Hi Brendan,
many thanks for your prompt answer!
I downloaded your trial version and it imported bento files flawlessly.
Great!
I am still a little reluctant about the mobile versions and also a little confused:
– Are there different iOS versions for iPhone and iPad and do i have to pay for both versions?
– Is the “nearby sync” in both directions?
– I guess Tap Forms Lite is not compatible with the version 5? Why don’t you offer a TF 5 Lite version for testing?
– What is the difference ore advantage of buying the bundle vs. the single app?
Greetings
Peter
I’m exploring using Cloudant, after having issues with both iCloud and Nearby sync but it appears that things have recently changed (see attachment).
I’ve setup a free Bluemix account and then provided a Credit Card in order to add Storage to my account…now my account upgrade is “under review” and I am waiting for an email to be told that my upgrade has gone through at which time I assume that I can create a storage space.
My question is: will this new “Bluemix” paradigm work seamlessly with TF? or is the Cloudant sync no longer viable for new users?
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It was fun trying and it made me look at all of the data in a new light, but your first thought was correct. 391k files with 55 fields each was just too much to let search do its thing. I had to convert to .xlsx and then to csv to get the fields correct. Once loaded my TF library file ballooned to 1.5Gb. I eliminated half of the fields but converted one to a location field and it went to 5Gb. Yes, I backed up first and now have restored. Search had a very hard time but the “first letter” option worked flawlessly.
Bottom line, TF CAN load all of that info but what it can do after that is limited. I’m going to use the Filemaker file as the search engine and TF as the note/followup app. Once the fields are in place it will be a snap to add more records.
Fun morning on a hot day. Thank you for a great product that keeps getting better.
Yes and no. Yes they’re encrypted when stored at rest on Apple’s servers. But no because it’s not Tap Forms that encrypted the data on Apple’s servers.
When you sync an encrypted document, Tap Forms decrypts the data as it’s reading it in order to send it to iCloud. Then it’s re-encrypted while being sent over the Internet using an SSL connection. Then it’s re-encrypted by Apple as it’s saved to the disk on their servers.
I don’t know what kind of encryption they’re using. But if you’re concerned about it, please see this document about iCloud security and privacy:
https://support.apple.com/en-ca/HT202303
It would be no different than you storing any of your data in iCloud at that point.
Thanks,
Brendan
Brendon — Not sure about a power failure. Possibly. I was in the Caribbean in an area experiencing intermittent router and/or service provider interruptions. Home now.
I did as you suggested Brendon–deleted the data base and then transferred from my iphone to my macbook. worked seamlessly! Lovely when seamless happens to a well-well-over-30ish person!
I used the directions found here:
https://www.tapforms.com/help-mac/5/en/topic/sharing-with-another-device?q=transfer+from+iphone+to+macbook
Hello;
I have tap forms 5 installed on both my macbook pro and my phone 6. I had been successfully using both and syncing was happening effortlessly by way of the IBM Cloudant method. And then…
A day or 2 ago all my data disappeared from my macbook pro …
So I sent my file from my iphone to my macbook pro. Everything great. Except that the file name on my macbook has the label “copy 1” behind it. How do I change the file name to delete the “copy 1” part?
Dear Brendan,
thanks for your swift reply. Today at home i did the same with my Imac (yesterday was with a portable), and it worked seemlessly. So then i used the file from the portable, no success. What i did then was delete the file on the portable, make a new archive, transfer it, and then it worked. So i must have done something strange yesterday, blame me.
With looking in this thing, i discovered also that it is also easy to share the file via wifi, that’s even easier then transfer the archive.
Thanks anyway for your follow up.
Dirk
Brendan, I really want you to make a great success of Tap Forms and have been a loyal supporter. So, in that context, I’m pretty surprised that we weren’t warned that by upgrading Mac and iOS versions and by using the new cloud sync system, our data is no longer encrypted. My data is now sitting unencrypted on a third party server in the cloud.
It seems like the synchronization in Tap Forms has always been it’s weak link. Other small developer applications like Things, Mind Node, Celtx, Scrivener seem to work flawlessly. Perhaps I’m underestimating quite how difficult it is. Is it not possible to find a robust and secure solution for cloud sync?
Hello again Brendan,
I’m still getting the error message “Synchronization has failed
Error sending to Cloudant server: A server with the specified hostname could not be found.” that I thought was issued by Cloudant but I am told by their support team that it is most likely generated by the Tap Forms app and is not by the cloudant server.
I use a very basic password for my Cloudant account (hoping to make it more secure soon) and have deleted/re-synched my six DBs recently hoping it would fix the problem (didn’t).
Your near-sync works flawlessly but I really would like to get the Cloud sync working.
Thanks,
Chris
It seems to be some sort of SSL security error:
https://www.osstatus.com/search/results?platform=all&framework=all&search=-9810
Is the error on the Mac or on the iPhone?
If on the Mac, you can launch the Keychain Access application, then search for “tf-peer-sync” and then delete all the entries you see there. Then launch Tap Forms again and it should re-create those items again. Perhaps that’ll fix it.
Hi Brendan, I am having a similar issue with photos.
Using Tapforms v5.0.2 (531) IOS on iPad Air Pro running IOS v9.3.5.
I am using cloudant sync (which btw works seamlessly compared to iCloud). I am also using encryption on the db.
My issue is trying to add a photo to any photos field using the + button in the record field. It brings up the photo library just fine and you can select a photo fine but when the select button is pressed, the photo is not added to the field.
Well done on V5 – good step forward in stability and function.
Regards
Bruce (from Aus).
P.S. Yes, I am still a one-man shop working tirelessly on improving Tap Forms as much as I can.
First… If you’re still just one guy doing all this… kudos. For a one man shop, this app is impressive.
Now for my whining… The video definitely helped a lot and I was able to get it synced. If you don’t know where to find this video though, the whole process is in no way self-explanatory. (and therefore a poor user experience, especially when your average user doesn’t look past the app itself)
Now the issue is that even though I changed the file name on the Mac OS version of the db, the name has not changed on iOS. Bug? And I can’t find a way to edit the name on iOS at all. Other changes I have made to the db data itself have synced flawlessly.
Also… there isn’t a way to universally save your Cloudant account info inside Tap Forms? Please please please allow sign in for Cloudant at the app level instead of file level if at all possible. It is fairly annoying to have to enter the password and set up sync again every time I create a new file. And then I have to remember to turn on sync inside the iOS app after it has transferred over, and enter the password again there when I would expect it just to automatically be enabled; but I suppose not being able to store the credentials outside of a file means this can’t happen.
This new UI is lending itself to create multiple databases rather than having lots of categories in the same database like I had before… so I am creating several new files right now and it makes me grumble a little since I am using randomly generated password, which means I have to look the thing up every time I need to enter it. Plus, typing those sorts of passwords in iOS is pretty annoying all by itself with all the flipping between cases and keyboards.
On a whole though, this new version does seem shinier (more polished) and better than the last version. Especially on iOS. The new sync seems promising compared to the old, but only time will tell. I guess I will have to suck it up and upgrade… but getting the discounted upgrade also seems like jumping through hoops without much in-app guidance. I will have to go back to the FAQ and re-read the steps. I am trying to not be your average whiny end user that is unhappy about the current state of an app, especially a new version of an app… I will put on my Agile hat and wait to see what happens as you iterate on this. It is still an amazing app, despite my complaints.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RayfjtzpQ7k (louis ck bit on amazing things that people complain about)
Tony, no need to shout :)
Tap Forms transmits the data using SSL, which is an encrypted communication channel. The data however, as was observed in a response above from Cloudant appears to not be encrypted on the actual Cloudant server. I don’t honestly know why this is the case since it’s not beyond their technology to encrypt the database.
It’s not a MongoDB database by the way, it’s a CouchDB database. Yes, all the documents are stored in JSON format.
With Nearby sync, the data is encrypted during transit also using an SSL connection and then of course since you can individually encrypt the local database, then your data will be most secured that way.
I’ll contact Cloudant to see if there’s any reason why they’re not encrypting their data at rest. As I mentioned before, I got 2 conflicting responses from them.
Remember you can also have multiple database documents in Tap Forms 5. Some that sync over Nearby and some that sync via Cloudant.
You can also easily move your private data to a new document by using the Export and Import Tap Forms Archive commands.
What is sent in clear text and what is not (through SSL, but that is only for the transfer)? Ie, if the form names and field names are sent in cleartext, but the record data is sent encrypted (after all, the database is encrypted locally) then that should be fine. The real issue (for me) if the record data was not sent in encrypted format. (I must admit it would be difficult for me to see why that would be the case.)
I tried to have a look at the Cloudant dashboard where one can “look” into the databases but, well…, it is really not clear what one has to look at. It is using, afaik, MongoDB, i.e., the database is a bunch of JSON objects. I looked at some top level records, most of the values were clearly encoded/encrypted data, although I did find the names of my forms within the database in clear text form. But I could not find a way to reveal any real record data.
It would really be important to find information about the exact state of encryption on the Cloudant server. Again, if the records themselves are there in clear text, even if behind the Cloudant firewall, that is way too dangerous. If this is indeed the case, it is reason for me not to use TP at all and get my money back. (I could never get the nearby sync working, although the Cloudant sync works like charm). But if the records themselves are sent to IBM encrypted, then I do not see any danger.
