Most key manager applications seem very trustworthy and some offer a great user interface and features that attract users, but in reality, we rarely know what’s happening behind the scenes. These applications often provide cloud access, making it convenient for users to access their secret keys or passwords across devices. However, this comes with risks since the infrastructure and encryption keys are beyond user’s control.

This is a common issue with many key management applications today. While data may be encrypted, there’s a higher chance for a security breach, hacking, insider threats, or a data leak, because the provider is the only one who have access to the encryption keys.

To mitigate these risks, it’s essential for users to have full control over their data, including the encryption process and key management. So I aimed to develop an application that let the user encrypt their own keys to put myself and others at ease.

The project aims to develop a key manager mobile application to give users and also me an ease of mind by letting them have full control over their encryption keys.

These are the primary objectives:

• User-controlled Encryption Keys

  User-controlled encryption keys allow users to manage and control the keys used to encrypt their data. This means that only the user has access to the encryption key ensuring privacy and control over sensitive information.

• Cloud Access

  Cloud access refers to the ability to store, retrieve, and manage data on online servers, rather than on local devices. This enables users to access their secret keys or passwords from any device, as long as they have an internet connection and are authenticated with their account.

• Password Generator

  The password generator creates strong, secure passwords based on word phrases, making it easier for users to remember them while maintaining high security. Integrating a password generator into a key manager app allows users to both generate and securely store their passwords in one place.

This project began in the first quarter of 2023, starting with the design and development of the frontend, followed by the database structure and backend. Developing the UI first allowed me to better visualize how the data would be structured, providing a clearer picture of how the APIs and authentication would be implemented.

For the frontend, I used the expo-router framework, which offers a file-based routing system similar to Next.js, but for mobile applications. This is my first time using it, and I’ve found it much easier to manage screens compared to manually setting up navigations with React Navigation, although expo-router still uses React Navigation under the hood.

I also set up the backend using NestJS, which allows the mobile app to communicate with the cloud database. I chose NestJS because it’s a framework I frequently use at work. Using it for this project not only helped me build the backend for my app, but also gave me the opportunity to deepen my understanding of the framework and improve my skills with it.

I researched the best encryption method and found that AES (Advanced Encryption Standard) is one of the most secure and widely used encryption algorithms. AES provides strong protection for sensitive data, making it an ideal choice for securing secret keys, passwords, and other confidential information