Won't the messages app keep a copy?

It will, until you delete them there. Whether you do is up to you — the local sealed folder is the copy that endures on your terms.

Is it strange to seal love letters?

It is exactly the right register for them.

Answers/The life queries

Storing love letters, old and new, somewhere no algorithm reads them

Emails you meant, drafts you never sent, exports of message threads that mattered — they are the kind of writing that reads differently five years later, and reads worst of all as training data. Keeping them local and encrypted is a small courtesy to the person you were when you wrote them and to the person you'll be when you next open them.

Gathering the archive

Export message threads (both iOS and Android have paths). Save relevant emails as .eml or PDF. Put physical letters through a scanner. Put everything in one folder, sorted by year.

Sealing it

One sealed bundle at the top. Unseal when you want to reread; re-seal when you're done. Elba is one HTML file, AES-256-GCM, no account, no network — nothing about this folder ever leaves the browser tab.

Questions people actually ask

Won't the messages app keep a copy?: It will, until you delete them there. Whether you do is up to you — the local sealed folder is the copy that endures on your terms.
Is it strange to seal love letters?: It is exactly the right register for them.

Take the island

Elba is one HTML file. It runs locally in a Chromium browser, seals a folder with AES-256-GCM, never phones home, and becomes open source on 1 January 2030.

€49MMXXVI· now ·
€39MMXXVII2027
€29MMXXVIII2028
€19MMXXIX2029
FreeMMXXX2030

the price falls each year · free to all 1 jan 2030

Take the island — €49

pay once · no account · nothing leaves