Troubleshooting Dropbox syncing in iOS 5 beta

Smurf
Smurf
Community Member
I added passport information in the wallet category on 1Password for Mac. The corresponding record does not transfer to my iPhone 1Password Pro application. Everything else syncs fine but the passport record. I even tried resetting the database and syncing from scratch to experience the same issue (passport info does not transfer to the iPhone App). Using 1Password Pro on the iphone and 1Password for Mac 3.6.0. Syncing via Dropbox.

Is this a bug or a non implemented feature or am I doing something wrong?

Comments

  • bswins
    edited June 2011
    Hello smurf and welcome to the Forums!

    I was not able to replicate your experience using OS X 10.6.7, 1P for Mac 3.6.0 and 1P Pro 3.5.9 on my iPhone. However, I was able to reproduce your issue on my iPad.

    I powered off/on my iPad and suddenly the new Passport item appeared! Weird, but effective.

    Please try turning off/on your iPhone and let me know if you have the same magical experience. If not, we'll try something else. :)

    Cheers!

    Brandt
  • Smurf
    Smurf
    Community Member
    Nope... Rebooting the phone does not make a difference. Passport record still does not sync. Happy to try anything else?


    bswins wrote:

    Hello smurf and welcome to the Forums!

    I was not able to replicate your experience using OS X 10.6.7, 1P for Mac 3.6.0 and 1P Pro 3.5.9 on my iPhone. However, I was able to reproduce your issue on my iPad.

    I powered off/on my iPad and suddenly the new Passport item appeared! Weird, but effective.

    Please try turning off/on your iPhone and let me know if you have the same magical experience. If not, we'll try something else. :)

    Cheers!

    Brandt
  • khad
    khad
    1Password Alumni
    Is it only that specific item? Please try creating a new Secure Note in 1Password for Mac and see if that (along with its contents) shows up. Then try the same with a new "Passport" Wallet item.

    It also wouldn't hurt to rebuild your data file in 1Password for Mac (Help > Troubleshooting > Rebuild Data File).

    Please let me know how it turns out.

    Thanks!
  • Smurf
    Smurf
    Community Member
    It appears to not be syncing any newly added records. I reset sync setting on the app and let it download all the records again and the new records still do not show up. Will rebuild the data file on the Mac App and report back

    khad wrote:

    Is it only that specific item? Please try creating a new Secure Note in 1Password for Mac and see if that (along with its contents) shows up. Then try the same with a new "Passport" Wallet item.

    It also wouldn't hurt to rebuild your data file in 1Password for Mac (Help > Troubleshooting > Rebuild Data File).

    Please let me know how it turns out.

    Thanks!
  • Smurf
    Smurf
    Community Member
    Rebuilding the database did not help. I think your app may have stopped synchronizing (perhaps, not confirmed) when I upgraded to iOS 5 Beta 1 - Have you had a chance to test it?

    What may disqualify this theory is is that resetting the dropbox sync and downloading the entire database to the iphone again (±900 records) works fine but the several newly added records which makes me believe it is not related to the iOS 5 upgrade.... Can this be an issue with the Mac version (Build 31043)?

    Smurf wrote:

    It appears to not be syncing any newly added records. I reset sync setting on the app and let it download all the records again and the new records still do not show up. Will rebuild the data file on the Mac App and report back
  • khad
    khad
    1Password Alumni
    Thank you for mentioning this important bit of information. Running a beta OS can certainly affect things. ;-)

    That said, I am using iOS 5 exclusively on both my iPhone 4 and iPad 2 and have not had any trouble syncing with Dropbox. No one on the team has had any issues in this regard, and I can't imagine how it would even be possible. But who knows?

    Let's just walk through the troubleshooting steps to get syncing working again now that we know that you are using a beta OS and that the sync issue may not be related to a specific item type.

    1. Rebuild your data file in 1Password for Mac 3.6.0 (Help > Troubleshooting > Rebuild Data File).
    2. If you don't have all your information already stored in 1Password for Mac, back up 1Password on your iPhone.
    3. Completely delete the 1Password app from your iPhone. (This will remove all of the data it contains, so be sure that you have a copy of this data somewhere else.)
    4. Reinstall 1Password from the App Store on your iPhone.
    5. Set up Dropbox syncing.

    Please let me know how it turns out.
  • Smurf
    Smurf
    Community Member
    That did it... Removing the app and reinstalling it again with establishing sync brought it back I normal function. Might be worth keeping in mind when mass iOS upgrades may cause this behavior to others.

    Thanks Much! I am a big fan of your work.
  • khad
    khad
    1Password Alumni
    You are most welcome, Smurf! Thank you for the kind words.

    For automatic syncing via Dropbox, 1Password stores some extremely sensitive information in an iOS keychain. When 1Password fetches your data with Dropbox it needs three things: It needs to login to your Dropbox account, it needs to decrypt the data that it fetches from Dropbox, and it needs to re-encrypt that data to store it in the data format we use on iOS. (All of this encryption and decryption is performed only on your device.) To do this automatically 1Password stores the following (and only the following) in an iOS keychain.

    1. Your Dropbox credentials (email address and Dropbox password)
    2. Your master password for your data as stored on Dropbox
    3. Your master password for 1Password on your iOS device

    If those three things fell into the hands of the bad guys your data would be entirely compromised. We want to make sure that that never happens.

    The data that 1Password stores in an iOS keychain has the most restrictive settings. It is set with both “Only when Unlocked” and “Non-migratable.” The first setting is what protects it against the kind of attack demonstrated by the researchers at Fraunhofer. The disadvantage of using this setting is that syncing won’t start happening immediately when your phone is turned on. We are very happy with the design choice we made in that respect.

    The “Non-migratable” setting prevents attacks against device backups, as it ensures that the information is always encrypted with a unique hardware key built into the device. The disadvantage of using this setting is that if you wish to migrate all of your device settings and data to a different device you will have to re-enter the passwords needed to set up Dropbox syncing. Again, I think you will agree that we made the correct design choice with that, but perhaps that is what happened in your situation. Restoring a backup from one device to another will fail in this manner. Typically resetting Dropbox syncing alone will resolve the issue. My gut says that it could have also been resolved in your situation with a bit more troubleshooting, but if you had all you information stored external to your device anyway, why bother patching the leak when you can just replace the pipe for the same price? :-)

    We'll continue to keep an eye on the issue, but nearly all of the cases I have seen have been related to the security choices we have made which we are not likely to change in the future. We will just need to keep helping people resolve the matter on a case by case basis. It is a small price to pay for the piece of mind that this security brings. ;-)

    If you ever need anything else please let me know.

    Cheers!
  • Smurf
    Smurf
    Community Member
    Thanks much for the detailed information - makes sense.
  • khad
    khad
    1Password Alumni
    Any time. I am always happy to help! :-D

    Cheers,
This discussion has been closed.