iOS sync error; switched vaults and shook up my world

chadhs

There was a reported "sync error" when I was in the settings section of 1Password. I retyped my password a number of times but to no avail. I — not realizing vaults were not supported in iOS — thought maybe it was complaining about my shared work vault. I entered that problem and problem solved! …or so I thought.

The iOS app changed vaults (I hadn't realized this yet) and asked if it should merge in any local changes. Of course I thought why yes, I don't want anything I added on my phone. To my horror the next morning I got a very kind note from one of my teammates. "Dude why is your personal debit card in our company credit cards section in 1Password? Actually it looks a lot of your stuff is." I immediately deleted everything from our shared vault. I then manually contact my team members and had them purge all backups of 1Password from their machines and securely empty their trash.

I carefully restored a backup with sync disabled on my own machine to get everything back to the pre–incident state it was in. I then re–enabled syncing to get them back up and running.

This should not read as a rant. I'm still very much a 1Password evangelist. I'm just really really gun-shy now about using shared vaults. I don't know what the initial sync error was on my phone. Sure I entered the work vault password and said yes to merging local files; but if the iOS app doesn't currently support vaults I don't see how this series of events should even be allowed or possible. Please advise. I'm merely sharing this in case this saves someone else the trouble and scare I went through.

PS
I just remembered a couple other details. I had to completely purge all data on the iOS devices and blow away the .ws.agile.1Password.settings file in dropbox to be able to choose my original vault and reconnect the iOS devices to my personal 1Password vault. The act of entering a vault password to a vault that iOS previously knew nothing about completely hijacked where it was pointing to for it's data including changing the contents of that dot file.

Megan

Hi @chadhs,

Thanks so much for sharing your user experience here. I can certainly understand why you might be feeling a bit hesitant about multiple vaults right now - I am so sorry that you went through this! You're right, the trouble began when you entered the Master Password for your work vault and agreed to the merge of the database. Unfortunately 1Password 4 for iOS is just not smart enough yet to differentiate between vaults in Dropbox. Implementing this feature is one of our developers' top priorities, but for now, if there are multiple keychains stored in Dropbox, there is a chance that 1Password might stumble onto the wrong keychain by mistake. This is why we have been cautioning people in our Known Issues to not enable sync for multiple vaults if you use the iOS app as well.

Again, you have my apologies for the trouble here - hopefully the multiple vaults feature will be available across platforms soon and this issue will be a thing of the past!

chadhs

Thank you for the quick reply @Megan‌. Despite me double checking my vault item count from time to time out of pure illogical paranoia (since i'm not entering another vault password on iOS); I still say hold 1Password up as my solution of choice when compared to it's competitors, Apple included.

I'll bookmark the known issues link. I'm glad you guys are aware and multiple vault support in iOS eventually should completely avoid this behavior ultimately. I think it was a nasty combination of the app somehow stumbling upon my other keychain file and my user interaction in entering that password and agreeing to merge in local changes.

chadhs

@Megan would you recommend syncing the primary vault via iCloud and then sharing the other(s) via dropbox? Since for work we really only need access from our Macs.

Megan

Hi @chadhs,

I honestly can't thank you enough for your understanding here! We're so lucky to have such awesome users. :)

Your suggestion of syncing your primary vault via iCloud to your iOS device and storing your work vault in Dropbox should keep everything synced up and in its place. To switch sync:

• Disable Dropbox sync on your iOS device
• On your Mac, disable Dropbox sync for your personal vault and select the option to remove the data from Dropbox
• Confirm that you are logged in with the same iCloud account on all computers and devices and that Documents and Data is enabled
• On your Mac, enable iCloud sync and wait 20 minutes (or so) for iCloud to sync
• On your iOS device, enable iCloud sync

Please let me know if you hit any snags in the process!

chadhs

I think I may do that as in the last 6 months I haven't had the need to access a password on my windows virtual machine or remotely via the html file in dropbox; I always have either my iPhone, iPad, or MacBook Pro with me. I'll make the switch to iCloud sync (since I can trust I have backups on my Mac locally if things go bump) and report back. Thanks much @Megan‌ !

Megan

Hi @chadhs,

I'll keep my fingers crossed that everything goes smoothly for you! :)

chadhs

I followed the process and things are working great between Mac and iPhone. I'm experiencing some odd behavior on the iPad however. I added a secure note called Test on the iPad that doesn't get added on my iPhone or Mac. I added a note called Test2 on my mac and it showed up on my phone and when I made an edit on my phone it sync'd back to my Mac, however my iPad does not have this note and is still the sole holder of the first note Test.

Could there be a scenario where the iPad has it's own version of the data in iCloud?

chadhs

Followed this article: http://learn.agilebits.com/1Password4/iOS/Tutorials/ios-reset-data.html

Now trying the process again. I'll be a bit more patient with the iCloud update and then each device one at a time with a little time in between and report back. Thanks.

chadhs

After purging and fiddling I have it all working now. I think the large amount of traffic to and from iCloud with recent updates could have been working against me as well. Thanks for all the help.

Megan

Hi @chadhs,

Thanks so much for letting me know that you have it all sorted out! iCloud sometimes does require a bit of patience. With Dropbox we are able to directly initiate a sync whenever data is changed, but Apple doesn't provide us with a similar option for iCloud, so that 'wait 20 minutes' step in the above instructions can be important. I hope things work smoothly for you now, but we're certainly here to help if you hit any further snags!

chadhs

There need to be more companies like AgileBits, Smile, and OmniGroup in the world succeeding. If I run into any snags or feedback to share in the future I definitely will.

Megan

Thanks again for the kind words @chadhs,

You've certainly made my day, and I'll share this with the rest of the team so they can have a smile too! :)