Offline Mode?

[dr.el...@gmail.com]

I can't find a way to login without a network connection.

I've read mention in the docs of an offline mode ( and at https://github.com/turtl/js/issues/130#event-295148512 ), but I can't seem to use Turtl at all with no network connection (on Android btw).

What am I doing wrong?

[Andrew Lyon]

Hello, you're not doing anything wrong!

Turtl currently only allows offline mode when you're logged in. If you log in, then cut your connection, you can use Turtl in offline mode just fine.

However on mobile, this doesn't work very well because Android tends to kill the Turtl app pretty quickly once it's in the background for too long. The solution is to store your login info in a background service and log you back in using it once you open the app again (https://trello.com/c/Bs4NPtgE). This is slated for the next release, so please stay tuned for this change.

Andrew

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[dr.el...@gmail.com]

Thanks very much for the reply, Andrew.

Wouldn't it be better to store a local copy of the encrypted database on the phone?

I would much rather that solution than having to run a service all the time, and presumably that would be more responsive as it wouldn't be fetching from the network all the time.

Also, doesn't Android have to have an icon in the notification bar at all times for any service that continually runs?

[Andrew Lyon]

> Wouldn't it be better to store a local copy of the encrypted database on the phone?

Actually, we do this already. All your data is downloaded and stored locally, and updated incrementally as you make changes to your notes. It syncs this local database with the server whenever it happens to get a connection.

The only problem is right now, the user information is not stored locally so authenticating against the server is required to login. The problem is that there would have to be a separate (local) database to store user info and a different way of syncing changes to it...that didn't fit in with the shorter release cycle (had a lot of people who wanted mobile!) so I decided to push the feature out.

> Also, doesn't Android have to have an icon in the notification bar at all times for any service that continually runs?

Probably. I need to research this more, but my gut says "yes." This is a small price to pay for not having to continuously log in each time you open the app (even if encrypted user info is stored locally you'd still need to log in). So for now that's the plan...although I am certainly open to suggestions since I'm not an expert in mobile development!

Andrew

[dr.el...@gmail.com]

Sorry, I don't understand why you need to get to the server to login if you have a local copy of the database? I thought that the data was encrypted with a key made from the username/password combination and some fancy maths? Isn't the whole point that you are not having to trust the hoster to keep your notes secure?

I'm sure you know how it works though...

It's just that having no real offline mode is a big negative in my opinion. If I go away for a few days somewhere where there's no network, and I turn my phone off, I can't use it for secure notes anymore. And to add to that, I'm much more likely to turn my phone off when I'm in an area remote enough to not have a network connection in order to save battery.

If you ever see the notification bar on my phone, you would agree that it is more than a small price to pay to add another one for another app.

I would suggest that finding a way to store the user db locally as well would be better than having a clunky login-caching service that would be killed anyway when the battery dies or when Android feels like it. Just my opinion.

I've recently started learning Android development but it will probably be a long time until I'm ready to attempt something of this complexity.

Thanks again, you've come a long way with Turtl, and I'm sure there's a groundswell of people who want an open-source, secure, notes App. I also like your model of open-source with paid hosting and I hope it is successful for you. It is 90% of what I'm looking for now in a notes app, and it would be killer if you could make the other 10% a reality.

Thanks.