Encrypted Sync & Devices
Cruise Buddy keeps your cruises on every device you sign in to. Add an excursion on your laptop at home and it's on your phone at the port.
It does this without us being able to read any of it. Your cruises are encrypted in your browser, with a key that never leaves your devices, before anything is sent to our server.
📷 Screenshot needed: Encrypted sync card (
/images/settings/sync.png)
How it works
- Your devices hold the key. When you turn on sync, your browser creates an encryption key. It is never sent to us in a form we can use.
- The server holds ciphertext. Every cruise, day, payment, person and journal entry is encrypted before upload. Documents and photos are encrypted the same way.
- Each device keeps a working copy. To search and show your plans offline, the browser keeps a readable copy of your data on the device.
What we can and cannot see
We cannot read your cruises, people, documents or journal. The server can still see the kinds of records you store and how many there are, their sizes, when they were edited, and ordinary connection details such as your IP address. We say so because it is true, not because we use it for anything.
Because your data is encrypted with a key only your devices hold, we cannot recover it for you. That is what the recovery code is for.
Recovery code
You're shown your recovery code once, when you turn on sync. You need it to:
- Sign in on a new phone, tablet or computer.
- Get back in after a browser has been cleared, or after you locked this browser.
Keep it in a password manager, or written down somewhere safe at home. Nobody at Cruise Buddy can see it, reset it or recover it.
Lost your recovery code?
If you still have a device that is signed in and unlocked, your cruises are safe there. Add a passphrase from that device straight away, so you have a way back in.
If every device has been signed out and you have neither the recovery code nor a passphrase, your encrypted cruises cannot be opened — by you or by us.
Passphrase
Settings → Security → Passphrase lets you add a memorable passphrase of at least 12 characters, as an easier alternative to typing the recovery code on a new device. You can change it at any time from the same place.
The recovery code keeps working alongside it and remains the stronger fallback.
Unlocking a new device
Sign in on the new device with your emailed link. Cruise Buddy recognises that your account already has a key and shows Unlock this browser. Enter your recovery code or passphrase and your cruises download.
Sync status
The account icon in the main navigation carries a coloured dot, and the Encrypted sync card in Settings (also in the Account menu) says what's happening:
| Status | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Up to date (green) | Everything on this device has reached the server, and the server has been checked for changes from your other devices. |
| Syncing… (blue) | Sending changes, or checking the server for changes from your other devices. |
| N changes waiting to sync | Changes on this device are queued. They'll be sent automatically; Sync now sends them straight away. |
| Offline (amber) | No connection. Changes are kept safely on this device and sent when you reconnect. |
| Sync failed (red) | Something went wrong. Your changes are still on this device; tap Retry sync. |
| Sync unavailable (grey) | Your account is signed in but the server isn't syncing right now. Nothing has been lost. |
| Not synced yet | This device hasn't completed a sync. Tap Check now. |
Cruise Buddy syncs in the background while it's open, and as soon as you come back online.
Devices
Settings → Devices lists every phone, tablet and browser signed in to your account, with when each last synced. The one you're using is marked This device.
Tap Remove to stop a device syncing — a lost phone, or a computer you no longer use. A removed device can't sync again until someone signs in on it afresh.
Removing a device stops it syncing but does not erase what is already stored on it. If you remove the device you're using, it locks immediately.
Locking this browser
Settings → Security → Lock this browser removes your key and the readable copy of your cruises from this device. Your encrypted copy stays on the server and on your other devices. To use Cruise Buddy here again, unlock with your recovery code or passphrase.
Lock a browser you're about to stop using — a shared or borrowed computer, for example.
Cruise Buddy also locks a browser on its own after seven days without use, so an abandoned session doesn't leave your cruises readable. It never does this while there are changes that haven't synced.
Unsynced changes are protected
Signing out and locking both remove your data from the device. If anything hasn't reached the server yet, Cruise Buddy warns you first and offers Sync now. You can still choose Sign out anyway or Lock anyway, but anything unsynced is then lost.
Documents and photos
Records sync on every account. The files attached to them — documents, passport scans and journal photos — are stored and synced with Cruise Buddy Plus.
A file row can show one of three states:
- On this device — the file is here and can be opened offline.
- Waiting to upload — added on this device and not yet uploaded.
- Not downloaded yet — the file is on your account but hasn't been downloaded to this device.
Related
- Your Cruise Buddy account
- Installing Cruise Buddy — installed apps are less likely to have their storage cleared.