The hardware is yours to source
An ESP32-S3 (~€5) with native USB, flash ≥ 8 MB and a way to reach the serial port — two USB-C ports, or a UART header plus a USB-serial adapter — becomes a Crypt-in dongle with our firmware. You can buy it anywhere: we don't care where. The Kit options below exist for convenience only: same chip, same firmware, same security guarantee.
Whatever you choose: we never see your seed. The keys are generated at first boot, in your hands, not ours.
DIY
€30/year
- Hardware sourced by you (~€5)
- Firmware — the -dev build during the beta, not signed
Kit Standard
€55 one-time + €30/year
- €40 + €15 shipping
- ESP32-S3 + case
- 2× USB-C cables + seed card
- Includes 6 months of encryption licence
After 6 months: €30/year to continue encrypting new files.Decryption of existing files never expires.
Kit Pro
€75 one-time + €30/year
- €60 + €15 shipping
- Everything in Kit Standard, six months of licence included
- 5V/1A powerbank
- BLE proximity lock — coming Q1 2028
Kit Pro hardware includes BLE. The proximity lock feature ships Q1 2028 via firmware update — no hardware change required. Buying a Kit Pro before then gets you the radio, not the feature.
| Feature | DIY | Kit Standard | Kit Pro |
|---|---|---|---|
| Hardware | sourced by you (~€5) | included | included |
| Pre-flashed firmware | not included | included | included |
| Seed card | not included | included | included |
| USB-C cables | not included | included | included |
| Powerbank 5V/1A | not included | not included | included |
| BLE proximity lock | not included | not included | included |
| Mobile support | not included | not included | included |
| 6 months licence included | not included | included | included |
| Price | €30/year | €55 then €30/year | €75 then €30/year |
Case renders. Both kits use the same case; the board variant determines how many USB-C ports are exposed. Kit Pro differs by powerbank and BLE, not by enclosure.
Hardware kits ship from public launch (April 2027). During the developer beta — 29 September 2026 — you source your own ESP32-S3 board: see the beta page for hardware requirements. Nothing is on sale yet: these are the confirmed prices, not an order page.
What €30/year pays for
- Licence server: activation, annual renewal, and transfer to a replacement dongle (at most three per year)
- Firmware updates and security patches
- Access to firmware binaries — signed on production dongles, the unsigned
-devbuild during the beta - Support via info@lake8.dev
How firmware updates arrive. As binaries — signed on production dongles, unsigned in the -dev beta build. An OTA (over-the-air) update mechanism is planned before the public launch; during the developer beta, updating means a manual flash over USB.
After activation the dongle works offline for everyday use. The €30/year keeps you on the supported firmware track. If you stop paying, the app stops encrypting new files the next time it checks the licence online. The dongle has no clock, so expiry is not enforced offline: a machine that never goes online keeps encrypting. Decryption never depends on the licence — files you have encrypted stay readable forever.
Note: anti-rollback protection is not yet implemented. It ships before the public launch (April 2027) together with the OTA update mechanism. During the beta, downgrading to a previous signedfirmware is technically possible, and on the beta -dev track unsigned firmware runs as well, because Secure Boot v2 is not active on beta hardware. It is on production dongles. See thefirmware update security model.