Three ways to share, three kinds of trust

One Share sheet, three trust models

NT² groups outbound handoffs under Share, but the trust relationship behind each mode is not the same.

Choosing the wrong mode does not always fail loudly. Sometimes it fails quietly — a permanent email attachment, a co-founder without a stable vault identity, a landlord who received a full PDF when four digits would do.

The useful question is not "which button is newest?" It is what kind of trust does this moment need?

Mode 1 — Vault-to-vault through a secure contact

Best for: people you share with repeatedly — co-founder, partner, sibling, long-running contractor.

Trust relationship: ongoing, mutual, identity-bound.

How it works in plain terms:

1. Establish a secure contact through invite and reciprocal exchange.
2. Share one structured item to that contact.
3. Recipient reviews in Inbox and Accept into vault or declines.

Why it fits recurring trust:

• The recipient is a vault identity you recognize, not a one-off link visitor.
• Signatures tie packages to the sender's Vault Key DID.
• Accepted items become structured records on both sides — re-findable six months later.

Read Send production keys to my co-founder and Split rent without screenshotting banking apps for sender stories. Read Secure contacts are trust relationships for how the contact layer works.

Mode 2 — Encrypted link with a separate share passphrase

Best for: someone who may never install NT² — accountant, lawyer, landlord for a one-time package, short contractor engagement.

Trust relationship: one-shot, bounded by passphrase and expiry.

How it works in plain terms:

1. Share one item as an encrypted link.
2. Send the URL through one channel.
3. Send the share passphrase through a different channel — call, in person, another chat.
4. Set expiry so the link does not outlive the moment.

Why it fits one-time trust:

• You are not asking them to join your trust graph permanently.
• The share passphrase is not your master password — narrower blast radius if something leaks.
• Expiry matches professional disclosure that should not live in someone's inbox forever.

Read One-time disclosure for your lawyer or accountant and An encrypted link is not an email attachment.

Mode 3 — Present or timed reveal

Best for: in-person or video verification — mortgage proof, employer check, friend looking at your screen across the table.

Trust relationship: situational, spatial, often non-reciprocal.

How it works in plain terms:

1. Open the item on your device.
2. Show only the fields the moment needs — masked routing number, partial account digits, timed window on a call.
3. Nothing uploads to the verifier's server as a file they keep.

Why it fits in-person trust:

• Trust is "you may see this on my screen now," not "you may have a copy forever."
• Social boundary: Look at my screen, not my vault.
• Remote analogue: Timed reveal on a video call.

Compare at a glance

None of these removes judgment. All of them replace a worse default — chat paste, email attachment, camera roll photo — with a boundary that matches the relationship.

Receive still sits on every inbound path

Even when you choose the right outbound mode, the recipient side often flows through Receive:

• Inbox for vault-to-vault asset share requests.
• Receive hub / link open flows for encrypted links.
• No persistent receive for pure Present — by design.

Receiving is where trust gets exercised, not just declared. See Something arrived in my Inbox and The Receive hub is not a downloads folder.

Pick the mode, then pick the person

The series order matters:

1. Identity, assets, trust, and sharing — the map.
2. Secure contacts — recurring relationships.
3. One-way invite, mutual trust — completing two-way contact trust.
4. Verified trust is cryptographic, not a button — proof states.
5. This post — matching Share mode to trust shape.
6. When trust should end — block and expiry when relationships change.

Browse scenarios at nt2.me/help/use-cases, or follow the RSS feed.