Identity & Devices

Your Harbor identity is a set of cryptographic keys held on your devices, not an account on a server. Everything you publish is signed with those keys, which is why servers can't forge or edit your content.

Adding a device

Use Settings > Pair Identity to add another device to your identity. On your new device, scan the QR code or copy/paste the pairing link. After you confirm on your existing device that the emojis are the same on both devices, the new device will be added to your identity.

Recovering when you have no devices logged in

The preferred way to add a new device to your identity is pairing. However, there is a backup system in case you no longer have an existing device that can pair new devices. This may happen if you have only one device with Harbor and its data gets cleared, or if the device malfunctions and no longer works.

A backup can be created using Settings > Back Up Identity. You will be given a file to save and store securely. If you still have an older backup file and create a new one, then you should prefer the new one since the old one may not work anymore. Still never share any backup files, even if a newer one has been created.

You can check your backup file in Settings > Test Backup to ensure that you have created a backup successfully.

On your new device, press I already have an identity > Recover using backup and select the latest backup file to add the device without relying on an existing session.

Choosing your servers

Settings, Configure servers lists the servers your identity publishes to. Add servers by URL, remove ones you no longer trust, and your content syncs to whatever set you choose. Anyone can run one; see Host a Server.