Encryption and Nearby Sync

[OkieG8r]

Hello all,

I currently have both the latest Mac and iOS versions of Tapforms installed. I have 4 Database Documents on the Mac with 2 of them synced to the iPhone vis the ‘Nearby’ option (I am cloud adverse). I’d like to create a third shared Database Document (also to be ‘Nearby’ synced) for secure information, so I’d like to have it encrypted in both locations. I don’t want to creat any problems for my existing DB’s before starting, so I thought I’d ask questions up front. Any and all assistance with any/all questions will be greatly appreciated. All questions relate to syncing using the Nearby function. Thanks.

1) Can an individual Database Document be encrypted and synced using the Nearby option (so the others are not)? If yes, how might I go about doing that?
2) Is it possible to encrypt a form within a database document without having all the forms in the database document encrypted? If yes, how might I go about doing that?
3) Will the encryption work for both the OS and iOS versions?
4) Is it possible to encrypt just a field within a record? If so, how?
5) Do you have to close the app on the iOS in order to ‘reside’ the encrypted information or will it ‘relock’ whenever you switch apps?

[Brendan]

1. Yes. Encryption in Tap Forms 5 is done at the document level. You can even have different passwords for different documents.

2. No. Encryption is done at the database document level.

3. Yes. The encryption & decryption of the document works for both macOS and iOS.

4. No. I used to have something like that in the older versions of Tap Forms, but there were too many troubles with it and I took it out. I favoured creating separate encrypted documents instead. You can keep all your private stuff in some documents and all your non-private stuff in other documents.

5. It depends on what settings you’ve specified for the Auto-Lock setting on the Security Settings screen. If you set it to Immediately (the default), then yes, Tap Forms will ask you for the password if you switch to another app and back.

Also note, that a document can be encrypted on one device but not encrypted on another device and they’ll still sync. Encryption and decryption is done when writing to and reading from the database. You can even have different passwords on the same document on different devices and they’ll still sync. The data transmitted over your WiFi network is also encrypted, regardless of whether or not you’ve encrypted your document.

Hope that answers your questions ok.

Thanks,

Brendan

[OkieG8r]

Thanks, Brendan for this thorough and almost immediate response. You tech support is phenomenal. This is very helpful and the feature will work perfectly for my needs.

One problem, though. I just returned from out of town where I experienced difficulty using my LTE data. Long story short, I had to upgrade from iOS 10.x to iOS 11.1.2. This resulted in a change in the name of my iPhone. Naturally, the OS Tapforms app did not recognize the iPhone until I changed the name back to the original name. However, now when I try to sync, I get the following message: “Error syncing with johndoes-se.local., reason: An SSL error has occurred and a secure connection to the server cannot be made.”
Also, when I try to add the send the new (encrypted) document to the iPhone (“Select a nearby device to send the selected database document to:”), the iPhone fails to appear in the window. Both the OS and iOS device are on the same network.

Any idea how to help me re-establish the nearby sync and add the new encrypted database document?

Thanks again!

[Brendan]

This can happen if you have High Sierra, but don’t have the 5.2.3 update for macOS.

But if that’s not your situation, try removing the devices from the Nearby sync screen, then re-add them. On iOS, to remove, just swipe to the left to delete them.

[OkieG8r]

Thanks, Brendan. Turns out I did not have 5.2.3 installed on the macOS (using 10.12.6). I installed it and was able to sync existing DBs and send the new encrypted DB to the iPhone. Back in business. Thanks again for this excellent app and support.

[Brendan]

Awesome! Glad to hear that.

[Author]

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