I had a second device with Codebook installed and I the Sync was linked with my first device. I have since uninstalled Codebook from that device and reset the device to factory defaults without breaking the Sync. Is there a risk that whoever gets hold of the device would still be able to sync with my primary device by virtue of the hardware identifiers?
Incidentally is there a way to break the sync from secondary to primary before I reset the device to factory default? Or does uninstalling the app also automatically break the sync?
Hi @yunamc, thanks for posting your questions!
Is there a risk that whoever gets hold of the device would still be able to sync with my primary device by virtue of the hardware identifiers?
When you delete Codebook from a device, it no longer has a copy of your Sync Key, which is stored in Codebook’s encrypted database, and required for decrypting any of the synced data. If you re-install Codebook on that device, you’ll find you won’t be able to sync until you scan the Sync Key from one of your other devices.
We do not use any hardware identifiers.
Incidentally is there a way to break the sync from secondary to primary before I reset the device to factory default? Or does uninstalling the app also automatically break the sync?
Since you’ve uninstalled Codebook from the first device, it should already be unable to sync with the same service (for example the same Dropbox account) as the second device. Perhaps I don’t entirely understand your scenario? Uninstalling the app does make the device unable to sync with the same service, as this deletes the Sync Key from the device.
If you uninstall Codebook from both devices, deleting both copies of the Sync Key, and you have not backed up the Sync Key, there is no way to recover and decrypt the data synced to a cloud service, for example a Dropbox account.
Please let us know if that helps!
Yes that’s clear. Thanks.
Hi @yunamc,
Glad to hear it! I would like to follow up on one point that is not entirely accurate in my previous response:
When you delete Codebook from a device, it no longer has a copy of your Sync Key, which is stored in Codebook’s encrypted database, and required for decrypting any of the synced data.
This is the case when we’re talking about a mobile device, specifically Android and iOS devices. When you delete the app, the app’s data storage, including the encrypted database is deleted.
On the desktop this is not the same. Both macOS and Windows versions of Codebook store the encrypted database file separately from the application. This means that if, for example, you delete Codebook from the Applications folder on a Mac, the encrypted data still exists on that computer.
We have an FAQ item here, documenting how to reset Codebook, that tells you exactly where these files are stored so you can delete them:
However, it occurs to me that we could use a page over at the Codebook Help pages documenting how to delete your data, I’m adding that to our task list now.