FOLD Documentation
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Security and privacy

iCloud sync

Two separate opt-ins: settings and account configuration through CloudKit, and account passwords through iCloud Keychain.

Nothing syncs by default. FOLD offers two independent kinds of sync, both through your own Apple Account. No FOLD server is involved.

Device sync: settings and account configuration

What syncs: tags, favorites, folder colors, smart folders, the accent color, and the configuration of your accounts: name, address, server names and ports, user name, custom headers and send delay.

What never syncs this way: passwords, tokens, keys, and mail content.

Where it goes: a dedicated zone in the private CloudKit database of your Apple Account. FOLD adds no encryption of its own to these records; they are protected by iCloud, including Advanced Data Protection if you have turned it on.

Turn it on: on the Mac, Settings (⌘,) > Device Sync > Enable device sync (requires macOS 14 or later). On iPhone and iPad, tap your account picture, then iCloud Sync > Device sync.

Accounts are merged across devices, so an account added offline on one device is not lost. If a sync round would remove more than one account from a device, FOLD asks before deleting. Turning device sync off stops syncing on this device; data already in iCloud stays there.

A new device receives the account configuration but not the password. Enter it once, or use password sync.

Password sync: iCloud Keychain

What syncs: the IMAP and SMTP passwords of the accounts you select, and nothing else.

What never syncs: OAuth tokens (sign in once per device instead), Fortress passphrases and keys, OpenPGP keys, S/MIME identities.

Where it goes: your iCloud Keychain, which Apple encrypts end to end. iCloud Keychain must be turned on.

Turn it on, in two steps:

  1. Switch on Sync account passwords. On the Mac it is under Settings > Device Sync; on iPhone and iPad under iCloud Sync. FOLD explains what will happen and asks you to confirm with Enable.
  2. Switch on each account whose password should be shared. Accounts you add later on this device are included automatically and can be switched off individually.

Turning it off stops further distribution and removes FOLD’s copies from iCloud Keychain. Passwords that already reached another device stay valid there. To revoke a password for good, change it at your mail provider.

What stays on the device is described under Data on your device.