Technophobia

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It's happened; I have finally reached that stage of retirement where I believe it appropriate to declare myself a technophobe. It all came to a head yesterday after permitting my iPad to  update to iOS 14.6. I'd been avoiding the upgrade on the basis that whilst it might resolve some issues it would inevitably create others. However, conscious that certain apps appeared to be struggling, I ultimately and unwisely decided to try it as a potential solution.

I wish I hadn't bothered, or at least not without doing a little more investigating as to the consequences.

How do you keep your passwords safe? I moved on from the favoured one or two repetitive sequences several years ago and purchased a purpose designed app that stores passwords in an encrypted format. It automatically backs up to iCloud,  and I recently even started to rely on it to generate frustratingly unmemorable chains of random digits.

Now, I did consider, rather than chancing my luck and banking on the iPad always working, that I should have a back up copy other than that stored in the Cloud. However, time got in the way and although I have made a couple of pages of hard to decipher jottings in a notebook, it is another of those unfinished projects.

Imagine, therefore, my despair when seeking to consult my Password App following the iOS update I received only a dialogue box with the message: The developer of this app needs to update it to work with this version of iOS.

Thank you Apple; thank you developer; that's 5 or 6 years of passwords totally missing. Seriously, where was the warning guys? My information may be safely stored in the Cloud but it is of no use whatsoever if I cannot access it.

I have logged into various forums to check on potential resolutions but there seems to be a myriad of frustrated password losers like me out there. In desperation I turned to the Apple Store. Whilst I had established that the app I had purchased and which is now as much use as the proverbial chocolate fireguard, is no longer available, there is a similar version from the same developer. I uploaded the free version in the hope of restoring my password back-up in iCloud to it. 

More time wasted! On this occasion the dialogue box that appeared bluntly advised that my back up file on iCloud can't be used any more. Unhelpfully it even suggested going to the old version of the app (that's right the one that can no longer be opened) to create a new back up to synchronise with.

Fortunately all is not lost in so far as I have always been able to recall the log in details and passcodes for my internet banking and email accounts. Also those sites that I frequently visit from my iPad have the passwords stored in settings, accessible with my finger print.

I am now painstakingly collating what I can and writing it down in a format that will hopefully be incomprehensible to any passing opportunist. Frankly the hassle of having the odd account hacked would probably be less onerous than losing a complete record. Technology and app behind me, I now propose sleeping securely in the future, safe in the knowledge that cyber criminals can't hack paper.

 

Comments

Jean said…
Good grief, what a pain!
Whatever happened to "if it ain't broke, don't fix it"? I was determined not to be a slave to Apple but finally gave in when my iPad wouldn't do much of anything any more - all because the upgrades made it obsolete! Trying to keep up with technology has made the Apple people very rich and I refused to do it until absolutely forced to. I bought a new one a couple of months ago and feel reluctant to admit that it's so good that I should really have caved in and done it sooner..........rats !!!
I now feel very relieved that we keep our passwords in a much more old fashioned and old person kind of way!
20 June 2021 at 12:18
Caree Risover said…
Yes, I detest Apple (no delete key for starters) but love my iPad. Yesterday, however, I finally graduated as a dinosaur and am returning to paper!
20 June 2021 at 12:52
Treaders said…
I hate IOS upgrades too for fear of what it will screw up. When I upgrade on my computer I no longer "upgrade" anything that mentions audio because I lost audio last time I did that and had to reverse the upgrade. Progress huh!!! As for my passwords, I do it the old fashioned way and I have them all written down in a Word document, which itself has a password on it. So far it's worked, but what a hassle trying to reconstitute all your passwords!
21 June 2021 at 14:59
Caree Risover said…
To be honest although I’d vaguely considered the hassle of downloading from the cloud in the event of loss or breakage, I’d never contemplated the total obsolescence of an App without advance notice. How naive am I? Might have to give up my blog and revert to a paper diary if these things happen!
21 June 2021 at 18:02
Jeanette Lewis said…
When we updated our wills a couple of years ago, our lawyer suggested an old-fashioned book of passwords. He told us a few stories of executors or adult children trying to access important data from the computers of deceased people if for no other reason than to disable accounts. I've followed his advice although it's a pain in the you-know-where to remember to keep the booklet updated.
21 June 2021 at 19:59
Caree Risover said…
I think my difficulty with a paper record in the past has either been putting it away in a safe place and forgetting where, or else trying to be clever with how I described my passwords meaning that when I revisited the record I couldn’t fathom what the password was. Going forward though, I do like the idea of a simple old fashioned list.
21 June 2021 at 22:49
Jennyff said…
My husband had pages and pages of passwords and ID in a Filofax, his handwriting illegible, I complained I’d never be able to get to his money if anything happened so he put all the information into an app. I have no idea how to get into that either.
24 June 2021 at 15:15
Caree Risover said…

Oh dear Jennyff , you’ve just reminded me of the need to train in code breaking too in order to crack Mr E’s secret system !
24 June 2021 at 17:01
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