File Management with Secure and Private Solid Pod Storage
FilePod is a file browser for browsing, uploading, and downloading files stored on your personal online data store (Pod), providing a familiar file-management experience for the decentralised web. Your Pod sits in a personal Data Vault on a Solid server in the cloud, where everything is stored encrypted and stays within the Pod. No data leaves the Pod unless you explicitly download it, so you stay in control. The app is supported by the Software Innovation Institute and implemented by Tony Chen and Graham Williams using Flutter's SolidUI package for cross platform development.
Solid Pods are a new approach to handling your personal data on the World Wide Web and is the latest innovation from the inventor of the WWW, Sir Tim Berners-Lee. Obtain a Pod for yourself on any Solid server and link it to your app.
We make this project available for free so if you appreciate the app then please show some ❤️ and tap on the star at GitHub to support our work. See the AU Solid Community showcase for many more apps using the Solid ecosystem.
The latest version of the app can be run online at filepod.solidcommunity.au with no installation required though requiring a Solid login, or downloaded and installed for your platform from the Solid Community AU repository:
- Web solidcommunity;
- Android aab or apk;
- GNU/Linux deb or snap or zip;
- macOS dmg or zip;
- Windows inno or zip.
Installation details are available for all platforms.
Contributions are welcome. Visit github to submit an issue or, even better, fork the repository yourself, update the code, and submit a Pull Request. The app is implemented in Flutter using solidui. Thanks.
FilePod gives you a familiar file-manager experience for your Solid Pod. You can browse folders, upload files from your local device, download files back, and view the entire contents of your Pod from the root — all without leaving your Pod's secure, encrypted storage. The app is multi-platform so you can install it for your desktop or mobile device, or run it directly through a web browser, all accessing the same files in your Pod.
FilePod also serves as a reference template for any SolidUI-based
Flutter app — wrapping the SolidUI SolidFile() widget with a
typical SolidScaffold setup that you can adapt for your own project.
The typical workflow is:
- Sign in to your Solid Pod using the SolidLogin screen on first launch.
- Browse to App Files to see files specific to FilePod, or to All POD Files to see your entire Pod from the root.
- Upload a file from your local device by tapping the upload action in the file browser.
- Download a file by tapping it (or its download action) to save a copy back to your local device.
A left-hand navigation rail (or collapsible drawer on narrow screens) gives you:
Welcome page with a quick feature overview and pointers to the file browser views. Tap the home icon at any time to return here.
Browse files in the FilePod-specific folder on your Pod. Useful when other Solid apps share the same Pod and you want a focused view of just FilePod's files.
Browse every folder and file on your Pod, starting at the root. Gives a complete overview of everything stored in your Pod — including files created by other Solid apps.
The file browser supports the actions you'd expect from a desktop file manager:
- Tap a folder — open it and see its contents.
- Tap a file — preview, download, or open it (depending on the file type).
- Upload — pick a file from your local device and copy it into the current folder.
- Download — save a file from your Pod back to your local device.
- Breadcrumb path — navigate back up the folder hierarchy at any point.
The navigation automatically adapts to window size: a vertical navigation rail on wide screens and a collapsible drawer on narrow ones.
Use the standard Solid permission flow to share files or folders with another Pod owner. The recipient adds your WebID to their app and gains read or read/write access, depending on the permission you grant.
The invite action in the app bar offers a quick way to invite another user to start using their own Pod and access shared resources from yours.
Some files on your Pod are encrypted for privacy. FilePod manages the security key needed to read and write encrypted data through the standard SolidPod flow. The status bar at the bottom of the window shows your current security-key state — if a key is required, tap the indicator to enter your password and the app will unlock the relevant files automatically.
A theme toggle in the app bar lets you switch between light, dark, and system modes. The choice is remembered across sessions.
Tap the info (ℹ) button in the top app bar at any time to see a brief about-the-app dialog with the version number, key features, and links to the GitHub repository and the Australian Solid Community.
All files live in your Solid Pod, in the standard folder structure maintained by the Pod server. You authenticate to your Pod when you start the app, and any encrypted files are handled through the SolidPod security-key flow shown in the status bar.
If you log into a fresh Pod, FilePod doesn't create any specific files of its own — it simply browses whatever folders and files already exist on the Pod. Nothing about your files ever leaves your Pod unless you explicitly download a file to your local device.
The browser shows "loading…" forever after login. The status bar at the bottom of the window shows your security-key state. If the key is missing, tap it and provide your password — encrypted file listings appear automatically once the key is saved.
Uploaded files don't appear immediately. Pull down (or refresh) the folder view to fetch the latest listing from your Pod. Some Solid servers cache directory listings briefly.
Files I expected to be shared aren't visible. The other Pod owner needs to have granted your WebID access to that resource. Check All POD Files to confirm what's actually on your Pod, and ask the owner to verify the permissions.
- Graham Williams
- Tony Chen
For more information about Solid and PODs, visit solidproject.org.
GNU General Public License v3. See LICENSE or
https://opensource.org/license/gpl-3-0.
Copyright (C) 2026, Software Innovation Institute, ANU.