Help center
The things people actually run into, answered at length. If yours isn't here, send us a message.
Getting started
Download the app, drag ColdStorage into your Applications folder, and open it. It runs on macOS, and there's no Windows or iPhone app yet.
There isn't one. You type your email address, we send you a code, and you type the code back in.
When you create your account you're shown a one-time recovery code. It's the only human-held secret in the whole system — it's what unwraps the key your files are encrypted with, and we don't keep a copy, because keeping one would mean we could open your files. Write it down somewhere that isn't the Mac you're backing up. You need it when you set ColdStorage up on a new computer. If you lose both the code and the Mac you first used, the files can't be opened by anyone.
Putting files in
Drag them anywhere into the My Files window. Folders come in with their structure intact, and everything is encrypted on your Mac before any of it uploads.
No, and it won't start doing that on its own. Only what you drop in gets uploaded. If you'd rather not drag things in by hand, you can point the app at a folder in Settings and new files in it will upload as they appear.
Yes, and it's free and instant. Renaming, moving, and nesting all happen in your file list, not in deep storage — nothing has to come back out and nothing re-uploads.
Getting files back
Right-click it in My Files and choose Request a copy. The file is brought up out of deep storage and is ready in about 48 hours. You'll see what it costs before anything starts.
Deep storage keeps your files resting rather than live and spinning, which is the entire reason it's cheap. Waking one up takes hours. There's a longer explanation on the How deep storage works page.
Each month, the first 1 GB is free on a paid plan and the first 200 MB is free on the free plan. Past that it's $0.0974 per GB plus a $0.53 fee per recovery. Those rates are what it costs us to move the data, card processing included, and we don't add anything on top. The exact total is shown before you confirm.
No. Browsing is always instant. Your file list lives on your Mac, so you can look through everything, search it, and reorganize it whenever you like. The wait only happens when you ask for a file's actual contents.
Yes. You can export your whole archive and take it wherever you want. You'd pay the same per-GB cost to move that much data, and that's the only thing standing in the way.
Plans and billing
Open Settings and go to the Account tab. You can move up or down a size there, and the change takes effect on your next renewal.
Once a year. We email you before it happens, not after.
Usually, yes. The refund policy page has the specifics, and if your situation isn't covered there, write to us and we'll sort it out.
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