Pilot draft — do not distribute as installation instructions yet. The alpha has no supported phone package. Its unlocked local app is restricted to the same laptop or desktop; see
docs/mobile.md. Use this page only to review future workflow copy with synthetic data until an on-device build passes the phone release gates.
A draft guide to documenting a housing problem — mold, no heat, pests, water, electrical, or something broken — so you have a strong record. In the intended on-device build, your photos stay on your phone, locked with your passphrase. No account. No company can read them.
Please know: this tool is still being tested (it's called alpha). It is great for practice, but do not rely on it for a real legal matter yet. It gives you good documentation — it is not legal advice. Ask your tenant lawyer or legal-aid group what to do with it.
When a reviewed on-device build exists, your organizer will provide its authenticated install instructions. Do not connect a phone to a laptop-hosted Habitable server over shared Wi-Fi.
The intended installation experience is:
- Android (Chrome): tap the ⋮ menu → Add to Home screen.
- iPhone (Safari): tap Share → Add to Home Screen.
It gets its own icon, like any app. You don't make an account. You do pick a passphrase — choose a strong one and write it down somewhere safe (see step 4).
- Start a new issue. Pick what it is (mold, heat, pests…) and the room.
- Take a photo, or add one you already have.
- Add a short note and the date things happened (a repair you asked for, the landlord's reply or silence).
The moment you take the photo, your phone locks it as-is and gives it a fingerprint — right away, even with no internet. That's what later proves it wasn't changed. Take pictures each time the problem comes back; it builds your timeline.
You can't break this by tapping around. Explore freely.
- Awaiting timestamp — your photo is sealed and fingerprinted, but its independent time proof is incomplete. When you next have Wi-Fi or signal, resolve the queued timestamp.
- Timestamped — a token shows the exact content existed no later than the token's time; it does not prove the exact capture time.
- Chain intact / verified — the recorded item/custody data passes its technical checks. This does not prove who captured it or what it depicts.
- Packet — a review file for you and your organizer, lawyer, court, or inspector. Its technical integrity is checkable, but no forum is guaranteed to accept it. Shared copies have location removed by default.
- Write down your passphrase by hand and keep it somewhere safe — not stuck to the phone.
- Ask your organizer to help you make a recovery backup. It's a separate safety copy with its own password. A trusted organizer can hold it for you.
- A second person's phone (your organizer's) can keep a synced copy, so a lost or broken phone doesn't lose your case.
If you forget your passphrase, and there's no recovery backup, and no other phone has your case — your evidence is gone. For good. No one can get it back — not even the people who made this.
That's on purpose: it's the same reason a landlord, a hacker, or a court order can't get your photos either. So please, today: write down your passphrase and make a backup.
Your photos never go to a company. Sharing is always your choice, and it strips your home's location. Questions? Ask your organizer.