[FEATURE] Make optional the quick start menu

[O35dE]

When you long press the application icon the quick start option menu appears along with the names of the first four DBs.

• Device: iPhone 15
• OS: iOS 17.4.1

Strongbox Zero Version: 1.59.9

Description:
Would it be possible to make this quick start menu optional? Some users may use in the name of the DB some information that they would not like to make visible from outside the application by anyone who inadvertently has access to their iPhone.

Steps to reproduce the behavior:
Long press the app icon and the names of four DBs are displayed.

Expected behavior:
Nothing is shown outside the app.

[strongbox-mark]

Yes, not a bad idea, we'll try to fit it into the next release.

[O35dE]

Thanks a lot Mark, your solution is splendid as it combines the best (by far) pw manager app + best support.

[O35dE]

Perfect, thanks a lot for v. 1.59.10. :-)

[O35dE]

Hi, sry but it does not seem to be working as it should, DB names are still shown occasionally in the quick launch menu, I was able to reproduce it after rebooting the iPhone, running v. 1.59.11, iOS 17.4.1.

[strongbox-mark]

I can't seem to reproduce this, would you be able to send instructions on how you do this so we can repeat it? Is the switch definitely off? Is a restart required?

[O35dE]

Yes the switch is always off since v. 1.59.10.
After restarting the iPhone the q/s menu is visible again, and it will eventually disappear if I keep using the iPhone and try once more later, i.e. if I check the menu and the DB names are visible, after unlocking SB Zero and closing it, the quick start menu will not be visible.
Then after another restart of the iPhone, there it is back again.
I was able to reproduce this behavior several times.

[strongbox-mark]

Yes, I see the issue myself too, but it actually appears to be some kind of iOS level issue. Apple must keep some kind of cache around which isn't properly cleared. I'll raise this issue with Apple via their Feedback Assistant but unfortunately these kinds of things usually just go into a blackhole...

To workaround this, the best thing you can do is remove Strongbox completely (making sure you've got copies of your databases somewhere safe). Then reinstall, go straight to preferences and turn the option OFF, so that the database names themselves never enter any Apple iOS level cache. Then you can start re-adding your databases.

[O35dE]

Thanks but this also does not seem to work for me, I followed your solution but q/s menu is back after a restart of the iPhone, only working solution for me is running one of those apps that lock the apps you choose by using Face Id, this also prevents the quick start menu.

[O35dE]

By the way, this problem does not seem to be related to the iOS cache but to a default configuration of the application, which could be changed by the user’s option of disabling the quick start menu only when SB is opened once after the restart of the device.
I may be wrong but the cache seems to be related to which DB names will appear in the menu, and not the “on/off” option.
Could you please test if after some device restarts the menu will remain disabled?
And if it doesn’t work, I wonder if maybe it would if the default configuration for this option was “disabled”, at least in the Zero version?

I have choosen SB Zero for the idea of having premium privacy and security options, and it in fact delivers it, but the possibility of someone from outside the application who inadvertently has access to the iPhone, being able to pry what can be found inside it by simply long pressing the app icon a little breaks this concept.
It is interesting to note that afaik no other app for iPhone based on the Keepass solution offers this q/s menu that as a side effect discloses the name of the DBs, including the local ones, from outside the app, only coincidentally the one who features the most advanced privacy and security options 😄.

Depending on the complexity of the user's data configuration, it may be necessary to have informations in the name of the DBs that should be inaccessible unless after the unlocking of the app by the authorized user.

In addition, this quick start menu also goes in the opposite direction to the app protection and duress pin features and the possibility of plausible deniability, by allowing anyone with initial access to the iPhone to know about the amount of DBs (up to four) contained in the app and their names.

[strongbox-mark]

Thanks @O35dE - When you say:

one of those apps that lock the apps you choose by using Face Id

What are these?

The cache appears to remember the shortcut items after a restart only if they've ever been set. So, the (unfortunate) solution is to do a clean install of Strongbox, launch and go straight to settings to switch this off before you add a database. Once the app never puts these shortcut items in the menu, the system never caches them.

Could you please test if after some device restarts the menu will remain disabled?

Sure, we've done this, but this is also something you can do yourself too, right?

And if it doesn’t work, I wonder if maybe it would if the default configuration for this option was “disabled”, at least in the Zero version?

Sure, it's something we'll think about.

Depending on the complexity of the user's data configuration, it may be necessary to have informations in the name of the DBs that should be inaccessible unless after the unlocking of the app by the authorized user.

Can you provide an example, it'll be helpful for our consideration.

[O35dE]

What are these?

Hi thanks for the reply, like this app - https://apps.apple.com/br/app/omnilock/id1645472970

The cache appears to remember the shortcut items after a restart only if they've ever been set. So, the (unfortunate) solution is to do a clean install of Strongbox, launch and go straight to settings to switch this off before you add a database. Once the app never puts these shortcut items in the menu, the system never caches them.

Sure, we've done this, but this is also something you can do yourself too, right?

Well as I have posted (#776 (comment)) what you describe does not work to me. That is why I suggested you to restart the device to re-check. My menu was back just after the FIRST restart, after carefully following your suggestion.

Edit: Just tested once more, deleted the app, downloaded again, just after it was installed I changed the default “on” q/s menu option to “off”, imported the DBs, and menu is back just after restarting my iPhone.

Btw when you say “the app never puts these shortcut items in the menu”, do you mean that following your suggestion and immediately after a device restart, your q/s menu with the first four DB names is disabled (completely off) or do you mean that it is shown but it will not update itself, in other words it is displayed but it will not show the actual first four DB names that are currently contained in the app?

Sure, it's something we'll think about.

Cool thanks.

Can you provide an example, it'll be helpful for our consideration.

? Well when the user has many DBs and uses a more detailed description in the name of each other than “My passwords 1”, “My passwords 2” or something like that, so this user may not want these detailed descriptions to be available from outside the app by anyone who gains initial access to the iPhone.
Anyway in my opinion the main problem with this q/s menu is related to the app protection and duress pin features and its implication with the plausible deniability.

And what is the point of this feature called “quick start” menu?
The four DBs that appear in the menu are the first four of the app's internal list.
Strongbox has two excellent features, one enables the free arrangement of the DBs order in the list, and the other allows a DB to be started as soon as the app unlocks.
So…
Using the q/s menu
(1) User must long press app’s icon
(2) Select a DB (out of four options)
(3) Unlock the app (pin/faceid)
(4) Open the DB using credentials

Not using the q/s menu
(1) User unlocks the app (pin/faceid)
(2) Selects a DB from the list (note that in Strongbox a DB can be choosen for fast start 🚀 as soon as the app unlocks and additionally as said the DBs order can be arranged as the user wishes, so the four DBs in the q/s menu are already at the top of the list)
(3) Opens the DB using credentials

For a regular app the q/s menu could represent a minor advantage, but not for a password manager like Strongbox that demands an app lock and DB credentials to be entered by the user before the data can be actually accessed, and even more especially “for Power Users” of the Zero version of the app, “designed for privacy conscious individuals”.