Troubleshooting
-
Strongbox allows you to control where your database is stored. We offer native integrations with popular cloud storage providers (iCloud, Dropbox, Google Drive and OneDrive). You can also use any cloud drive that integrates with the file system on macOS and the Files app on iPhone/iPad. Strongbo...
-
Strongbox Doesn’t Recognise My Pro License
Sometimes Strongbox can have difficulties establishing your Pro status, usually due to an issue communicating with Apple's App Store. Here are some things to try to fix this: 1. Restore Purchases Sometimes this can be as simple as tapping or clicking 'Restore Purchases' or 'Already Purchased' b... -
Strongbox supports Apple's Family Sharing for all versions of its Apps and for all License types (Monthly, Yearly, Lifetime In-App Purchase and Lifetime Outright Pro). No Exceptions. Some times though it can be tricky to get this working correctly, so here are some tips and tricks... Troubleshoo...
-
If you are suddenly unable to open your database, please try the steps below to resolve the issue: Make sure you're entering the correct master password! (I've forgotten my password.) Restart your device. If you have another device, try opening the database on that device. If you're storing the ...
-
We are not able to reset your password. This is by design. Strongbox is a zero knowledge password manager, which means that we are not able to access your database or the personal information stored inside it under any circumstances. If you have been using Face/Touch ID or a PIN code to open yo...
-
My Database is Missing From the App
If you can't find your database file, please see the steps below to attempt to locate it. Strongbox allows you to choose where your database is stored. So the first step is to try to remember where you stored your database folder. Other places to search include: Search in the Files app on your ... -
Reset All Strongbox Settings to Factory Defaults on macOS
Sometimes Strongbox doesn't completely uninstall when deleted from the macOS Applications folder (due to an issue with macOS). If you'd like to completely clear all Strongbox preferences/settings then: Open Preferences and select Advanced > Factory Reset (at the bottom of the window) Delete S... -
Face ID or Touch ID (Convenience Unlock) Doesn't Work
This is usually because either iOS Face/Touch ID has been disabled at the device level, or because the Strongbox Touch/Face ID setting has been disabled. NB: The first thing to note is that Face ID/Touch ID is a Pro feature. You get to try out Pro features for 3 months, so you should check that ... -
I Can’t Create a New iCloud Database or I Deleted My iCloud Strongbox Folder
If you are seeing an error when creating a new iCloud database this is usually caused by deleting the built-in Strongbox folder on your iCloud Drive. This is a folder called 'Strongbox' with the Strongbox blue icon at the root of your iCloud Drive. You may have done this by accident, or simply do... -
Unlock With Apple Watch Doesn't Work
If you use the Unlock with Apple Watch feature on your database, the Apple Watch can sometimes fail to authenticate, meaning you have to enter your Master Password. This can often be fixed by turning off this setting at the system level. To do this: Open the System Preferences app In the sideba... -
Touch ID Prompt Keeps Appearing Before the AutoFill Convenience Unlock Timeout Has Expired
Unfortunately, this is the AutoFill subsystem requesting the Touch ID and not Strongbox. It seems that even though Strongbox tells macOS it can provide a login credential for a website/app without any UI interaction, the system decides to request a Touch ID authentication anyway. Sadly, we cannot... -
Cannot Merge Without Credentials or in Background Sync Mode
Sometimes, when trying to sync your database with a cloud drive, you might receive the following error: "Cannot Merge Without Credentials or in Background Sync Mode". This can be caused by having the database set to always open offline, or by manually trying to open the database offline. Plea... -
Error: HmacBlocStream - Could not read enough from inner stream to decrypt block
This indicates that your database is corrupt or incomplete. This can happen in any number of ways. It could be another App that is poorly written or contains a bug. It can happen because the underlying file system is failing or corrupted. For Strongbox specifically, if Strongbox is terminated or... -
AutoFill Sometimes Crashes or Disappears on Me. Is My Argon2 Memory Is Too High?
If you are seeing these issues, it is likely because your database size is too large or your cryptography settings are too high to be used in the AutoFill mode (the exact limit will vary depending on what device you are using). We discuss both issues below with suggested fixes. Argon2 Memory Usa... -
AutoFill Suggestion Doesn’t Show Up or Work on Keyboard for a Certain Site or App
This can happen and it will depend on the App you're using or website you are visiting. If that App or website doesn't pass a good "Caller ID" to Strongbox or the AutoFill subsystem it just won't work. You can find out what "Caller ID" that App or Safari is passing to Strongbox by Open Strongbo... -
Crash When Unlocking My Password Safe Database (Saved Using Android passwdSafe Port)
We have received reports that some Password Safe databases cause Strongbox to crash on unlock. This has been narrowed down to the use of the Jeff Harris passwdSafe port on Android. The easiest solution is to edit and save your database using the official Password Safe app on Windows which doesn't... -
Face ID / Touch ID doesn't work for me
Face ID or Touch ID (Convenience Unlock) Doesn't Work -
"SKErrorDomain 0" Error When Upgrading to Strongbox Pro
This error is usually shown in Strongbox due to a temporary problem with the App Store or a network or firewall issue. There are a few things that you can try: Restart your device Logout and then back in to the App Store app Also, we would recommend changing your network from Wi-Fi to cellular ... -
Google Drive Not Syncing / Not Authenticating
If you're having issues syncing your database with Google Drive, you can access your database from within Google Drive using the Files method. See the instructions below. On iPhone/iPad: Install the Google Drive app on your iPhone/iPad In the Files app, enable Google Drive Tap the plus icon (+)... -
Troubleshooting WebDAV on Synology NAS
If you are experiencing WebDAV issues with database sync and you are using Synology NAS, there are a few steps that you can try and fix the problem: In Synology, check the "Intermediate Compatibility" option. This could be in either of these locations: System Settings > Security > Extended... -
I Cannot Determine My WebDAV URL When Installing Nextcloud as a Snap
Some users have had issues determining their WebDAV URL when they install Nextcloud as a Snap, on services like DigitalOcean. The correct URL format looks something like so, where “mark” is your username/home: https://example.com/remote.php/dav/files/mark The following GitHub issue goes into m... -
AutoFill Error: "Something went wrong while displaying documents"
Despite the fact that you may not use iCloud or iCloud Drive, this error appears to be related to your iCloud Drive settings. This error message seem to happen when you have your “iCloud Drive” disabled for your Apple ID on your device. To check this go to: iPhone or iPad Main Settings > “You... -
“Error Selecting Storage Location” (or “Invalid_access_token” With Dropbox) When Unlocking Database
Sometimes your security token or session expires on a third party storage provider like Dropbox or Google Drive. Usually this is seamlessly renewed but it can happen sometimes that this goes wrong. To fix this you need to clear your (Dropbox/Google Drive/OneDrive) session. You can do that by: O... -
Troubleshooting SFTP and Nextcloud
Unfortunately Nextcloud does not always play well with SFTP, you can read more about that here: https://help.nextcloud.com/t/get-files-from-the-sftp-server/59211/16 The recommended setup for Nextcloud is to use WebDAV which is built into iOS Strongbox and works very well according to most repor... -
Troubleshooting OneDrive Issues (“Can’t Connect” or “Bad Request”)
This is probably because Strongbox’s session has become stale. You can clear this by following the instructions below: To do this on iPhone/iPad Open Settings (tap the gear icon in the top right, above the list of databases) Tap Advanced (at the bottom of the page) Tap Manage 3rd Party Sessions... -
Markdown Notes Are Not Displaying Correctly on iPhone/iPad
If you have enabled ‘Easy-Read Font on All Fields', this will cause your Markdown syntax to be ignored when displaying your notes. To disable this setting on iPhone and iPad: Unlock your database Tap the Database Settings icon (the icon with three sliders in the top left of the screen) Tap Cust... -
Database Doesn’t Synchronise Properly With My Synology NAS or DS File App
This is a known issue with the DS File app. It does not properly integrate into the iOS Files subsystem. This has been reported to Synology but a fix does not seem imminent. Typically the database becomes stale/old and Strongbox is unable to update it. Unfortunately this appears to be a poor inte... -
iCloud Database Has Numbers After It, or Multiple Copies Appear After Saving
This can happen if your iCloud database is quite large or you save to it in rapid succession. What happens when you save (using any client) is that the Apple iCloud sync system has to upload it to iCloud in the background and this can take some time. It may take a few minutes. When you save anoth... -
iCloud Database Stuck on ‘Reading’ Mode and Won’t Open
Sometimes when trying to open a database that is stored in iCloud, the database will not open and the status message "Reading" will be continuously displayed. If your iCloud database is stuck "Reading", then try restarting your device and trying again. If it still does not open, try signing out/... -
Saving With KeePass or KeePassXC Causes Database To Be Unusable on iPhone/iPad
Sometimes there can be some issues with iOS Files based databases and KeePassXC / KeePass and cloud drives. This can sometimes present itself as errors like: - "The database is located in Recently Deleted" - "The database was 'Removed from iCloud' on another device" Solution The solution to thi... -
Key File Not Auto Detected in AutoFill
Assuming the key file is stored in the Strongbox documents folder, Apple does not allow App Extensions (which is what AutoFill is) to access the parent App’s documents directory directly. This leads to the situation where Strongbox can see the key file (and use it automatically) but the App Exten... -
macOS Database Says I Don’t Have Permission to Open It
Strongbox uses a 'Bookmark' to keep track of your database. This is the recommended Apple way of keeping a reference to a file on macOS. Most of the time this works very well but sometimes the bookmark can fail and you get an error telling you, you don't have permissions to view your database. Th... -
WebDAV Database Failing With 401, 403, 424, 404 (DAVKit Error) or Similar
When you use WebDAV, the error codes returned are actually the standard HTTP status codes. This means we can look them up via web search, or simply at https://httpstatuses/com. For example, if your server is returning 403 we can look here: https://httpstatuses.com/403 This indicates that your ... -
Error: “Convenience Unlock Is Unavailable” When Using Touch ID or Apple Watch Unlock on macOS
If you receive the Convenience Unlock is unavailable error, please check and confirm that you can unlock your Mac with Touch ID or Apple Watch first. Then, if that works, you can use it to unlock a Strongbox database. It is a prerequisite that you can login in to your Mac using these methods bef... -
To allow Strongbox to access your OneDrive, Dropbox or Google Drive database, you will need to authenticate via Strongbox. To do this Strongbox needs to launch your browser. Strongbox uses whichever is your default browser on your Mac. Once your default browser is launched you should see the fami...
-
Due to the new update with Sync.com, you may experience some issues with syncing your Strongbox database, if you use this service. It appears that there are some problems with Sync's offline caching of past files. The workaround is to go to the Sync app on the device and clear BOTH the offline ...
-
Why Doesn’t Copy and Paste Work Between My Mac and iPhone?
This is configurable (it’s called “Handoff”) and by default this is switched off for security reasons, but you can change it if you like. On iOS Go to Settings> Copy & Paste > Clipboard > Allow Clipboard Handoff On macOS Go to Settings> Security & Privacy > Clipboard >... -
Third Party or SwiftKey Keyboard Doesn’t Work on iOS
Strongbox disallows third party keyboards by default for security reasons. You can enable third party keyboards like so: Preferences > Advanced Preferences > Miscellaneous > Allow Third Party Keyboards > Switch ON -
Yandex YanDisk Over WebDAV Does Not Appear To Work or Update
It looks like perhaps Yandex are limiting or breaking WebDAV compatibility here: https://ru.stackoverflow.com/questions/1043523/После-загрузки-файла-на-Яндекс-Диск-по-webdav-происходят-паузы-по-60-секунд-на-к https://qna.habr.com/q/677787 We would suggest you take it up with Yandex, as Strongb... -
Face ID or Touch ID Failed (Higher Priority Authenication Already Running) Error
Usually this error occurs if you set the Strongbox app to require Face ID in iOS 18 or later. This is a new feature with iOS 18 and you might have enabled it by mistake. This additional layer of Face ID check creates a conflict and results in the error you've seen. You'll need to disable this fe... -
How do I remove extra versions or copies of Strongbox installed on my system?
We always recommend, in fact insist, on having only one version of Strongbox installed on your system at a time. Having more than one almost certainly will cause issues. It is unfortunately a little too easy to have more than one installed, especially if you've upgraded to Pro recently or decided... -
This is usually caused by having or using more than one version of Strongbox installed on your Mac. For example, you may have been using the Freemium version of Strongbox and then upgraded to the Pro version. This is an easy thing to do but it will cause problems accessing your databases. Anothe...
-
My iCloud stored Database Keeps Resetting
If your database is constantly being reset and you need to set up your settings, you may need to reduce the size of your database and/or move to a different sync provider rather than iCloud Drive. -
If you are having a problem syncing with OneDrive and are seeing the error code 346: > Error Domain=com.markmcguill.strongbox. Code=346 It may be that your OneDrive has run out of space, or that there is some other technical issue preventing Strongbox from writing to it.