Set Encryption Key not working on Mac 3.0

[Brendan]

Late last night I discovered a bug which prevents you from clicking on the Set Encryption Key button on Tap Forms for Mac. I have already fixed it in development, but in order to be able to set your encryption key to make iCloud sync work, you’ll need to use Keychain Access to add your key.

Here are the steps:

1. Launch Keychain Access
2. Click on Passwords on the left side.
3. Click on the + button to add a new Password.
4. Enter “Tap Forms” for the name (no quotes)
5. Enter “masterKey” for the account (no quotes)
6. Type the same password you used on your iOS devices.
7. Click the Add button when you’re done.
8. Re-launch Tap Forms Mac.
9. Click on “Always Allow” when prompted.

See attached screenshot for an example.

Thanks,

Brendan

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[John Healy]

Thanks for your post, because I ran into that problem this morning after upgrading to Tap Forms 3.0 on my Mac. So, Tap Forms Mac would not sync … so in trying to fix, I deleted the Keychain password and then the Set Encryption Key entry failed to work. So, I followed the instructions in your post; but despite Resetting iCloud Sync multiple times on all devices, Tap Forms Mac still fails to show the other devices (only shows the Mac) in the Registered Devices list (while on my iPhone and iPad they do show both, but not the Mac).

[Brendan]

Hi John,

And now here’s another post which you may find useful to help you with that problem:

Set Encryption Key not working on Mac 3.0

Thanks,

Brendan

[Raymond Carruthers]

I have followed all of these instructions and have set the encryption key via the Keychain on my Mac Pro. When I launch Tap Forms I still get error messages and can’t sync – it seems like it does not recognise the encryption code when set via Keychain access. I have Tap Forms running ok on my MacBook Pro but trying to sync with the desktop just buggers everything up and causes both systems to hang or quit unexpectedly. Any thoughts? Both machines run OS X 10.10, with Tap Forms v3.0 (561)

[Brendan]

Hi Raymond,

Are you sure you typed the values in exactly as the screenshot?

A common mistake is to type “masterkey” instead of “masterKey”. Note the capital K.

You’ll have to Reset iCloud Sync after you enter the correct values.

Thanks,

Brendan

[Raymond Carruthers]

Thanks Brendan – my fault with masterKey, now fixed and syncing across all platforms. Cheers!

[Brendan]

Hi Raymond,

That’s great to hear.

Thanks!

Brendan

[Dorothe Duschanek]

Hi Brendan,
instead of email – now here in the blog… I did what you suggested here and in the first sight it looks like it works. BUT – when I open Tab Forms and enter my password I only get the reply that it’s invalid. I rechecked all: the setting and spelling in the Keychain Access, the password on the iOS and I even tried to copy&paste from the Keychain Access. Ich even tried to change the password to a very simple number. Nothing works – still invalid.
Maybe de- and reinstallation works??? Or is there an other option? The update 3.0.1. isn’t available yet, is it?

Dorothe

[Brendan]

Hi Dorothe,

No, the update to 3.0.1 isn’t available yet. I’m sending it to Apple this weekend for review. Most likely I’ll send it tomorrow.

The problem you may be seeing is that the encryption key you’ve entered doesn’t match the encryption key that you had previously used for the database? Unfortunately if the encryption key is not the same one used by the database you won’t be able to access your data.

Do you have a backup from before this issue occurred?

Thanks,

Brendan

[John Geffel]

Hi Brandon,

I’m sure you’re getting tired of dealing with all these sync issues! Anyway, you directed me to the above fix at the top of this thread because I couldn’t change my Encryption Key in the app. So, I went out to the Keychain but didn’t find any key set up. So I did it exactly as you indicated above, but the app on my Mac is still not recognizing the key that I set in the keychain and the function to change the key in the app is still not accepting a new key. AND, I’m still getting invalid key when I try to use it.

Also, weirdly, I was able to initially sync to my iPad, but know after doing all this it won’t sync even after reset – so the keys apparanently don’t match now, even though I made sure the one on the iPad was the same as the keychain value.

I’m reinstalling the iPad app, but until I get the Mac version using the correct key I’m afraid using the encryption functionality is out of the picture.

Any more ideas? Wait for the latest version that is coming?

Thanks!

[Brendan]

Hi John,

The workaround that I directed you to was not a fix to make the “Set Encryption Key” button work. Nothing you do will make that happen. You’ll have to wait for 3.0.1 to be reviewed and approved. I just submitted it to Apple a few minutes ago.

What the Keychain Access workaround does is sets the encryption key for Tap Forms. So instead of setting it in Tap Forms, it’s set in the Keychain Access app.

My apologies for saying this, but most likely there was a typo in keychain password that you added for Tap Forms. In most cases where this was entered incorrectly, customers had typed “masterkey” instead of “masterKey”. Note the capital K. Or “TapForms” instead of “Tap Forms”. Note the space between the words.

If you’re sure you set it up correctly, I would be interested in seeing a screenshot to see if I can pick out anything wrong.

When the encryption key is set in the Keychain, Tap Forms will display “Change Encryption Key” instead of “Set Encryption Key”. So you will know when you’ve done it right by looking at the Security Settings screen in Tap Forms and looking at the button. If it says “Change Encryption Key”, there’s nothing more you need to do (other than maybe Reset iCloud Sync if you’re still getting Sync Failed messages).

Thanks,

Brendan

[Dorothe Duschanek]

Hi Brendan,

well, I’ve tried it so many times and I’m absolutely sure that I didn’t have a typo in the password because I rechecked it so many times. But reading what John is saying – I guess it’s getting to the same point or problem… After doing the Keychain Access I did see the change in the Security Settings where it then says “Change Encryption Key” but still it didn’t do anything else. Even trying to change it I couldn’t click it “ok”.
Now I took the encryption out of the file on my iPhone and tried to sync that with the Mac but the Mac sync is always getting stuck in the process.
So hopefully the update is released soon to fix that and in the meantime I guess I just can use the iPhone for that specific file (just as well I didn’t encrypt the whole app!!!)

Dorothe

[Brendan]

I’ve sent the update to Apple for review yesterday. They already reviewed and approved the iOS version. They usually take a week to review and approve Mac apps though. So it’ll be a little longer of a wait, unless they surprise me and review it early. Hope so.

Thanks,

Brendan

[Dorothe Duschanek]

:-) Well, a week isn’t that bad…

Thanks!

[Jon Blackman]

One thing that I do not understand about this thread is that I do not want my data to be encrypted. Specifically, I do not want to enter my encryption key in order to access my data. It seems odd to me that this issue was noted October 24th and my sync was working perfectly up until yesterday. I can’t say for sure, but I updated my mac and iPhone 2 weeks ago, and I think all apps have been current since then. So, if we do not want auto lock and do not want the data encrypted, and still want the the data to sync, what are the appropriate steps? There does not seem to be a way to remove the Encryption Key on the iPhone. Thanks.

[Jon Blackman]

Problem solved. Set Encryption Code on iPhone. Do not click red button to Encrypt Tap Forms on iPhone (unless you want to set security). Go back to Tap Forms Mac. Follow directions above. Click reset iCloud Sync button Tap Forms Mac. Re-enable iCloud Sync on iPhone. Wait for Registered Devices on Mac. Tap upload to iCloud button on Mac. Wait for sync on iPhone. Tap Upload to iCloud button on iPhone. Wait for sync on Mac. Worked like a charm. (Still not sure why encryption code is needed in first place, but must be required for some reason.)

[Brendan]

Hi Jon,

Encryption of the database is not required, but setting the key is.

The reason is to secure the sync files Tap Forms generates every time you tap on the upload to iCloud button. The sync files get uploaded to Apple’s servers in an encrypted form this way.

Thanks,

Brendan

[Dorothe Duschanek]

Hi Brendan,
I’m really frustrated because even after the update it is not working.
* On the iOS I changed the file back so that it isn’t encrypted any longer.
* I updated the OSX and tried to get into it: still it tells me that I’m using an invalid password.
* I did the thing on the keychain again and I reset the iCloud sync – no change.

Could it be that it’s not working because I have the older version on the iPhone (iOs 7.1.2)? I didn’t use a different password…

Could it work if I delete that file on the iMac and sync it back from the iPhone without encryption (the other files are okay – didn’t have a field encrypted there)? Or should I maybe delete the whole program from the iMac and reinstall and resync?

I really hope there is a solution to it!

Thanks!
Dorothe

[Brendan]

Hi Dorothe,

You won’t be able to sync between Yosemite and iOS 7. So that may be one issue.

But with version 3.0.1 you should be able to click the Set Encryption Key button now. Are you saying that the Set Encryption Key button doesn’t work still in 3.0.1?

You shouldn’t have to do the Keychain Access thing with version 3.0.1 for the Set Encryption Key button to work anymore.

Thanks,

Brendan

[Dorothe Duschanek]

Hi Brendan,
it’s Maveriks and iOS 7 (updated the Tab Forms on the OS X -10.9.5).If I try to open the file which I encrypted before, it always tells me that I have the wrong code/password/key… but I use precisely the one I used on the iPhone. There I took the encryption away again hoping that it would make a difference if I try to sync it so that it would work without a key. Sync doesn’t work on either device…

Delete file???

Dorothe

[Brendan]

Hi Dorothe,

Do you see any devices listed in the list of Registered Devices? You should see both your devices there. Try rebooting all your devices to see if that helps.

As for the encryption key setting, does the button say “Set Encryption Key” or “Change Encryption Key” on the Mac version of Tap Forms?

If you have no encryption key set on the Mac version, then you won’t be able to open any locked forms until you set the encryption key.

Thanks,

Brendan

[Dorothe Duschanek]

Hi Brendan,

rebooted both. On the iMac it shows both devices on the iPhone only the iPhone. Now I don’t get the error message about syncing any longer but it’s not really syncing either.

The key issue is still the same. If I go on the settings it says “Set Encryption Key”
The lock is show just on that one file – the others are okay.

… Now after waiting a while I see the iMac on the iPhone as well but now syncing failed again on the iPhone with error message.

…reset iCloud again. No error message but no successful sync either Even though it shows me the time of my last “sync”. I guess it is the encryption now that hinders the syncing?

…after a while it’s showing me a progress in syncing but the the error message again by a dozen – at least

no idea…

Dorothe

[Dorothe Duschanek]

… I did set the encryption key now – but it still tells me that it is the wrong one…

Dorothe

[Dorothe Duschanek]

… deleted the file now from the iMac. Now when I open Tab Forms it tells me sync failed. When I try again it freezes with the Sync window…

I fear that reinstalling the whole program wouldn’t change that either…

Dorothe

[Dorothe Duschanek]

Hi Brendan!
Hope you had a nice Thanksgiving…

I – in the meanwhile – tried a few more things. To get a functioning file from TimeMachine doesn’t work either. But I did hesitate to delete the whole program and to re-install because I fear that I would also lose the other files which I didn’t try to encrypt.

I’m still hoping that there is a solution to this because otherwise the whole deal of buying TabForms was in vain if I can’t sync my different devices any longer. It did work in the first place with the 3.0 version on the iMac until I tried the encryption! After that I’m not getting anywhere…

Would you mind to think about one more solution?

Thanks a lot,

Dorothe

[Brendan]

Hi Dorothe,

I’m not sure why Tap Forms would tell you that the encryption key was wrong when you clicked the “Set Encryption Key” button. It should let you put in a brand new key of your making since it wasn’t set before. Once you do that, you must click on Reset iCloud Sync to clear all the sync files from iCloud. Then re-enable iCloud sync on each device, waiting for each other device to see the one you just enabled. Once you have them all enabled, then and only then, click on the upload to iCloud button on ONE device only. Wait for the other devices to auto-sync. That’s really all there is to it.

Thanks,

Brendan

[Dorothe Duschanek]

Sorry, doesn’t work! Did it precisely the way you said.
Encryption is not an issue any longer after I deleted the file where I had the encryption. But syncing still isn’t working. Uploaded only from the iPhone but I get the error message on the iMac. Can’t retrieve file from TimeMachine either.

Big ?

Have a good weekend!

Dorothe

[Dorothe Duschanek]

Hi Brendan,
I guess by now I’m annoying… but sorry to say: the sync is still not working. I installed the new update on the iMac. Did all the other things you suggested above. I now exported the missing file to email and send it to my iMac and imported it. After that I tried the sync from the other end (uploading the iMac instead of the iPhone) because I had made changes on the other files…
What can I say? It’s still not working!

Tried to find a solution in the other blogs because now it’s not the encryption any longer that seems to cause the problem. Can’t figure it out. It did work in the beginning.

Should I re-install???

Would be nice if we could find a solution!

Thanks, Dorothe

[Brendan]

Hi Dorothe,

If you lived in Calgary I could come over and get it working for you :-)

Have you tried the Delete Documents & Data technique at all? There’s a forum post about that in the yellow sticky posts at the top of the forum.

Thanks,

Brendan

[Dorothe Duschanek]

Hi Brendan,

I wish you could – Sweden is just around the corner – isn’t it???

I tried all that I found on the other blog except “Reset Network Settings” from the Settings app under General > Reset. Does that reset all my other settings like all Wlan passwords ect. as well? Didn’t have the courage to do so. On the iCloud settings on the iPhone (iOS 7.1.2) I just have the option to “delete account” – don’t want to do that. I did log out of iCloud on the iMac. Hoping every time that it would work. Same error message all the time…

Dorothe

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