Advanced Functionality

Advanced functionality is here defined as the features which are not part of the basic process of creating, retrieving and deleting passwords.

This section includes the creation of a new application password, how the application reacts when losing access to the Internet, uploading and downloading the backup files manually, retrieving a password when one cloud is disconnected, and the notifications the user will receive when shares are deleted outside the application.

The functionality for retrieving a password when one cloud is dis-connected is part of the core concept of the application, but it is not something that the user will experience during normal use. Therefore, it is placed under the advanced functionality section.

New Application Password

To create a new application password, which is the password created in Figure 3.4, the user has to press the "Change password for app" button in the drop-down menu. As shown in Figure 3.20, the user will receive a pop-up with a warning message about creating a new password for the application. By pressing the "OK" button, the user is directed to the page for creating a new password. The process of creating a new password and logging in is described in Section 3.2.1.

Figure 3.20: Screenshot of the application; left: warning message for creating new application password, middle: creating a new application password, right: login page - password successfully created.

3.2. FINAL USER INTERFACE 33 No Access to the Internet

If the phone loses connection to the Internet, the user will not be able to use the application. Figure 3.21 shows the error messages displayed to the user when trying to e.g. create a new password or retrieve a password.

Also, if the user opens the application without being connected to the Internet, all clouds will have a "NOT OK" status, and the user will not have access to the drop-down menu. The message below the clouds will inform the user that the phone is disconnected from the Internet and that it has to be connected to use the application. If the user tries to log out of the clouds while being disconnected from the Internet, this is the page that will get loaded. Then, when the phone reconnects to the Internet, all clouds will be logged out as shown in Figure 3.6.

The reason for implementing this is to reduce the probability of errors and ensure that all shares and backup files are delivered correctly, without potentially creating queues for when the phone is reconnected to the Internet.

Figure 3.21: Screenshot of the application; left: connection status page with no Internet connection, middle: create new password page with no Internet connection, right: retrieve password page with no Internet connection.

34 3. THE USER INTERFACE OF THESECRETSHARINGAPPLICATION

Uploading and Downloading the Backup Files Manually The user also has the possibility to upload and download the backup files manually. This feature is implemented so that the user do not have to create a new password to download the backup files, in case, for example, one of the clouds is disconnected. The pop-ups the user will receive are referring to a single backup file, as the content will, in most cases, be identical, and from the users perspective, it is seen as a single entity.

By clicking on the "Upload backup file" button on the retrieve pass-words page, the user will receive the pop-up shown in Figure 3.22. If a backup file has already been created, the user will also receive a pop-up with a warning message, informing the user about the possibility of losing passwords. After pressing the "OK" button, the user will receive the same messages as in Figure 3.18, indicating that the backup files have been updated on OneDrive and Google Drive.

Figure 3.22: Screenshot of the application; left: pop-up asking if the user wants to upload a backup file, right: warning message informing about the possibility of losing passwords.

3.2. FINAL USER INTERFACE 35 To download a backup file manually, the user will have to click the

"Download backup file" button on the retrieve passwords page. Similar to uploading the backup file, the user will receive a pop-up, asking to download the backup file. By pressing the "OK" button, the backup files will be downloaded from OneDrive and Google Drive, as long as the files exist. Figure 3.23 shows the messages the user will receive, which includes instructions to reload the page to update the list of platform names.

Figure 3.23: Screenshot of the application; left: pop-up asking if the user wants to download the backup file, middle: backup file downloaded from OneDrive, left: backup file downloaded from Google Drive.

One Cloud Disconnected

Since the application uses a (2,3) threshold scheme, described further in Chapter 4, Section 4.5, the user should still be able to retrieve passwords even though one of the three clouds is disconnected. To delete or create new passwords, the user has to be logged into all clouds, as this affects all clouds.

Figure 3.24 shows the procedure of retrieving a password when one cloud is disconnected, and it is identical to the process described in Section 3.2.4.

Furthermore, as an example, Figure 3.25 shows the message the user will receive when uploading the backup files with one cloud disconnected.

Here, the warning message about overwriting the previously saved backup file, shown in Figure 3.22, is not included. When downloading the backup

36 3. THE USER INTERFACE OF THESECRETSHARINGAPPLICATION

files, the application will display a similar message informing the user that OneDrive is not connected.

Figure 3.24: Screenshot of the application; left: OneDrive disconnected, middle: pop-up asking to retrieve password, right: password retrieved.

Figure 3.25: Screenshot of the application; left: pop-up asking if the user wants to upload a backup file, middle: could not update backup file on OneDrive, right: backup file updated on Google Drive.

3.2. FINAL USER INTERFACE 37 Shares Deleted on the Clouds

Since clouds are used for storing the shares, there is a certain chance that the shares can be deleted outside the application. If the shares are removed from the clouds, an error message will be displayed, as shown in Figure 3.26. This message informs the user that there are not enough shares available to reconstruct the password.

Figure 3.26: Screenshot of the application; left: pop-up asking if the user wants to retrieve the password, right: error while retrieving the password - did not find enough shares.

If the user tries to delete a password that has no shares, a message will notify the user that no shares were found and that the password has been deleted, as shown in 3.27. As described in Figure 3.18, the application will give the user feedback on whether or not the share was deleted. If no share were found, the user would receive a notification informing that an error occurred while deleting the share, and ask the user to remove the share manually if it exists.

38 3. THE USER INTERFACE OF THESECRETSHARINGAPPLICATION

For this case, the deleted password is the last password in the list, so the backup files will also be deleted as shown in Figure 3.19.

Figure 3.27: Screenshot of the application; left: warning message asking if the user wants to delete the password, right: no shares found -deleting password from list.

Chapter