Keepassium And Synchronisation Can Be Simple… If You Know How To Do It

Almost a year ago I wrote about my lack of confidence in the synchronisation powers of the Keepassium-and-Files combination on iOS. Having an extra layer between my data (the passwords!) and the storage (Dropbox in this case) does seem to complicate matters… especially in comparison to the situation on Android. In the Keepass4Android app there is a button that will do a two-way sync from within the app: you don’t even have to save the data before hitting that sync button.

Today I can say that I have completely mastered the art of syncing from iOS too. The trick, if that’s what you want to call it, is that you have to “exit” the Keepassium file (not the app!) to force the app to update the file and get the Files app to recognise that fact. How do you do that, “exiting” the file? It’s simple: when you’re on the screen that shows you the top level of entries in your vault, you just press “Back”:

See that “Back” option top left?

You’ll return to the “Databases” screen. If you now check the Files app and look for your file, you’ll see that the date and time will be quite current, and you can be sure that your cloud service provider of choice will get that version as soon as you’re online.

What I describe also means that you always have to open file explicitly in order to consult or update it, in order to avoid sync conflicts when changing data on multiple devices. If you don’t do that, you may not be using the latest version of the file since you’re working with data in memory, not in file storage – and that will spell trouble at some point. As a bonus your passwords will also be safer, since an encrypted file on a storage device is much better protected from prying eyes than an unencrypted file in the memory of your iPhone or iPad!

So my general advice is: if you need to read/update/create a password entry in Keepassium, open the file, do your thing, and close the file immediately.

PS. Keepass4Android users should probably do that too, and they should also use that “Sync” button often!

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