Hi Dan,

Thank you for contacting us. Are your Mac Pro and MacBook Pro in the same WiFi network? When you set up WiFi syncing in mSecure 5 on a Mac for the first time, mSecure 5 sets that device as your Main Computer by default. If on the same WiFi network, after signing in to mSecure 5 on your MacBook Pro, mSecure 5 on that computer checked to see if it could communicate with your Main Computer (The Mac Pro) and did so. This sync took place locally and automatically. mSecure 5 on your MacBook Pro (the client), searched for and found mSecure 5 on your Mac Pro (the server) and initiated a sync as soon as you were done authenticating your mSecure account on that device.

If you'd like to disable auto-sync in mSecure 5 on the client device, please disable the "Sync Automatically" in mSecure 5 on the computer being used as the client.

Side note: doesn't this make mSecure 5 even easier? :-P

Hi Dan,

The Main computer or server cannot imitate a sync. Because of that, the main computer will not have an option to enable or disable the auto-sync. You can see from my screenshot that the option is there without the "Main Computer' toggle being enabled. 

The syncing in mSecure is set by default to be triggered automatically, and a manual sync can be initiated only on a "client" device. On your main computer you will not be able to perform a manual sync. Your main computer is what is known as a "server", which is the computer with which the "client" devices initiate communication. In the mSecure sync settings on your main computer, you will see a checkbox called "Main Computer", which is just a more approachable way of saying it's a "server," as many people don't know this type of technical lingo. A "server" just sits on the network and waits for the clients to connect with it. In the case of mSecure, the clients communicate with the server to TELL it a sync is necessary if the client knows it has changes to sync over to the server, and it also ASKS the server if there are changes to sync in to the client. The server will never tell the client anything. Again, it's just sitting as the server waiting to be interacted with by one of the client devices.

This is the reason why there is no manual sync functionality in mSecure on your main computer. It's the server, so it cannot tell the client anything, and the sync option in the menu at the top of the screen will always be grayed out. All syncing is initiated from the client, not the other way around.

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Can you try creating a new test record to test out syncing instead? Clicking the sync option without any changes can result in mSecure 5 not syncing because no changes are detected.

mSecure 5 does require an outside connection to sign in and authenticate to mSecure 5, set up WiFi syncing initially, and to update account settings. If your network settings changed, perhaps the WiFi syncing feature was not functioning. Once you enabled the outside connection again, mSecure 5 updated your WiFi connection settings for your account, and syncing was able to happen again.

If you'd like, you can run this test again. However, you'd have to enable WiFi syncing, set up a "Main Computer" and then block internet access somehow. If you switch network adapters or edit them in any way, please make sure that mSecure 5 on your computer is still showing the correct IP Addresses for your devices and their connections. If unplugging the ethernet cable changes the Main Computer's IP Address or the network it is using, you will not be able to sync via WiFi until you have internet connection and mSecure can update your account with the new connection settings.

Note: only our mSecure Cloud sync option stores encrypted account records in our system. If you had mSecure Cloud enabled, selecting any other option will permanently remove your information from our system.

Hi Dan,

Yes, you need to have a "Main computer" selected. Otherwise, you will not have a computer set up as the sync server. Before continuing, let me state that mSecure 3 uses Bonjour to update the IP Address and communicate between your devices. This was done because there was no account in the past. No accounts meant that the app was completely isolated to begin with and would need to update its settings using either manual input or some available computer service. That service was Apple's Bonjour Print Services. 

mSecure 5 no longer uses Bonjour. Instead, we save the local IP Address to your account settings (Local IP Addresses are not sensitive or unique). We did this to make syncing easier for most customers. It is the reason that your information was synced across your devices via WiFi right away. However, because we are relying on using your Account settings, an internet connection is needed to keep the "Main computer" and general account information updated.

Only our mSecure Cloud syncs or stores encrypted information on our servers. The way our syncing works, we don't just pass all the data from one device to another during every sync. Instead, the sync option you select stores the data in that service and is used as the server for all other devices. For example, when using our mSecure Cloud, your information is encrypted by your device and stored in our servers. Your initial sync would send all the encrypted data to us. When one of your devices signs in to your account, it asks our server for the encrypted information and the information is sent encrypted to your device. When a sync takes place, your device sends the single record updated information to our server in an encrypted form. Other devices will periodically check with the server to see if there are any changes. If the devices detect any changes, the devices will specifically request to get only the new information or modify the existing information according to the changes detected (delete something that was deleted on a different device for example).

Syncing works this way whether you are using our mSecure Cloud, Dropbox, iCloud, or Wi-Fi syncing. The main difference is where the information is stored. With mSecure Cloud, the encrypted information is stored with us, Dropbox with Dropbox, and iCloud with Apple. With WiFi syncing, the information is stored in the "Main Computer" you select, and all other devices communicate with the Main Computer or WiFi server to get the information they need. 

All that said, after testing WiFi syncing on our own network with no internet connection, I do see that syncing is not working. Again, this isn't because mSecure 5's WiFi syncing is sending the information to be stored with us or passing any of your record's information to us or being stored with us. That is not the case at all. However, some account settings are being needed and are causing WiFi syncing issues when not connected to the internet. I will be documenting these issues to see what can be done. Hopefully, we can keep the necessary information fully local, or bypass it in the future to allow WiFi syncing to take place when no internet connection is available.

Hi Henry,

I'm not sure I understand your question here. WiFi syncing, like all other sync methods, syncs encrypted data back and forth between devices. WiFi syncing requires one computer to be set up as the "Main computer" and mSecure 5 on any other device (on as many devices) should be able to sync via WiFi using that main computer or sync server afterwards. The requirements would be to be using mSecure 5 on each device, be signed in to the same mSecure account, and be on the same local network. 

The security is all on you when using WiFi syncing. Communication with our servers is done via TLS/SSL. However, WiFi syncing uses your local network IP Addresses to communicate. This would be done by connecting via a TCP connection on your local network IP Addresses (192.x.x.x, 172.x.x.x, 10.x.x.x, etc.) using ports 4070-4080. That said, just like all our other sync methods, your information would be sent back and forth in an encypted format, and the encryption key would still be your account key which only you have access to. You can learn more about our security model here: https://m7software.freshdesk.com/support/solutions/articles/36000064305-msecure-s-security-model