Status Update – March 2025

Welcome back to another Filen Status Update! We’ve been working tirelessly behind the scenes on multiple fronts to enhance your Filen experience—ranging from exciting new features, like the highly anticipated Global Search, to essential improvements, and a completely redesigned community Discord.

In this update, we’ll dive deep into what's new, what's changing, and what you can expect in the coming weeks. As always, your feedback continues to shape our priorities, and we’re excited to share how your input has directly influenced our development roadmap.

Let’s get started!

📖 Table of Contents

• Filen Discord - A Major Overhaul
• Details about the new beta testing program
• Global Search
• RClone
• Golang SDK
• Mobile App Update
• Tutorials & Docs
• Newsletter
• Feature request: Support for empty files
• Minor security changes
• A Final Word

🛠️ Filen Community Discord: A Major Overhaul is Coming!

The Filen Community Discord has long been a place for users to discuss, share, and connect over our zero-knowledge cloud storage. However, we recognize that our server has been in need of a refresh for quite some time. That’s why we’re excited to announce a complete rework of the Filen Discord server—both in visuals and functionality!

What’s Changing?

Starting next week, we will be rolling out a series of improvements to enhance your experience on our Discord server. Here’s a glimpse of what’s coming:

• A proper welcome system – New users will be greeted with a welcome message and clear server rules to ensure a friendly and structured community.
• New announcement structure – We will introduce a dedicated cross-post channel for blog updates, separate from the standard announcement channel, making it easier to stay up to date.
• More server roles – Roles will provide better organization and customization for our members.
• Voice channels – Hang out with other users, discuss Filen, and engage in real-time conversations.
• Visual overhaul – Expect a more polished and engaging server layout that’s both aesthetically pleasing and easy to navigate.
• Categories and structure – Right now, the server lacks categories. We’ll be introducing clear sections for better organization.
• More information channels – Dedicated channels will provide users with all the essential details about Filen, our services, and community activities.
• New Beta Test Program channels – Exclusive, private channels for beta testers, segmented by platform and tool. More on that in the next part...
• And much more! – We’re still exploring additional improvements, such as live chat Q&A sessions, enhanced moderation functions, and useful bots to streamline your experience.

Changes will happen progressively, so expect updates rolling out over time. We appreciate your patience and feedback as we build a better Discord experience together!

🚧 Details about the new beta testing program

In the past, our beta testing program consisted of a single channel and a single role for all testers. While it worked to some extent, we realized we needed a more structured and efficient system. That’s why we had announced a completely revamp of our Beta Test Program to improve testing efficiency and communication.

What’s New?

• Custom roles & dedicated channels – Beta testers will now have separate roles and channels based on what they are testing:
  • Mobile testers (iOS & Android)
  • Web app testers
  • Desktop client testers (Win, Mac & Linux)
  • Expert tools testers (CLI, rclone and more)
• Exclusive access – Only users with the respective roles will see the corresponding beta channels.
• Capacity limit – Each beta category will have a limit of ~50 users to maintain quality and engagement. However, users can be part of multiple test groups if applicable.
• Dynamic participation – All users who applied for the program are on our waiting list. If a tester leaves or is inactive for an extended period, someone from the waiting list will be given the opportunity to join.
• Recognition & rewards – Active testers who contribute significantly will have the chance to earn upgraded roles with additional permissions, as well as free cloud storage to aid in testing.
• Gradual rollout of channels – We will be creating the beta test channels one after the other, starting with the Expert Tools channel since we need it the earliest. This will be followed by Mobile, Desktop Client, and finally Web App testing channels.

Reminder: Completely voluntary – There are no obligations or strings attached. We are incredibly grateful for every bit of help we receive. Of course, we will still conduct our own internal tests before pushing anything into the beta program.

We are excited about these changes and believe they will create a better experience for everyone involved in our community and beta testing program. Stay tuned for updates as we begin rolling out these improvements ~next week!

Thank you for being a part of Filen.

🔎 Global Search – A Breakthrough in Private Search

For years, users have asked for Global Search, but due to our strict end-to-end encryption model, implementing it securely seemed almost impossible. Unlike traditional cloud services, we can’t index your files on our servers because we can’t see your data at all.

However, we’ve finally cracked the code. Here’s how it works:

✅ Smart Chunking & Hashing – Your filenames are broken into small, searchable chunks.
✅ Private & Secure – Each chunk is hashed using HMAC with your private encryption key, ensuring we never see your actual filenames.
✅ Efficient Search – When you enter a search query, your device hashes it the same way, matches it to the stored hashes, and retrieves the correct file – without revealing anything to our servers.

This innovation allows fast and completely private search, all while keeping your data 100% secure. We’re in the final stages of development and can’t wait to roll this out soon!

🔄 RClone Support – Beta Launch Incoming!

One of the most highly requested features is finally here: RClone support! RClone is a powerful command-line tool that allows users to sync, mount, and manage files across multiple cloud storage providers.

We’ve previously used RClone for our network drive solution, though it required a lot of workarounds to function properly. Now, we’re taking it a step further by offering native RClone support as a proper backend, meaning:
✅ You can use Filen just like any other RClone-supported provider.
✅ Maintain full end-to-end encryption (E2EE) while managing files.
✅ Enjoy a seamless, flexible integration with existing RClone workflows.

Our beta release will be rolling out in the coming days, and we want to give a huge shoutout to our newest Filen developer, who completed this implementation in record time! Stay tuned for more details.

🛠️ Golang SDK – A New Tool for Developers

As part of our RClone integration, we also developed a Golang SDK for Filen. While it doesn’t yet offer feature parity with our TypeScript SDK, it provides a solid foundation for developers looking to build their own integrations.

Although our long-term development plans may shift towards Rust in the future, this Golang SDK will still be a valuable tool for anyone who wants to work with Filen in Go-based projects.

📱 Mobile App Update – Progress Behind the Scenes!

We've made substantial progress behind the scenes on our mobile app! Although some users have noticed that we've squeezed in other features like Global Search and RClone in between, thanks to our expanded development team, we've been able to manage multiple projects simultaneously.

The mobile app update will enter closed beta shortly after completing our Discord overhaul and launching the revamped Beta Testing Program. While we don't have a definitive timeline just yet, we assure you it won’t take forever—stay tuned for updates soon!

📚 Tutorials & Docs – A Central Hub for Filen Knowledge

As mentioned in our recent survey recap, improving access to information about our products is a major priority for us. A significant step toward this goal is expanding our Filen Docs and Tutorials.

Our Docs are evolving into a centralized resource hub covering everything from the CLI, API, SDK, and now our desktop client as well. Soon, a single visit to Filen Docs should answer any questions regarding features, setup, and usage. Additionally, we plan to complement our documentation with use-case-oriented YouTube tutorials. The Docs will remain primarily technical, while our upcoming videos will cater more toward a general audience.

📬 Newsletter & Improved Communication Structure

As previously announced in our survey recap, the official Filen newsletter will be launching very soon. You may have noticed occasional newsletter sign-up prompts appearing on our blog—these are part of ongoing preparations. The newsletter infrastructure is nearly complete, and we’re excited to roll it out shortly.

This effort aligns with our broader goal of improving communication across all our platforms. As mentioned in the Discord update earlier, we’ve already begun restructuring communications there, and we recently ran a Reddit survey regarding the frequency and scope of cross-posting updates. Ultimately, our goal is to deliver Filen news and updates efficiently and clearly, reaching as many of our users as possible.

✨ Feature Requests: Support for Empty (0-byte) Files

We’re happy to announce another frequently requested feature: Filen Drive will soon support empty files (0-byte files)!

Late last year, we introduced our feature request page, now easily accessible via the navigation bar of our blog. Many of you are already familiar with it—and we deeply appreciate your active participation. Support for empty files was among the most requested improvements, and we're thrilled to deliver it in our upcoming update.

With the implementation of Global Search and empty file support, we’ve successfully addressed two of the most requested community features—thanks again for helping us improve Filen!

🔒 Minor security changes – Even More Secure & Robust!

In parallel to our visible feature development, significant improvements have been happening in the backend, making Filen more secure and robust than ever.

Here’s what's new under the hood:

• Upgraded Authentication: We’ve switched from PBKDF2 to Argon2id for key derivation, significantly strengthening security against potential brute-force attacks.
• Enhanced Filename Hashing: Filen now uses HMAC hashing for filenames, adding an extra layer of security and ensuring complete confidentiality of your data.

These improvements reaffirm our unwavering commitment to maintaining absolute privacy and security with our client-side, zero-knowledge encryption model.

A Final Word – What’s Next?

We're incredibly excited about the rapid progress we're making across multiple fronts, from the Discord community overhaul and structured Beta Testing Program, to innovative developments like Global Search, RClone integration, and important backend security enhancements.

Here's a quick overview of our roadmap moving forward:

• Starting soon:
  • Launch of the first beta testing channel (RClone testing).
  • RClone Beta Testing begins, paving the way for the release of our official rclone support.
• Shortly afterward:
  • Progressive Discord server updates will begin rolling out.
  • Public releases of Global Search and support for empty files.
  • Launch of the newsletter
• Following these initial steps (order still unclear):
  • Release of our official rclone support.
  • Closed beta testing of our updated mobile app.
• Official launch of the revamped mobile app.

Thank you once again for your continued support, valuable feedback, and patience as we build the future of secure, private cloud storage together!

Stay tuned—there’s so much more coming soon!

The Filen Team 🚀