Frequently Asked Questions

Open TextShareNow on your phone, paste your text into the Send tab, and tap Generate Code. A short 5-character code appears. On your laptop, open the site, go to Receive, type the code, and your text shows up instantly — no cable, no app, no sign-up.

No account required. There is no sign-up, no email, no password. You open the site and start using it immediately on any device.

Yes. The tool works in both directions — phone to laptop, laptop to phone, tablet to desktop, or between any two devices with a browser. The short code is designed to be easy to type regardless of the direction.

No. TextShareNow works across any internet connection. The sending device and receiving device can be on completely different networks — mobile data, home broadband, office Wi-Fi, or public hotspots.

A share code is a 5-character string of uppercase letters and numbers, for example "Z7K4P". It is short enough to type quickly on any keyboard or phone keypad.

A code lasts as long as the sender chose — 10 minutes, 30 minutes or 1 hour on the free plan. Pro adds 1 day, 7 days, 30 days, or never. If no one retrieves the text before the timer ends, the code and its content are permanently deleted from our servers.

By default, no — every code is single-use and the content is deleted after the first read. Pro can raise the limit to 5 or 10 reads, or unlimited. With unlimited reads the share lasts until its timer ends or the sender deletes it.

You will see an error message saying the code was not found or has expired. Double-check that you typed it correctly — codes are uppercase letters and numbers only. If the code has expired, ask the sender to generate a new one.

Only temporarily and encrypted at rest. Standard shares are stored until the read limit or timer ends — 10 minutes to 30 days, or never on Pro. Private-mode shares are stored as ciphertext we cannot decrypt. Either way, the content is deleted when the share closes, and we do not log or retain it afterwards.

Guessing is not practical: 5-character codes have over 33 million combinations and every endpoint is rate-limited. Password-protected shares also delete themselves after ten wrong attempts. For sensitive content, use Private mode (“Encrypt Now”) — the text is encrypted in your browser and only the full link can open it.

We do not require a name, phone number, or account. If you activate Pro, Gumroad returns the email address associated with the license; we cache it with the license check for up to 24 hours and never use it for marketing. Otherwise we keep only anonymised counters (such as the number of shares) and standard server logs for up to 7 days.

You choose. Standard shares are encrypted in transit and at rest, but our server can decrypt them to deliver the text. Private mode (the “Encrypt Now” toggle) encrypts in your browser with AES-256-GCM before upload; the key stays in the # part of the link and never reaches us, so we cannot read it. A Private share must be opened with the full link — the 5-character code alone will not work.

For Private-mode shares, no — we only ever hold ciphertext and never receive the key. For standard shares, yes: our server decrypts briefly to deliver the text, then deletes it. Use Private mode for passwords, API keys, and anything sensitive.

TextShareNow supports PNG, JPEG, WebP, MP4, and WebM files. Standard images are re-encoded from raw pixels for security before being stored. If you turn on Private file mode, the contents are encrypted in your browser first and are never re-encoded. SVG files are explicitly rejected.

Files can be up to 10 MB. If your file is larger, try compressing it or splitting it into smaller parts before sharing.

Standard files are available until the first download or until their timer ends — whichever comes first. Private files are deleted after you download and acknowledge decryption, or when the timer ends. The sender chooses 10 minutes, 30 minutes or 1 hour when uploading. After that, both the file and its metadata are permanently deleted. Files are never archived or backed up.

Standard uploads are scanned with ClamAV before becoming available for download; files that fail the scan are rejected and deleted. Private file mode is end-to-end encrypted, so the server cannot scan the contents. Only open encrypted files from people you trust.

You choose. Standard uploads are encrypted in transit and scanned before serving. Turn on “Encrypt files” and your browser encrypts the contents with AES-256-GCM before upload; the key stays in the link after the # and never reaches us. File names, types, sizes, and folder paths remain visible, and encrypted contents cannot be virus-scanned. A Private file or transfer must be opened with the full link — the 5-character code alone will not work. Encrypted transfers download one file at a time.

No. File codes are single-use. After the first successful download, the file and its code are immediately deleted. Ask the sender to generate a new code if you need the file again.

Yes. The core tool is free with no sign-up required — no credits, no hidden fees, and no account. An optional Pro plan ($5/month or $50/year, save 17%) adds larger limits, longer expiry, up to 20 files and 100 MB total, multi-reads, passwords, custom codes, a My Shares dashboard, and API/MCP access for developers and AI agents.

Pro raises text shares to 100,000 characters, file transfers to up to 20 files / 100 MB total (any non-executable type), and expiry to 1, 7, or 30 days — or never. It also adds 5, 10, or unlimited reads, password protection, custom codes like coffee-menu, a My Shares dashboard, and a developer API plus MCP server for scripts and AI agents.

Yes. Pro includes a Bearer-token HTTP API and the textsharenow-mcp server for Claude, opencode, Cursor, and other MCP clients. Your Gumroad license key is the API key; scripts and agents can create, peek, receive, and delete shares with the same Pro limits and auto-deletion as the website.

Yes. Pro includes a My Shares dashboard that lists active text shares tied to your license, with remaining reads, expiry, copy-link, and delete controls. No account is needed — your license key is the login.

You can share up to 10,000 characters per transfer. This covers most URLs, short notes, code snippets, and messages. For larger content, split it into multiple transfers.

Yes. TextShareNow supports file sharing alongside text. You can upload PNG, JPEG, WebP, MP4, and WebM files up to 10 MB. Switch to the "Share Files" tab to send a file, and use the "Receive File" tab on the other device to download it with a short code.

No. Both devices need an active internet connection to communicate through our servers. It does not work offline or over local Bluetooth.