifetime plan gives you the storage you bought for 99 years from the date of purchase, or the lifetime of the account holder, whichever is shorter, for as long as the account is used under the Terms. It is paid once, never renews, and is not transferable (Terms §5.3).

There is one case in which it ends earlier: if ShieldFive stops operating the service. That case has its own commitments, below.

Existing purchases are never downgraded

The storage amount and the price of a Lifetime plan are fixed at purchase. We do not lower the storage of a plan you have bought, and we never ask you to pay again to keep it (Terms §5.6). A later price change, a new release or a different storage size for new buyers does not change a plan already sold. The current Founding Lifetime is 5 TB of storage with 200 GB of downloads every 30 days; a plan bought earlier keeps the terms it was bought under.

Fair use

For purchases made on or after 23 October 2026 (Terms §5.5). It does not apply to any purchase made before that day, and it will not be applied to one later.

  • The storage is for the account holder’s own files.
  • It is not for use as a CDN or public hosting, or as a backup target for third parties.
  • It is not for automated bulk mirroring of other services’ content.
  • If an account stores more than 2 TB within its first 30 days, we may contact the owner to confirm personal use before more uploads are accepted.
  • There is no hidden cap below the purchased storage: 5 TB means 5 TB. The one stated limit is the download allowance above; reaching it pauses downloads until the next 30-day cycle and is never charged.
  • Stored files are never deleted for fair-use reasons, and we tell the account holder by email before any limit applies.

If ShieldFive stops operating

If ShieldFive ever decides to stop operating the service (Terms §5.7):

  • At least 12 months’ notice, sent by email to the address on the account and shown in the app.
  • Export stays available for the whole notice period. Every file downloads from the app, decrypted in your browser. You can also pull the encrypted files and your wrapped keys out of the account and keep them, using the recipe on Export your data.
  • Exported files decrypt on your own machine, even if ShieldFive no longer exists. Once the bundle is saved, decryption needs only the open-source @shieldfive/crypto library, its decrypt-one.mjs script, Node.js and your password or recovery key. No ShieldFive server is involved. The export itself has to be made while the service is running, which is what the notice period is for.

What is open source, exactly

  • @shieldfive/crypto (Apache-2.0): the encryption library the web app encrypts and decrypts with, published with its file-format and key-derivation specs and test vectors. It is what the offline decryption script on /export runs on. That script ships in the same repository as examples/decrypt-one.mjs.
  • @shieldfive/cli (Apache-2.0): the command-line client, built on the same library. It encrypts and uploads files. It has no download or decrypt command, so it is not the tool for reading an export; the library and its script are.
  • @shieldfive/mcp (MIT): the connector for AI assistants.

The web app, the Android app and the desktop app are not open source. You do not need them to read an exported bundle: the library and the specs are enough.

Refunds

Unchanged by this page. On your first paid purchase you may cancel for any reason within 30 days and receive a full refund; this covers the Founding Lifetime. Email [email protected] from the address on your account and the full price goes back to the card or wallet you paid with. The 30-day guarantee applies once per customer. The EU 14-day withdrawal right for digital services runs alongside it, from the purchase date. After 30 days there is no refund, pro-rated or otherwise, except where the law requires one, and that includes the case where ShieldFive stops operating (Terms §13, Refunds).

Questions

Write to [email protected]. The binding text is the Terms of Service; if this page and the Terms ever differ, the Terms apply and we fix this page.