Know the moment your safedrop is opened

I may be the only person still alive who actually remembers read receipts from these super early days of email 😉 Back then, you could actually tell if someone had read your message, it’s so long ago, I can’t even really remember how it worked! But when you’re sending time-sensitive stuff, you need to know it was received. So we brought read receipts back. 

Done properly, with zero-knowledge security, and built into the audit trail. This is one of the simplest, but most useful things we’ve ever added to safedrop.

– Angus Bradley, Founder

When you send sensitive files, you shouldn’t have to wonder whether they arrived. Did the recipient open them? Did they download what they needed? And if they haven’t looked yet – shouldn’t you know before the message expires?

Next week we’re launching read receipts for safedrop 2026.

Proof of delivery, without the chasing

Turn on read receipts when you compose a message and safedrop will email you the moment a recipient interacts with it. Not just a simple “opened” notification – you’ll get a full activity summary: who viewed, what they downloaded, and when.

Something like: “Bob viewed your message at 3:00 p.m. and downloaded File, File B, and File C.”

One email per recipient. No spam, no duplicates. Just the confirmation you need to close the loop.

These sit nicely alongside the digitally signed audit trail we provide when a safedrop expires, which provides full details including recipients’ IP addresses and filenames with SHA checksums (file fingerprints, that prove the exact file that was downloaded).

Built for bulk sends too

Sending to a larger group? safedrop handles that differently – and sensibly. Instead of flooding your inbox with individual receipts, you’ll get a single notification when the first recipient opens your message. Enough to know it’s landed, without the noise.

The reminder you didn’t know you needed

This is the part people love most. If you’ve sent a time-limited message and a recipient still hasn’t opened it, safedrop will warn you roughly 24 hours before it expires. One email, listing everyone who hasn’t viewed it yet.

No more files expiring unread. No more awkward follow-up calls asking “did you get that?” You’ll know in advance and can nudge the right people.

Always on by default, always your choice

Read receipts default to on for new users because we think most people want them. After that, safedrop remembers your preference. Turn them off and they stay off. Turn them back on and they stay on. Your choice, no fuss.

Every receipt is part of the audit trail

Every notification safedrop sends is recorded in the full audit trail – the same cryptographic proof-of-delivery record that makes safedrop trusted in regulated industries. Read receipts don’t just give you peace of mind. They give you evidence.

Read receipts are available now for all safedrop users. Just look for the checkbox on the compose screen.

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