Lock and security
Your password, the auto-lock, and what Horus protects.
The lock
- You choose a password during setup (at least 4 characters). Horus asks for it when you open the app.
- If Horus has been in the background for 15 minutes, it locks again. Your sessions keep running while it's locked.
- Too many wrong tries and Horus makes you wait before trying again, up to 15 minutes. The same limit applies when a computer tries to pair with the horus CLI, so the lock can't be guessed around.
- Horus doesn't keep your password. It keeps a scrambled check value (a salted PBKDF2-HMAC-SHA256 verifier) that can confirm a password but can't be turned back into one. That's also why a forgotten password can't be recovered.
What Horus protects, and what it doesn't
Here's an honest summary, so you know where the edges are.
| How it works | |
|---|---|
| Other apps on your phone | Can't see Horus's files. Android's app sandbox keeps each app's private storage to itself. This is the real security boundary. |
| Your AI accounts | You sign in inside each agent. Horus never sees or stores those logins. |
| The Linux system | Downloaded from Alpine and checked against a fixed fingerprint. The PRoot files that run it are built from source, and Horus refuses to start them if they've changed. |
| Logs | Horus's diagnostic log records when things start and stop, never what you type or what the terminal prints. |
| Agents from each other | Only loosely. Each agent runs as its own Linux user, but PRoot only imitates separate users. There's no real wall between them. |
| You from the code you run | Not at all. Anything you or an agent runs can read and change your projects and home folder. |
Remote access
Remote access (using the phone from a computer) is off until you pair a computer. When it's on:
- The SSH server listens only inside the phone (
127.0.0.1), never on Wi-Fi. Your computer reaches it through the USB cable. - Only computers you've paired can log in, using a key. Passwords and logging in as root are refused.
- A Remote access is on notification shows while it runs. Its Turn off button stops it.
- SETTINGS → Remote access lists paired computers. REVOKE removes one.
One caveat: other apps on the phone can reach ports inside the phone. That's why the key, not the port, is what keeps others out. Learn about the CLI.