If you already use LocalInbox on your Mac, you don't have to sign in again on your iPhone or iPad. On the Mac, Settings › Accounts › Set Up iPhone… shows a QR code. On the iPhone, Add Account › From your Mac scans it. Check that both show the same four digits, allow it with Touch ID or your password, and your accounts arrive with their passwords, over your Wi-Fi, encrypted, never through the internet. LocalInbox for iPhone and iPad is on the App Store.
LocalInbox 1.5 or later on the Mac, with both devices on the same Wi-Fi.
Three steps
- On the Mac: Settings › Accounts › Set Up iPhone… shows the code.
- On the iPhone or iPad: Add Account › From your Mac, and point it at the code.
- Check that both show the same four digits, tick the accounts to send, and allow it on the Mac with Touch ID or your password.
What comes over
- Each account you tick, with its name, address, colour, server settings and password. Passwords go into the device's Keychain.
- The mail doesn't: your iPhone downloads it from your mail servers. Rules and signatures aren't sent either.
- Proton Mail accounts stay on the Mac, because Proton Mail Bridge runs on a computer.
Why it's private
- The code holds no password: only a one-time key for this pairing, good for 2 minutes.
- The four digits come from that pairing's secret, so someone else who saw the code would get other digits.
- Everything is encrypted with a key the two devices agree for this pairing alone (X25519, ChaCha20-Poly1305).
- It goes over your local network: never the internet, never cellular, and there's no LocalInbox server.
- Nothing leaves your Mac until you allow it there. Anything else that connects is dropped, having been sent nothing.
Your licence, the same way
Settings › Licence › Show on iPhone… shows your licence key as a QR code, and Scan from your Mac, under Have a licence key? on the iPhone or iPad, reads it, so there's no key to type. The camera runs only while the scanner is open, and the device uses one of the key's 3 places.
Questions
Is my password in the QR code?
No. The code holds only a one-time key for this pairing, good for 2 minutes. Passwords are read from your Mac's Keychain after you allow it, and go encrypted to that one iPhone.
Do both devices need to be on the same Wi-Fi?
Yes. The accounts go directly between them on your local network, never through the internet or over cellular.
What if the code runs out?
Choose Show a New Code. Each code works for 2 minutes and for one iPhone.
Does it keep the two devices in sync afterwards?
It's a one-time copy of your accounts. After that, each device syncs with your mail server on its own, so mail, read and flagged state, folders and drafts stay in step through the server. Settings don't sync between devices yet.