Jump to content

iOS encrypt picture or file


Recommended Posts

Hi guys,

Did a few searches but still can't find an answer.

If it's in another thread,you are welcome to merge or point me that way.

I'm looking for a quick way or using an app to encrypt picture or file in EN using the iphone or an app.

Things like bank statements,signed documents etc.

I know that they won't be searchable except for using the tags but I'm fine with it.

At the moment I've tested an app called Cypher bot which seemed to work well except when exporting the image ,the app couldn't read the Enex file.

Any one have any ideas or will I need to crank up the mac every time I want to encrypt a picture.

Maybe another app to convert an Enex to jpg on the iphone,then back to the encryption app?

I'd rather just a simple method.

Oh and I'm fairly technically sound but let's not start Developer jargon because you will lose me :)

Link to comment

Hi guys,

Did a few searches but still can't find an answer.

If it's in another thread,you are welcome to merge or point me that way.

I'm looking for a quick way or using an app to encrypt picture or file in EN using the iphone or an app.

Things like bank statements,signed documents etc.

I know that they won't be searchable except for using the tags but I'm fine with it.

At the moment I've tested an app called Cypher bot which seemed to work well except when exporting the image ,the app couldn't read the Enex file.

Any one have any ideas or will I need to crank up the mac every time I want to encrypt a picture.

Maybe another app to convert an Enex to jpg on the iphone,then back to the encryption app?

I'd rather just a simple method.

Oh and I'm fairly technically sound but let's not start Developer jargon because you will lose me :)

 

There is no Evernote encryption on mobile clients.  Only decryption.  I suspect it may have something to do with mobiles being a bit flaky (translate: less reliable) so they don't want people encrypting important stuff (which is a bit redundant?) and then the mobile flakes out & they can never recover the information.  But that's just my opinion.  However, even then, EN encryption is only text.  So you'd need to use third party encryption & then put that file in EN. Many PDFs viewers allow you to encrypt PDFs.  Note there is a difference between password protect & password ENCRYPT.

Link to comment
  • Level 5

I've yet to see one.
It has to end up in Evernote?

What I use is LastPass / LastPass Wallet.
Normally LastPass mobile use requires a premium account, but their Wallet app is free.
Secure notes allow attaching text, audio and images.

I snap an image of the document and attach it to a secure note in LastPass.

 

It's sort of designed for taking pictures of your credit cards and wallet type documents.

Those are synced to your account and available in the lastpass plugin in a browser (browser use starts free).
Data is encrypted (AES)locally with a password that LastPast does not know. No one but you can decrypt.

You'll bump into file transfer limits of 50MB for the fee version. Paid is I think $4 per year for 1GB.

And it won't work for none image file types


Method two involves more clicks, but you can round trip files in and out of Evernote on iOS with ZIP attachments. Some of the zip utilities support AES encryption.
I've successfully round tripped this process with iZip. Encryption requires iZip Pro ($5-$6), but you can decrypt with the free version to test the process . The benefit here is that with the open source 7zip on the PC, Linux, Mac side, you can work with these on the desktop side too (Yes windows has native .zip support but not encrypted .zip support).

Essentially on the iPhone/iPad you make use of the Open In feature.
In this way I've

  • opened a zip from Evernote in iZip
  • extracted a document
  • "Opened In" Pages, and edited it
  • "Opened In" iZip
  • put it back in a .zip
  • "Opened In" Evernote to put the .zip back in Evernote  (this will put it in a new note, and you'll have to delete the previous one)
Link to comment
  • Level 5

Another approach might be to use Truecrypt containers, or FreeOTFE, or LUKS (alternative encrypted containers).

This iOS app will open all three, has built in file viewers, and supports the Open In option to transfer to other apps.

http://disk-decipher.hekkihek.nl/

 

But then it also supports online versions of those containers:

  • HTTP
  • HTTPS
  • WebDAV
  • DropBox

So then it sort of doesn't need Evernote at all.

Link to comment
  • Level 5

And again thinking through the evernote abstraction (doesn't really seem to be leveraging Evernote's strengths)...

One could just leave the files at home...

I just brought over files from home via these as tests

  • Use of of the many iOS VPN options to VPN home, and use one of the many File browser apps to view/access the files
  • Use a backup tool like CrashPlan (if your PC isn't always on at home)
    • Then your files are alreally pre-encrypted, and hoisted into the cloud.
    • Use the CrashPlan backup app on iphone/ipad to browse and restore a local copy
  • Use something LogmeIn Ignition (I'm sure there are other decent competitors) file browse remote files back home and optionally copy them over locally. (you don't have to use the full graphical remote desktop to just fetch files).
  • SpiderOak also Pre-encrypts files before they go to the cloud, so it saves you having to put them in an encrypted container before putting them in the likes of a Dropbox.  And SpiderOak has iOS clients.
Link to comment
  • Level 5

I had another look at Cypher bot.

It seems like it should work. At least for document types other than image.

I bet if you have say a MS word attachment in Evernote, that if you tap on the attachment so that it's being viewed in Evernote.

If you tap the share icon in the upper right (a box with an arrow pointing up). You should see Cypher bot (might have to scroll right) and the text under the icon says "Open In Cypher bot"

You should be able to encrypt and then likewise send it back to Evernote.

It likely will attach it to a new note and you'll have to delete the original note.

The problem with images in Evernote is that it doesn't present the full share dialog in an image.

Remember that you can't use the share button in a note, to send a note to Cypher bot. You have to click and open the attachment/image and share just within that view.

So about the only tedious option you have here is to choose "save image" from the share menu while viewing the image.

This puts it in your photo album.

Beware this might add it to your photo stream if that's turned on.

Then you can launch cypher bot and it will open the image from the photos.

You can then encrypt it and hopefully "open in" Evernote to attach it.

Then remember to go back and delete the photo in Photos and the Photo stream.

Link to comment

I had another look at Cypher bot.

It seems like it should work. At least for document types other than image.

I bet if you have say a MS word attachment in Evernote, that if you tap on the attachment so that it's being viewed in Evernote.

If you tap the share icon in the upper right (a box with an arrow pointing up). You should see Cypher bot (might have to scroll right) and the text under the icon says "Open In Cypher bot"

You should be able to encrypt and then likewise send it back to Evernote.

It likely will attach it to a new note and you'll have to delete the original note.

The problem with images in Evernote is that it doesn't present the full share dialog in an image.

Remember that you can't use the share button in a note, to send a note to Cypher bot. You have to click and open the attachment/image and share just within that view.

So about the only tedious option you have here is to choose "save image" from the share menu while viewing the image.

This puts it in your photo album.

Beware this might add it to your photo stream if that's turned on.

Then you can launch cypher bot and it will open the image from the photos.

You can then encrypt it and hopefully "open in" Evernote to attach it.

Then remember to go back and delete the photo in Photos and the Photo stream.

the encryption works well with text and you can export it from EN and open in the Cypher bot app and view assuming you remember the password.

The encrypted picture is just a black jpg image on EN which is great (as it's encrypted and not viewable)but when you try and export it,the format isn't recognisable in the Cyppher app.If mailed ,the image won't download.

I emailed the developer and they said they will look in to adding the Enex file conversion hopefully in the future.

There are future plans to add Cypher to web browsers also and it's available in the Mac App Store.

The encryption is AES 256-bit so I thought was a great app.

Does work with Dropbox but I'm trying to bring everything across to Evernote so I don't double up.

Link to comment
  • Level 5

Ok I bought the app to see what you're seeing.

The main issue is that the encrypted image confuses either Evernote or iOS. The Share button doesn't work when opening the (black) image. So you can't open it back to Cipher Bot.

It will be a tall order for the developer to handle an .enex.

That's not just a single document/image.

Think of it like a web page (but custom .XML rather than HTML). More like a web bundle like .mhtml

It could have text, markup, and multiple documents.

What should Cipher bot do with that? Treat it like a .zip file and try decrypting all the text and documents it finds and dump them all into the File list in Cipher Bot?

Link to comment

I don't think zipping works .

Hopefully the dev will update then this would be simple to use.

You could even share the image through a shared notebook and only give out the encrypted password to a select few ?

Things like quotes for projects or sensitive documents would be great.

Thanks for the effort.

Link to comment

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.

×
×
  • Create New...