Themis
A high-level cryptographic library providing secure data storage, messaging, and session encryption with unified APIs across 14+ platforms.
What is Themis?
Themis is an open-source high-level cryptographic services library that provides secure data storage, messaging, and session encryption for applications. It solves common data protection use cases like encrypting stored secrets, securing sensitive database fields, and enabling end-to-end encrypted communication. The library offers ready-made cryptosystems that simplify complex cryptographic operations, making it accessible to developers without deep cryptography expertise.
Developers building multi-platform applications (mobile, web, desktop, server) that require robust data encryption, secure messaging, or compliance with regulations like GDPR, HIPAA, or CCPA. It's ideal for teams needing a consistent cryptographic API across iOS, Android, React Native, Java, Python, Go, and other supported platforms.
Developers choose Themis because it provides a unified, high-level API across 14+ platforms, eliminating the need to implement cryptography from scratch. It offers strong security built by cryptographers, simplifies complex operations with ready-made cryptosystems, and helps achieve compliance with data privacy regulations through state-of-the-art encryption.
Overview
Easy to use cryptographic framework for data protection: secure messaging with forward secrecy and secure data storage. Has unified APIs across 14 platforms.
Use Cases
Best For
- Encrypting API keys, session tokens, and files in mobile or backend applications
- Implementing application-side field-level encryption for sensitive database fields
- Building end-to-end encrypted chat or messaging features with forward secrecy
- Securing real-time data sessions between IoT devices and backend servers
- Developing multi-platform apps that require consistent cryptography across iOS, Android, and web
- Achieving compliance with GDPR, HIPAA, or CCPA through strong data encryption
Not Ideal For
- Projects requiring custom cryptographic algorithms or low-level access to encryption primitives
- Environments where FIPS 140-2 validation is mandatory for all components, as support is limited
- Legacy Windows systems without modern build tools, due to experimental MSYS2 support
Pros & Cons
Pros
Offers identical cryptographic APIs across 14+ platforms like iOS, Android, and WebAssembly, simplifying development for cross-platform apps as highlighted in the README.
Provides high-level cryptosystems like Secure Cell and Secure Message that abstract away complex details, reducing implementation time and errors for common use cases.
Built and regularly audited by cryptographers with automated testing, ensuring reliability for compliance with regulations like GDPR and HIPAA, as noted in the security docs.
Cons
The high-level APIs restrict access to underlying cryptographic parameters, making it unsuitable for advanced customizations or novel algorithms beyond the 90% of use cases it targets.
Windows support is labeled as experimental via MSYS2 in the README, which can lead to integration difficulties and instability in production environments compared to more mature platforms.
Frequently Asked Questions
Related Projects
jadxDex to Java decompiler
OpenSSLGeneral purpose TLS and crypto library
ApktoolA tool for reverse engineering Android apk files
ageA simple, modern and secure encryption tool (and Go library) with small explicit keys, no config options, and UNIX-style composability.
Found a gem we're missing?
Open-Awesome is built by the community, for the community. Submit a project, suggest an awesome list, or help improve the catalog on GitHub.