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Shared vault

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Shared vault

Several devices – your phone and your tablet, say, or the phones in your family – keep the same vault. Each works with its own copy, even offline, and they catch up through a shared folder. There is no server of ours involved.

How it works

Each device keeps its own file in the folder (easykeys-….ekv), writes only that one and reads the others. That way the sync program cannot create conflicts. The files are encrypted with the sync password, not your master password – every device keeps its own master password.

If two devices changed the same entry, the newer change wins. The other is not lost; it stays as an old version in the entry's history. If one device deletes an entry, it lands in the trash on the others.

Requirement: a folder on the device

The folder has to be on the device, and a program has to sync it both ways with the other devices. Apps that only show files on the network (such as DS File or Google Drive) do not appear in the folder picker: Android only offers locations there that share whole folders.

Example: Synology Drive

  1. Install Synology Drive from the Play Store and connect it to your NAS.
  2. In Synology Drive, create a folder for EasyKeys, such as easykeys.
  3. Tap the three dots on the folder and turn on a sync task for it (German interface: Synchronisierungsaufgabe aktivieren).
  4. Allow the permissions it asks for (storage access and battery usage). Without battery usage, Android stops the sync in the background.
  5. In EasyKeys, go to Settings → Shared vault → Choose folder. The picker now has a folder Synology Drive, inside it Sync tasks, and inside that your folder with a number appended, such as easykeys-977589978265596303.
  6. Open that folder, tap Use this folder and allow access.

On every further device, repeat steps 1 and 3 to 6 with the same folder on the NAS. Other sync programs such as FolderSync or Syncthing work the same way, as long as they mirror a folder on the device.

Setting up and joining

The chosen folder decides what happens:

Type the sync password in by hand instead of sending it by message or email: whoever has it and can reach the folder can read everything shared.

When syncing happens

How quickly a change reaches the other devices depends on the sync program. If a file has not finished transferring, EasyKeys lists it as unreadable; the next sync picks it up.

Keep EasyKeys up to date on all devices. If one device runs a newer version than another, the older one says so under Shared vault and does not pick up changes from the newer device until you have updated EasyKeys on it. It keeps syncing with the remaining devices. This applies between phones just as it does between phone and computer.

Stop syncing

Stop syncing asks first and then removes this device’s file from the folder. The entries stay on the device, and the other devices’ files are left alone. The sync password is no longer stored on this device: if other devices keep syncing, you need their sync password to join again later.

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