Send a self-destructing message
A note that can be read once, then burns — encrypted in your browser, no app, no account
Short answer: OncePad is a free, no-account service for sharing a password, secret, or file through an end-to-end encrypted link. The link contains no decryption key, works once, and expires after 24 hours. Files may be up to 25 MB.
What a self-destructing message is (and isn't)
A self-destructing, or burn-after-reading, message is one that exists exactly long enough to be read once and is then destroyed at the source, so it cannot be re-opened, forwarded from the server, or found later. It is not a guarantee against the reader — a person who has decrypted a message can always copy it. It is a guarantee that the service holds nothing afterwards, and that a link that leaks later opens nothing.
How burn-after-reading works here
Your message is encrypted in your browser and stored only as ciphertext, in memory. When the recipient presses Decrypt & Reveal, the server hands the ciphertext over and deletes it in one atomic step — the same request cannot succeed twice, even if two people race for it. Their browser decrypts it with the passphrase you gave them separately. Nothing about the message is ever written to disk, and an unopened message is wiped after 24 hours.
Why the link alone opens nothing
Many self-destructing note tools put the decryption key in the link, so anyone who sees the link — a chat's link-preview bot, a mail scanner, someone reading over a shoulder — can read the note. OncePad's link carries no key. Reading it requires the generated 7-word passphrase, which you pass on a second channel. Opening the link only shows a page that asks for the words; previews and scanners cannot burn the message either.
Send one now
- Type or paste the message at oncepad.com — up to about 64 KB of text.
- Send the link anywhere; say or text the passphrase separately.
- They read it once. It's gone.
Good uses
Passwords and Wi-Fi codes, door and safe combinations, account recovery codes, a home address or travel plans you don't want sitting in someone's chat history, a private note to a colleague, a one-off instruction that shouldn't be forwarded. For anything you may need to read again, use encrypted storage instead — this is a hand-off, not a mailbox.