How to Recover from Lost Encryption Key

[Carol Moncrief]

For some reason my encryption key that is required on my Mac, is not what I thought it was. I am unable to access my DB at all.

I read that I can restore from the backup file. How do I do that without knowing the encryption key, or is there a way for me to reset the encryption key?

Thanks!

[Carol Moncrief]

I should have mentioned that my Mac is running OS 10.10.5. Thanks!

[Brendan]

Hi Carol,

You can find out your encryption key by launching the Keychain Access application on your Mac. Click in the search field at the top-right of the Keychain Access application, then type in “Tap Forms” (no quotes). When you see the entry for Tap Forms, double-click on it and then click on the “Show password” checkbox. Keychain Access will then ask you for your computer’s login account password. After you enter that in, you’ll see the encryption key you previously set in Tap Forms.

Thanks!

Brendan

[Carol Moncrief]

Thank you. That did display the PASSWORD, but what I need is the ENCRYPTION KEY. How do I find or change that? When I start up TapForms on my Mac, it has always asked for the encryption key. Until recently I was entering a long password-like combination of numbers and letters. I’ve forgotten what it is. Now I cannot access TapForms database at all. What do you suggest?

Thanks!

[Brendan]

The password is the same as the encryption key.

[Carol Moncrief]

No, my password does not give me access to the Mac database, which is the only place I make changes. I only use the iPhone to accesses info in the database. I remember using a really long encryption key and I remember how it started but I’ve forgotten the whole thing.

I was able to view my password in the keychain but that is not what I used as an encryption key to access the database. What should I do?

Thanks!

[Brendan]

Hi Carol,

But that password in Keychain Access, the one that says that it’s an “application password”, is the encryption key that Tap Forms is requesting when it launches. There isn’t a separate password from the encryption key.

Is it just certain forms you can’t access or the entire thing? Did you encrypt the entire database or just specific fields within a form?

Thanks,

Brendan

[Carol Moncrief]

I can’t access the entire thing. I always used a completely different code to access “the entire thing” that was separate from the password. I don’t know how I set it up with an encryption code that is different from the password.

So, is there a way I can reinstall and then use the backup database? If so, how do I do that? Thanks!

[Brendan]

If you have a backup, you can just access the Backup command directly from the File menu. It should be accessible even if it’s asking you for an encryption key.

Ya, I’m not sure how you have a password that’s different from the encryption key. On the Mac version I never wrote code to have a different password from the encryption key.

On iOS there’s a separate passcode from the encryption key, but not on the Mac version. Or maybe you were already talking about the iOS version and I misunderstood?

Thanks,

Brendan

[Carol Moncrief]

Yes, I am talking about needing an encryption key on the Mac, never needed one for my iPhone.

I cannot run the software at all without the encryption code. So when you say I can access the Backup command from File, I think you are assuming I can start the Tap Form software. I cannot. Should I re-install?

[Brendan]

Hi Carol,

You mean that Tap Forms doesn’t even come up when you launch it?

If it at least asks you for an encryption key, the File menu should still be enabled with the Restore option available there. Do you not see that? You don’t need to enter in your key in order to access the Restore command.

Thanks,

Brendan

[Carol Moncrief]

You’re right. I did access the Restore command and it did seem to restore the database. But I am not able to get beyond the request for the encryption key. I’ve attached a screenshot of what I see. I can click the icons along the top but the screen never changes beyond this.

Attachments:

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[Brendan]

It’s possible that your backup file’s database was also encrypted.

And the key in the Keychain Access application doesn’t work for you?

Attached is what you’re looking for in Keychain Access.

Attachments:

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[Carol Moncrief]

I’ve already verified the Keychain Access and verified the password. I have a record of the same password it displayed but when I launch the app, it isn’t looking for the password. It’s wanting the encryption key which has always been different from the password.

I use to have the encryption key stored in a file that I modified, which removed the encryption key. I called Apple tonight to try to recover an old copy of that file with no luck. I definitely successfully used Tap Forms by providing the key over the past months, not the password.

I have done everything you suggested and nothing is getting me inside the app. Don’t you think I need to re-install the app or something to get pass this encryption key problem? What should I do? I need to add files for a client soon. Thanks!

[Carol Moncrief]

Just tried closing Tap Forms and got a new message. It’s performing a backup since it apparently restored the database successfully. But the attached screenshot shows the message displayed just before it did the backup and shutdown.

I have never needed to use an encryption key with my iPhone.

Attachments:

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[Brendan]

Hi Carol,

No, re-installing the app will not make a difference because Tap Forms is trying to open the database file, determining that it can’t access it, assuming it’s encrypted and then asking you for the encryption key.

It’s exactly the value that’s stored in the “masterKey” entry from my screenshot above. The thing in Keychain Access is the encryption key. I’m very sorry for this confusion.

There’s no separate password for Tap Forms than what the encryption key is from the Keychain Access application.

I definitely successfully used Tap Forms by providing the key over the past months, not the password.

Have you tried entering in the value (lets not call it ‘password’ or ‘encryption key’ just to avoid confusion) that you find in Keychain Access for Tap Forms?

You get the value by clicking on that checkbox there in the screenshot above next to “Show password”.

Thanks,

Brendan

[Carol Moncrief]

Something else new: The iPhone app keeps disappearing from my iPhone 6. I’ve installed it twice now, thinking that maybe updates to the IOS cause it to be removed, which shouldn’t happen, right?

After re-installing Tap Forms on the phone, I see the Tap Forms app has an update. Every time I click UPDATE, it doesn’t indicate that I can open the app when the update completes. Instead, the UPDATE button doesn’t go away; still reads UPDATE even after I clicked for the update to be installed, twice now. This isn’t even trying to sync with the Mac. I made sure iTunes finished syncing the iPhone before I clicked UPDATE, and the app doesn’t update with Tap Forms open or closed; tried both.

I removed it and re-installed on the phone. the UPDATE still doesn’t seem to happen.

In your last message you said:
Have you tried entering in the value (lets not call it ‘password’ or ‘encryption key’ just to avoid confusion) that you find in Keychain Access for Tap Forms?

You get the value by clicking on that checkbox there in the screenshot above next to “Show password”.

Yes, I’ve done this and I’ve entered what was provided in the keychain with no luck. A message displays INVALID KEY.

[Brendan]

One other thing to try… Do you have Time Machine?

If so, you can maybe restore the database file to a backup from further back than the file you tried to restore to. Perhaps there’s something wrong with the backup file.

Tap Forms stores the database file (which is called TapForms_db.sqlite) in the following folder:

~/Library/Containers/com.tapforms.mac/Data/Documents

Copy the above path to your clipboard, then click on the Finder, then click on the Go menu and select “Go to Folder…”. Paste the above path into the field there and then press the Go button.

You should see the TapForms_db.sqlite file there which you could then restore from Time Machine and then try again. Make sure Tap Forms is not running while you restore that file.

Thanks,

Brendan

[Carol Moncrief]

Yes, I have Time Machine and I did exactly as you stated above. As usual, I’m requested to insert an encryption key, which it has required since the beginning. I inserted the info from the keychain and a message displays INVALID KEY.

[Carol Moncrief]

Since I have always provided an encryption key that is not what is shown in the keychain, I’m thinking that all of my files are going to require this “key” that I no longer remember. It took me a lot of time to get this database corrected, removing over 2500 duplicate records. So I don’t want to go too far back.

I did notice that after the restore, the cloud sync was made available to me. I didn’t allow it to sync. But I don’t think any copy of my database is going to be accessible without the key/password that I entered earlier. Is there any way to bypass it?

[Brendan]

Hi Carol,

Well, I hate to say it, but it wouldn’t be a very good encryption technology if there was an easy way to bypass it. Without the correct key, you can’t open the door :(

Did you maybe store the key inside 1Password or any other app like that? You mentioned you had it stored in a file somewhere. Can you use Time Machine to restore that file?

[Carol Moncrief]

That’s why I called Apple to see if I can recover the file where the encryption key was store from Time Machine. We were not able to do it. I’m to talk to them tomorrow to a higher level support person to see why I cannot recover from Time Machine.

[Carol Moncrief]

Good Morning, Brendan!

I haven’t spoken to Apple yet to see if I can recover the encryption key. But I do have a fairly recent backup in CSV format of the database. It doesn’t include the attachments, but I found out from the client she’s less interested in the attachments since the most significant info is in the backup spreadsheet.

So, what if I were to start over. Delete the app on my Mac and install a brand new copy of the application. I don’t know how I managed to set an encryption key but I’d like to set up a new database using the CSV file. Is this possible? Thanks!

[Brendan]

Hi Carol,

Reinstalling won’t let you start fresh, but renaming the exiting database will.

Navigate to this folder (as I described earlier):

~/Library/Containers/com.tapforms.mac/Data/Documents/

Then rename the TapForms_db.sqlite file to something like TapForms_db_backup.sqlite

Then launch Tap Forms.

You’ll get a fresh copy of the sample database. Then if you ever remember your encryption key you could rename that file back to TapForms_db.sqlite (but renaming the fresh one to something else to avoid a conflict in file names) and then launch Tap Forms again.

Thanks,

Brendan

[Carol Moncrief]

OK, as I mentioned above, I DID find the encryption key via Apple, about an hour ago. I am inside the database making changes. I’ve been able to Cloud Sync and export the database to Excel.

So if I shut down Tap Forms I can rename the .sqlite file. But will that remove the need for the encryption key in the future? (I don’t know what I did that an encryption key is even needed.)

I am still unable to update the Tap Forms on my iPhone 6. I click UPDATE in the App Store and it looks like it’s processing but then returns to the UPDATE button. Normally, when the update completes, the App store displays OPEN.

To complicate things, I cannot sync the iPhone with the Mac. The Mac is the only place where I make changes. So I initiate the sync from the Mac and then wait for the phone to start syncing on its own. But it consistently fails the sync. While it tries to sync the iPhone screen flashes a number of times and then displays a warning message repeatedly that the sync failed and that I need to make sure I have the current version of Tap Forms.

But since the UPDATE doesn’t work, I can’t get the current version of Tap Forms on my phone. Caught in a bit of a loop here. What do you suggest about updating the phone and removing the encryption code?

Thanks!

[Brendan]

Hi Carol,

Oh that’s great news! Sorry I didn’t see above that you said you found the key. I’m glad you found out the correct key. That’s the problem with encryption of course. If you lose the key, you’re hooped. But hey, it’s all in the name of security.

You don’t have to do all that renaming stuff. What you can do is click on Preferences, then Security, then click on the Decrypt Database button.

You will be asked to enter the current key and then the database file will be decrypted. You won’t have to enter the key in the next time you launch the app. Maybe that’s best for you for now.

However, the key is still needed to facilitate syncing.

If you’re getting a sync failed error, it’s possible that the key is not the same on your iPhone as it is on the Mac. You’ll need to set the key to the same value on your iPhone that you have on your Mac. Then you need to press Reset Sync on each device, then re-enable sync on each device. But do that after a few minutes of waiting after you’ve pressed the Reset Sync buttons.

As for not being able to update the app, try rebooting your iPhone and/or logging off the App Store and log back on again.

Thanks,

Brendan

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