• Members 4 posts
    May 21, 2021, 6:15 a.m.

    Hello,
    I'm trying the app on iOS and the thunderbird version on Windows10.
    I'm running into several difficulties, and I can't make it work right:
    - I've enabled Pep + synchronization on two identities on Thunderbird, on two separate accounts
    - when I'm sending an email from one account to the other on Thunderbird, it seems to work well. I can read the decrypted email on Thunderbird
    - however, the synchronization does not seem to work with my iOS device : the message body says "This message could not be decrypted" (in french)
    - the other way seems to work : when sending a message frome iOS, I can read it on Thunderbird.
    I'll stop with this issue for now, because it's a showstopper for me...
    If I can manage to pass this, I'll submit other issues (synchronization messages not disappearing when enabling Pep on different identities with filters applied).
    Thanks for your help !

  • May 21, 2021, 9:52 a.m.

    Hey Mobo,

    Did the sync process between the two devices start at all? Did a handshake between the devices happen? More Details on this: https://www.pep.security/docs/general_information.html?highlight=sync#pp-sync - if it happened, can you describe us in very detail your setup (e.g. versions of OSes and Applications, ideally what mail providers...) , so that we can try to reproduce? If its getting too personal then, please mail to support(at)pep(dot)security (find Key on their website).

    Are "pEp" subfolders created for both both accounts? Some mail providers are a bit picky here...

    For sync messages not disappearing, that's unfortunately an issue on thunderbird we see from time to time, and we couldn't see any pattern yet to find any approach to have it not happening. Once it appears, it can be fixed pretty easy though:

    Use the “repair folder” option in Thunderbird: right-mouse-click on the folder “Inbox” => “Properties” => Tab “General Information” => on the bottom right: “Repair Folder”. Maybe do this with any subfolders that might be there, too.

    Additionally it is useful (but not necessary) to deactivate the automatic checks for new messages during the “repair folder” process: right-mouse-click on the account => “Settings” => first entry “Server Settings” => in the third settings disable the checks.

    Info: With this process the whole Inbox will be re-downloaded again. We recommend to do this in a stable network or rather not in a network with data-plan (e.g. mobile): lots of data could be used up!

    Cheers,
    sva.

  • Members 4 posts
    May 21, 2021, 10:57 a.m.

    Hi sva,

    Thanks for your reply ;-)

    No, the sync process does not seem to start. When composing an email on Thunderbird, and after I type the mail adress in the "To" field, a message is displayed telling me that the connection is "Secure & Trusted". I'm sending the mail, but no handshake dialog is displayed, neither on Windows nor on my iPhone.
    I can get the mail on Thunderbird decrypted, but on the iPhone it appears as encrypted ("ce message n'a pas pu être déchiffré").

    The "sync" option is enabled on both devices, and I'm connecting to the same IMAP server.

    On one of the accounts I could not see the pEp subfolder (on mailo.com). So I've tried on my other account (where the pEp folder is created) with two different aliases, but the problem remains. Emails received on iOs cannot be decrypted.

    Any clue ?

    Cheers

  • May 21, 2021, 11:13 a.m.

    yes :) Please create manually a subfolder in the account where it didn't get created automatically (in the very same style, the upper case E is important here, too). Please also delete all the sync messages in the apps, wait for 15-20 mins and then re-open all the apps. Let's hope the sync starts then!

  • Members 4 posts
    May 21, 2021, 12:41 p.m.

    Ok, I think I got it right this time ! Not sure of what exactly did the trick, though :

    • I've manually created the pEp folder on the account on which it did not get created automatically (but when I was trying to send from the other account where the pEp folder was created, I had a problem too).
    • I've manually subscribed to this pEp IMAP folder on Thunderbird (so it shows up on the folder list under Inbox)
    • I removed all pEp sync emails,
    • I've closed both apps and reopened them 20 minutes or so later

    And... the sync handshake window popped up on both my computer and my iPhone :)
    Edit : the handshake seemed to have been applied to only one adress : when sending from the other address, the status on iOs is still "Secure" (yellow), not "Secured and authentic" (green). How can I turn this green ?

    Anyway, thanks a lot for your help !

    By the way, I would have two suggestions for the iOS app :
    - let the ability to select preferred folders on the iOS app : it shows by default all IMAP folders, and I wish it would let me define some folders as favourites, and display them at the top (as the Mail app is doing). I have tens of folders to scroll through, so this feature would be a must...
    - in the mail list, reduce the sender icon size on the left (along with the security colored dot). It takes almost 1/4th of the screen width on my iPhone SE :(

  • Members 4 posts
    May 21, 2021, 1:04 p.m.

    Note : For Thunderbird, it's written in the doc :
    The Handshake

    But when clicking on the "Privacy Status bar" (the green horizontal bar above the message ?) nothing happens. I have TB 68.12.1.
    On iOS, clicking on the sender's mail opens up the handshake window.

    TB message window