My phone was stolen and all my passwords are in my app on my phone. I know the password but I can not access my account on any other device using it. I desperately need my passwords. Apple has told me it will be May 14 before I can have access to my account. My password is in there. Please help!
Hi @Jaime
Thanks for using Codebook, although I’m very sorry to hear about the stolen phone.
If you’ve been syncing your Codebook data to Google Drive, Dropbox, or another copy of Codebook, and have a backup of your Codebook Sync Key, then you can restore your Codebook data using the instructions here: Codebook Help - Restore Data from Backup
i’m having a very difficult time knowing what I’m doing. Are you one of the team members and can call me to walk me through this? I have sent an email already also.
i downloaded and am at the enter your new master password screen. I don’t want to do anything to lock myself out. I know my phone number and my password that I used to access on my telephone.
We don’t provide telephone support as we are a small company, but I would be happy to try to assist further here or via private support email if you’d prefer.
By default your Codebook data is stored locally on your device, it is not stored anywhere on any of our servers.
When you had your phone before it was stolen, were you syncing your Codebook data to your personal Google Drive, Dropbox, or another copy of Codebook?
Do you have a backup of your Codebook Sync Key? This would be either a printed out Sync Key QR Code or a written down Sync Key Word List (20 words). If you synced your Codebook data, it is encrypted with your Codebook Sync Key so that will be required to decrypt the previously synced changes and restore your Codebook data.
This page explains more about the Sync Key Backup: Codebook Help - Backup Your Sync Key
Please let me know the answers to those questions and I can try to provide a recommendation.
I have no access to anything at all - my apple id is in the codebook only. I can’t access codebook. It was backing up to my phone but I don’t know where. No idea at all. The app has been on my phone for years and I access it all the time but only on my phone. I have no idea if it is anywhere else other than my phone.
I do not have a codebook sync key - I had the app on my telephone and alteast 30 files in there - every bi of my personal information and every password for every thing in my and my boys life are in there. I only know how to access on my telephone.
If you never synced Codebook, then the only other places your Codebook data would be stored are iCloud or iTunes backups of your device prior to it getting stolen.
If you have an iTunes backup, you could try restoring from that. Otherwise I’d try doing an iCloud restore when you’re able to regain access to your Apple ID. Apple has instructions here for how to do that: Restore your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch from a backup - Apple Support
Ok - i have no idea where it would have been synced. I need my password in order to be able to get it. I’m in a terrible position.
You choose where to sync your Codebook data to (manually), it is not automatically synced somewhere. So if you didn’t sync your data to your personal Google Drive, Dropbox, or another copy of Codebook, then it wasn’t synced. The only other place it would be is in an iCloud or iTunes backup as described in my previous response, so that’s my recommendation for recovery.
Thank you for your response, after a crazy week, i was able to recover my telephone and get back into my codebook.
Excellent news! We are very happy to hear you were able to recover your phone and Codebook data!
Going forwards, we’d recommend syncing your Codebook data to your personal Google Drive, Dropbox, or another copy of Codebook and taking a backup of your Codebook Sync Key which will allow you to restore your Codebook data on another device if you lose/damage your current device or get a new device and the iCloud restore doesn’t succeed.
We have instructions on these pages for how to sync and backup your Codebook Sync Key:
Getting Started with Sync: Codebook Help - Getting Started with Sync
Backup Codebook Sync Key: Codebook Help - Backup Your Sync Key
We also offer 14-day free trial of the Codebook Desktop applications which you can download and sync to so that you have another copy of your Codebook data there. You can download the trials here: Codebook Password Manager and Data Vault | Zetetic
We’ll be happy to help if you have any questions or run into any issues with syncing, backing up your Sync Key or setting up a new device. Have a nice weekend!
Hi - I am still trying to get my codebook backed up. I have been working through multiple phone issues since i got mine back and this seems to be the last thing I need to do. I can’t seem to get past authorizing google drive on my phone. It says Access Blocked: Authorization Error
It also says Error 401: deleted_client.
Im not sure what this means as my google account is signed in on my phone.
Glad to hear you’re working on getting your Codebook data synced as a backup, although I’m sorry to hear about the trouble.
That error message indicates that you’re using an old version of Codebook and need to update. Near the beginning of March we released an update which included a Google Drive permission change. About a month after the release we deleted the old Google Drive client (which Codebook uses to interface with Google Drive): https://www.zetetic.net/blog/2024/03/04/codebook-google-drive-permission-change/
Older versions of Codebook (which still include the old Google Drive client) will no longer be able to sync with Google Drive because of this.
The latest version of Codebook are listed here along with links for how to download them: Codebook Help - Platform Requirements
Please let me know if you’re able to update to the latest versions and sync with Google Drive. I’ll be happy to help if you’re still experiencing any issues. Thanks!
ok - one step closer. I downloaded new version and was able to sync with Google Drive. i hit start and it appears to have backed it up. yay!!
Next issue - i can’t find codebook on my google account. I am pretty well versed in google - I have mail, sheets and photos on my phone but can’t find where Codebook may be backed up.
Any ideas?
is there an option to download as pdf and print for safe keeping also?
Great! Glad to hear you were able to successfully sync!
With the Google Drive permission change, your synced Codebook data is stored in a hidden AppData folder within Google Drive and it is only accessible to Codebook.
You can view the size of this data and delete it (if needed) by following these steps:
- Login to Google Drive via a web browser.
- In the upper right hand corner, click the sprocket then select Settings.
- Click on Manage Apps in the left hand panel. Codebook will be listed there with the details of how much data is stored in the hidden AppData folder and an option to delete the data.
The Codebook for Desktop Applications have an export feature. Using that you can export to a non-encrypted text or csv file which you can use to print.
We offer 14-day free trials of the Desktop Applications here: Codebook Password Manager and Data Vault | Zetetic
You can sync the desktop trial application with the same Google Drive account by following these instructions: Codebook Help - Syncing with a New Device
And then export your data to csv or txt file by following these instructions: Codebook Help - Export
Let me know if you have any further questions.
geesh - this all seems incredibly complicated. I can’t find it on my google drive. i click the sprocket and choose settings but the rest past that are not in there.
I opened itunes on my computer and can’t get that application.
I also am backing up my codebook to ICloud but can’t find it there either, same as I can’t find it on google.
A much larger headache than should be. I am very computer literate but this entire process has made me feel completely clueless. I’m sorry you do not offer assistance other than by this method.
I’m sorry to hear about the difficulties locating the hidden AppData folder in Google Drive.
I’ve included a screenshot below of what the left hand panel of Google Drive should look like after your select Settings from the sprocket:
Does that Manage apps menu item show up for you?
After selecting that you should see a list of applications, one of which should be Codebook which will display the size of the data in your hidden AppData folder, along with an options menu to disconnect from drive or delete the hidden AppData:
As mentioned in my previous reply, you won’t be able to manually download the data from the Google Drive web interface, you’ll only be able to interact with it directly from Codebook.
Google Drive’s recent requirements forced apps which use the Google Drive API to have stricter permissions so that they will only be able to access data which they create. This required us to move all synced Codebook data into the hidden AppData folder. This permission restricts Codebook’s access to just this hidden folder location (whereas previously the permission allowed it access to your entire Google Drive).
Unfortunately, Apple provides no visibility into iCloud backups. They only allow you to fully restore from iCloud backups, rather than view the contents of them. There are some third party programs which attempt to provide some visibility into iCloud/iTunes backups, but Apple doesn’t provide “Out of the box” support for it.
A couple of other recommendations if you want an additional manual backup copy:
- Sync to a free Dropbox account where you will be able to view the encrypted changeset files in the web interface and manually download the encrypted changes if so desired.
- Sync to a trial Desktop version of Codebook where you can export your Codebook data to CSV/TXT and print a copy of it. Additionally you can make a manual copy of your encrypted Codebook database there (I can provide further instructions to do this second one if you let me know which desktop platform you’re using).