Memengo™ Community and Support

Regarding a way to preserve current security while outside the Memengo app. Might I suggest writing a time stamp into the wallet, or other file, upon exiting the app. When relaunching the app, simply check the time stamp to see if the lockout time has elapsed.

(No offense Kyle :-)) None taken. I'm glad Robert gave an even better senario. I also go though that situation as well and it is annoying.

With regard to Robert's comment,

Based on how I believe the app works:

It's not as simple as just checking a time stamp, because the app should never know how to decrypt your data. The only way it knows how to decrypt the data is by using your pass phrase. Thus the pass phrase would need to be saved somewhere, which is a security risk.

If you want to leave the app and return to it, it means the key would have to be stored somewhere on the hard drive most likely. This would present a security risk because someone could then read the key from the hard drive. While it is unlikely that someone would be able to get your password using this method, it is possible. If it's really that important and enough users request it, I guess it could be a setting (disabled by default). That way only those that are willing to take that risk can have that feature.

You got it exactly right. In order for the wallet to open up automatically within e.g. 5 minutes of you closing it we would have to store the key somewhere. And if we do, there is nothing preventing the thief from dialing back the clock and pretending that he is opening the wallet moments after you closed it. Even if they didn't know the exact time they could find out with about one hour worth of work and the right tools. It's risky.

It would have been a lot easier if we could ask the iPhone OS "hey, store this for me but delete it in 5 minutes, ok?". Alas, it doesn't seem that OS supports that.

Yeah, I guess this is a different feature than what they wanted.

Actually now that I think about it, maybe you could let the iPhone lock as it normally would, it's just that when the user unlocks it, it would see if the specified amount of time has passed or not. If too much time has passed, then exit the app. Otherwise, let the app remain open. For some reason I was thinking that once the iPhone is locked, it means that Memengo has to exit. I forgot that it can remain open, lol.

The only issue I see with this is if your auto-lock setting on the iPhone is 5 minutes (for example) and you set the auto-lock of Memengo to 2 minutes. It basically means that you want the app to exit after 2 minutes of inactivity. This would be a brand new feature that would need to be implemented. You don't necessarily want the iPhone to lock, you just want the app to exit. This part of the "Memengo auto lock feature" is not that important to me, because my iPhone lock will be lower than my Memegno lock. It would only be an issue for those with a high iPhone auto-lock and would want a lower auto-lock for Memengo.

So now it basically sounds like 2 distinct features that need to be implemented as opposed to the 1 feature I originally thought would need to be implemented in my previous post. While it does seem like more work than my original thought, it does seem like the correct solution though. Because what you want to control is when Memengo should close, not when the phone should lock.

So basically you would need to implement:
• if memengoAutoLock <= iphoneAutoLock: Create a timer that checks for user inactivity and exit the app once enough time passed.
• if memengoAutoLock > iphoneAutoLock: When the iPhone returns from locked mode, check to see if too much time has passed, and if so exit Memengo.

Unless there is a way to execute code while the phone is locked (via a timer for example). In that case, you would simply exit the app when the inactivity time is reached and you wouldn't need the above two scenarios. It would just be one neat little function for both parts of this feature.

btw, because it would no longer force/prevent an iPhone lock, I really should have called the feature something else like "Timeout" instead of "Auto-lock" to avoid confusion. Also the first value it could be set to would be called "On iPhone Lock" instead of "Default". This would allow you to retain the way it currently works.

I hope that makes sense, and sorry for the long post.

Yes it makes perfect sense. I coded the change as you described, it will be in the next update.

Kyle, this should make you happy as well.

Robert, your request is still on my mind.

Wow that was quick, thanks for listening to your users. Keep up the great work. Any ETA for the next update?

I can push it out at any time, but I try to batch up several new features together so that people feel they got something with the new update. Right now there is not many changes to be pushed - this one, plus font changes for better readability.

Actualy, let me ask you this - would you rather see more frequent updates with fewer features in each, or less frequent updates with more features?

Just got the new version… very nice implementation of the feature. Thanks, now I can use 1 minute auto-lock again.

Sorry it took so long. I am juggling two products at once (the other one is http://geetasks.com) plus Apple is taking their sweet time to approve updates. I promise to make it faster next time. Would you be interested in Beta-testing future versions of the Wallet app?

Thanks Thanks Thanks Denis!!!! I haven't been here in quite a while, but I definitely appreciate the upgrade with the timeout option. It makes a big difference on how I use the application now. I've been extremely busy over the months so I couldn't thank you earlier so I'm thanking you now. I like the other features as well. Thanks again.