Get text or a file off a computer you don't trust
A hotel business centre, a library terminal, a borrowed PC — open a room in the browser, move what you need to your own device, and destroy the room. No account, nothing installed, nothing left behind.
Sometimes the computer in front of you isn't yours and isn't trustworthy — a public terminal at a hotel or library, a shared machine at a conference, a friend's PC. You need to get something off it (a boarding pass you just printed-to-PDF, a document, a paragraph) and onto your own phone or laptop, without logging into your email or cloud accounts on a machine that might be logging keystrokes.
A browser room is well suited to this. You don't sign into anything — you open a site, create a room, and add the file or text. On your own device, you join with the six-digit code and pull it across. Then you destroy the room, and because nothing was installed and no account was used, you've left no credentials behind on the untrusted machine.
How to do it in three steps
- 1
Open a room
Go to pastehere.app in any browser and create a room. You'll get a six-digit code — no sign-up, nothing to install.
- 2
Pair the second device
Open the same site on the other device and type the six-digit code (or scan the QR) to join. The devices agree on a key directly, so the server never sees it.
- 3
Copy on one, paste on the other
Add text, a link, an image or a file on either device and it appears on the other within a second. Destroy the room when you're done.
Everything is encrypted in your browser with AES-256 before it leaves the device. Devices agree on the room key through a PAKE exchange over the 6-digit code, so the key never reaches the server — it only ever stores ciphertext.
Why no account is the safety feature
On a machine you don't trust, the riskiest thing is signing in — your email or cloud password could be captured. pastehere asks for no login at all, so there's nothing to steal. The room is identified only by its six-digit code, which you carry to your own device, and the contents are end-to-end encrypted with AES-256 so the untrusted PC's network can't read them either.
Destroy the room and leave no trace
When you're done, destroy the room — it removes the encrypted data everywhere, including the server. Close the browser tab on the public machine and there's no account session left logged in, no app installed, and no readable copy of your data anywhere. For extra care, use a private/incognito window on the untrusted PC so the page isn't left in history.
One honest caveat: a compromised public computer could in principle capture anything shown on its own screen while you're using it. pastehere protects the transfer and avoids any login, but it can't protect you from a machine that's actively watching its own display — so for the most sensitive material, prefer a device you control.
Questions
How do I get a file off a public or hotel computer safely?
Open a pastehere room in the browser on the public PC (no login), add the file, then join the room from your own phone or laptop with the 6-digit code and download it. Destroy the room and close the tab when you're done.
Why is not needing an account safer here?
On an untrusted machine, signing in risks your password being captured. pastehere needs no login at all, so there's nothing to steal — the room is reached only by its 6-digit code, and the contents are end-to-end encrypted.
Does anything stay on the public computer afterwards?
Nothing is installed and no account is used, so once you destroy the room and close the tab there's no session or app left behind. Use a private/incognito window to keep the page out of history, and prefer your own device for the most sensitive data.