Using Dropbox

Codebook 1.5 has a new Sync tab that provides a means for you to upload and sync your data with an encrypted replica stored in your Dropbox account. Simply enter your Dropbox account information and start a sync, and when it’s all done you’ll see that you’ve got a new folder named “Codebook” in your Dropbox account, containing your encrypted database file.

Learn more about the Sync feature here.

Using iTunes

Codebook is automatically backed up by iTunes. There is some detailed information available from Apple about iPhone backup, but the summary is that both the software program and the encrypted database are backed up during each iPhone sync.

It is important to remember that if you somehow lose data and need to restore your iPhone, you should disable automatic sync before you plug it in to your desktop. We encourage you to have a look at our step-by-step instructions for the restore process.

Restoring from Dropbox

If you use the Dropbox Sync feature of Codebook to sync your data up to your Dropbox account, you can replace the
data in your current database with the data from the time of your last sync:

1. Launch Codebook on your device and login
2. Tap on the Sync tab
3. In the Options section of the screen, tap the row labeled “Mode”
4. In the selection list that comes up, select “Restore”
5. Tap the Start Sync button to start the Restore

Restoring from iTunes

iTunes automatically backs up data on your iPhone, iPad, or iPod Touch every time you sync your device. You can read more about this process on Apple’s website. If you have lost your data on your phone and need to restore from back up, do not connect your iphone to your computer just yet! If you do, the next sync will wipe out your backup.

Follow these steps:

1. On the computer you use to sync your device, go to: iTunes → Preferences → Devices, Check “Disable automatic syncing for all iPhones and iPods.”
2. Now connect your device to your computer and it should show up in the iTunes sidebar.
3. Right-click on your device and select “Restore from backup.”

In order to reset Codebook, we need to re-install the application:

1. Locate the Codebook icon on your device’s Home screen.
2. Hold your finger down on the icon until all the icons begin to animate (they wiggle).
3. Tap the x button that appears on the icon for Codebook, and confirm that you wish to remove the app from your device.
4. Launch the App Store app on your device.
5. Tap on the Updates tab, and then tap on the “Purchased” row at the top of the screen.
6. When the Purchased list loads, make sure the setting “Not on this iPhone|iPad|iPod” at the top is selected.
7. Scroll down the list to Codebook, and push the cloud-button to re-install.
8. Once Codebook is re-installed, launch the app and set a new master password.

Not at the moment. Up until now we’ve been focused entirely on making Codebook the best it could be on iOS, and added the backup/sync with Dropbox feature so our customers could share their notes across multiple iOS devices. Now that we’ve established a great feature set for Codebook, we’re taking a look at options for the desktop. Please keep an eye on our blog for announcements or sign up for the mailing list (the sign-up form is on this page, in the left side-bar, down a bit).

There is not. As noted above, we’ve been pretty focused on getting Codebook to where it is now, but we’re looking into building an Android version now. If it’s something you’d like to see, please get in touch to let us know. Keep an eye on our blog for updates, or sign up for the mailing list (the sign-up form is on this page, in the left side-bar, down a bit).

The version number of Codebook is displayed at the top of the Settings screen. To get there:

1. Launch Codebook on your iPhone, iPad, or iPod Touch.
2. Login to Codebook with your access password.
3. Click the Settings icon (the gear) at the top-left corner of the screen, in the tab bar.

Codebook is a secure replacement for the popular iPhone, iPad, and iPod Touch application Notes that offers the following enhancements:

• First-line document titling to avoid Untitled Document Syndrome
• Simple note editing in an easy-to-read font (Helvetica) on a soothing background
• Support for device rotation to landscape orientation
• Auto-lock and multi-tasking support for iOS4
• Uses SQLCipher for high-grade 256-bit AES encryption
• PBKDF2 key-strengthening to deter brute-force attacks
• Backup and sync your data across multiple devices with our Dropbox integration
• Convenient search
• Email notes from inside Codebook
• Auto-saves notes to avoid data loss if a phone call or iOS interrupts editing

We never charge for bug fixes and minor product updates. When we decide to make major improvements to Codebook, we may opt to charge for the upgrade. Codebook is now free to download with some limitations as described below; these limitations can be unlocked with an in-app purchase. Customers who had already paid in full for a copy of Codebook can update to the newest version without having to make an in-app purchase to continue full use of the application.

We no longer offer Codebook for free with in-app upgrades for advanced features, the version of Codebook for sale in the iTunes App Store is the only version for sale, and it’s not been limited in anyway.

No, there isn’t. Currently Codebook runs in 2x mode on the iPad. We realize this isn’t ideal, but we just haven’t gotten around to creating a custom user interface for the iPad yet. We hope to do so in the future, but have no concrete plans at the moment.

When you sync your Codebook database with your Dropbox account, you are storing an encrypted replica of your database on the Dropbox infrastructure. The first time you run Sync, a new replica is created for you. On every additional sync, Codebook downloads a copy of the replica, syncs it locally with your device to pick up any changes since the last sync, and then uploads the updated replica back to your Dropbox account.

At no point in time is any of your unencrypted data stored in your Dropbox account. Dropbox does not protect your files with encryption, but that’s okay—your database is already encrypted.

If you have another device with Codebook on it (say you bought a new iPod Touch or iPad), you can use the Sync feature to replicate your data onto the new device. For this to work, it is required that the new copy of Codebook is using the same password as the original. As long as the replicas all share the same password, you should have no problems. Simply connect to the same Dropbox account on the Sync tab in Codebook and you should be all set.

In Codebook, all data that you enter is encrypted. Codebook uses SQLCipher, a fully-encrypted and open source embedded database, to keep your data safe. SQLCipher uses the world-class, peer-reviewed OpenSSL library.

That depends. To perform any kind of serious brute-force attack on your database, an attacker would need to gain physical access to your device to copy off the encrypted data. That said, a strong password goes a long way, but we took it a step further. Zetetic’s open source SQLCipher project, which provides secure data storage for Codebook, has been enhanced to use PBKDF2 with a per-database salt to make it even more resistant to brute force and dictionary attacks, just in case.

Yes, your data is stored encrypted, always.

Codebook uses page-level encryption to ensure that your entire database is always stored securely. This database cannot be unlocked without the key — the password you use every time to run Codebook. When iTunes backs up the Codebook application, it simply copies the application and the supporting database file, which remains encrypted.

You can learn more about iTunes backups on Apple’s website, and we’ve also got some information here on using these backups to recover from data loss.

If you forget your password, we cannot help you recover your database. It’s important to set a password that’s strong (at least 8 characters), but also one that you can remember.

We disabled the default Auto-Correct system on the note editor because some folks use Codebook for storing security credentials, and we wish to avoid those tokens being added to the iOS device’s internal dictionary. The possibility of this happening or adversely affecting you is not particularly high (especially if you protect your device with a passphrase, enabling hardware encryption), but we like to err on the safe side. Codebook 1.6.0 will allow you to turn Auto-Correct on via the app’s settings.

Not yet; we’re looking forward to expanding Codebook in the future.

We’re investigating this now, but can’t commit to doing so just yet. If you’ve got to have Codebook for Android, make your voice heard, get in touch, it matters!

Right now we have no plans to support WebOS, Blackberry, or Windows Mobile/Phone 7 Whatever It’s Called Now. That doesn’t mean we’re against it, we just don’t have any plans to do so right now. If you would like us to build a version of Codebook for your favorite platform, please get in touch and let us know!

Update: Jan 26, 2011

Starting with Codebook version 1.5, multi-tasking is now fully supported with an Autolock Timer feature that allows you to keep your database unlocked while quickly switching between apps. This makes copying data in and out of Codebook much easier.

Autolock Timer only works for devices running iOS 4 or greater with support for multitasking. Devices running iOS 3 retain the old locking behavior—the database is locked when the application becomes inactive.

Update: Sept 17, 2010

Whenever your iPhone or iPod touch becomes inactive, for instance when it goes to sleep, Codebook immediately locks the database. When your device becomes active again, if Codebook is still running, you will be prompted to login before you can continue to use the program.

This behavior is currently dependent on the iPhone’s sleeping/locking settings. If you’d like to change the idle time, launch the Settings application, tap the General row, tap Auto-Lock, and select the duration you would prefer.

On devices that support multi-tasking on iOS 4, this becomes problematic, as the database gets locked every time the application goes into the background. We will be introducing a new setting allowing you to keep Codebook unlocked in the background in an upcoming release.