Encryption? 2 Macs and scaling?

[tonyt]

Hi Brendan
Am I right in thinking that the encryption password set on one machine does not get sent to the cloud and hence is not required to open the file on the other machine? This means – I think – that the data is not encrypted while in the cloud!!! I really would like as much security as possible when using the cloud.
Also, I have some layouts lovingly created on an iMac 21″ – these are synced to an AirBook 11″. Unfortunately the lovingly created layouts do not fit the screen.
Am I missing something, or is this just the price to pay for using two different size screens?
Cheers
tony

[Brendan]

Hi Tony,

The sync files that Tap Forms generates before uploading to iCloud are encrypted, but just with a different random + algorithmically modified keys than your main encryption key. So the data is encrypted, but Tap Forms knows how to deal with it. There’s no key stored within the app.

As for the screen size issue, well that’s just how it is with 2 different screen sizes I guess. I have only one MacBook Pro that I do all my development on, so don’t have that issue. But you could use the “Design for Print” option to create your layouts. That way you’ll know that they fit on both screens. Although the 11″ MacBook Air is quite tiny, Tap Forms will adjust the page size when used in Screen mode to fit all the content. You’ll just have to scroll it on the smaller screen.

Thanks!

Brendan

[ArsAstronautica]

A couple questions:

From the looks of the TF data files on the Mac, they are saved there as encrypted files. If that’s the case, then aren’t TF documents always encrypted?

From the way TF behaved when I first synched my iPhone/iPad/Mac, it seems to me that password for the encrypted fields is not used so much to encrypt, but to prevent viewing any encrypted fields without a password. Is this correct?

If the above is correct, could one in fact use different passwords for different devices? (No, I am not planning to do this, just curious. )

[Brendan]

Hi Ars,

Yes, you could use different encryption keys on different devices if you like. No, Tap Forms documents aren’t always encrypted. You could use a program such as SQLite Manager to open up the database file and peek inside. It’s just a regular SQLite file until you encrypt it using the “Encrypt Database” button. Then you won’t be able to open it without the key. Well, you could open it with some plain text editor, but all the data will just be garbage.

If you’re referring to encrypted fields, then that’s a bit different. Tap Forms will encrypt the data in that specific field using your key, but it will convert the encrypted data into plain text so it can be stored in a text string in the database. The rest of the values in the database are not encrypted. If you were to look at an encrypted field’s data using SQLite Manager, you would just see a bunch of random looking characters. You would need the key in order to make sense of it.

Please keep in mind though that photos, file attachments, and anything that lives outside the TapForms_db.sqlite file is not encrypted.

Thanks,

Brendan

[Author]

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