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Decryption fails running iOS 14.2

JohnK2

Just updated iPhone and iPad to iOS 14.2. Now, trying to open an encrypted file, it tell me "Decryption Failed. Null" If I open with Excel, it works fine. Anyone else having this issue?

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CEBR

I also have success opening an encrypted file within Dropbox after updated 14.4 IOS update. Thanks for everyone's help and input.

All comments

JohnK2

Not true. Apple has not resolved the issue. martz's work-aropunnd is the only way to temporarily resolve the issue.

wboerhout

same here

Worcesterman

I have the same problem. Using MS Office is not an interesting option.

dantsk

There is a quick workaround while we wait for Apple to fix the bug. Essentially it’s to use MS Office to open the file instead of letting iOS to enable the opening of the file.
1. Download MS Office into your iPhone/iPad
2. Click the encrypted file you want to open
3. You will be presented with a screen to put in the password. Instead of entering the password, click the “share” icon at the top right corner (Rectangle with Up Arrow)
4. Click the MS Office icon
5. Enter password and the file should now open using the appropriate MS app.

Hope this helps while we wait for Apple to resolve the issue.

Jenncas

Same here
I can access on my main computer but not on my iPhone and this is really not how it should be

Jenncas

Same issue

Jenncas

I have XL installed on my iPhone and it still doesn’t work on dropbox

JohnK2

Here's the easiest way to do this, until Apple fixes the friggen problem! On your iPhone or iPad, you've got iOS File app. Simply open the app, you should see your dropbox files in there. Click on the file and enter your password. It works like a charm.

CEBR

Yes, fortunately I can open the failed decrypted file from Dropbox directly into the Microsoft Office app and it decrypts without a problem, but this two step process is a nuisance. Looking forward to a fix.

Valfother

New iPhone 12 reads decryption failed for emails, can anyone advise plz

Martz

Valfother, the answer to your question is in this thread, did you actually start at the beginning and read through peoples posts?

Tim25

I recently upgraded my app to Version 216.2, and now when I try to open an Excel file I get an error that says 'Decryption failed. (null)' Desktop version works fine. Any solutions out there? The help bot seems to be... worthless???

Martz

Tim25,

What app are you referring to? What are you trying to open it on? Need details

Ctmom

Did we ever get a solution to this or do I have to give up on Dropbox?

Martz

You won't get a solution until Apple releases a fix. All we have are work arounds as posted in this thread.

Nealwald

Hi all, please read all these posts. Martz is completely correct. This is an iOS 14.2 and 14.2.1 issue. Apple has to fix this. It is impacting many apps not just Dropbox. The workaround is to open your password protected Microsoft doc directly in the iOS Microsoft all such as word or excel or in the unified iOS office all. The will open in either directly.

keithplatts

I can no longer open any of my password protected files on my iPhone using the native app. I get the maessage "Decryption failed - (null). I can open the files with Word on my iPhone. I have the latest version of IOS (14.2) running on an iPhone SE2. Can anyone throw any light on this?

Walter

Hey there @keithplatts; thanks for joining our Community!

I just merged your post under this thread is it echoes the OP here.

Can you take a look and let us know if you have any follow questions?

Martz

Here is a successful workaround for iPhones and iPads running 14.2.x. Its called Interim Solution

This will have to do until Apple fixes the issue but at least its a free interim solution.

-Sky-

This may have been mentioned as a work-around already. When you bring up a Word document that is password protected, instead of trying to open it within Dropbox from the first screen that appears with the request for a password, click on "OPEN" which will cause the document to open in MS Word. The password requirement will be shown in Word and it will successfully accept the password. This also works for me with Excel documents.

CLiC

Yes, same issue for our entire team using Dropbox for Business. We found a related thread on Microsoft's community site, so definitely not the only ones experiencing this issue. Now, whether or not it will ever be addressed is another thing, because we could see every involved party (Apple - iOS, Microsoft, and Dropbox) all potentially pointing the finger at the other company, saying, "It's their fault."

https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/msoffice/forum/all/error-opening-password-protected-xlsx-file-on/470beb4a-baf3-4c48-a107-bc1105226822

Martz

This is a complaint on several forums and I have read where some people posted that they can in fact open a password protected MS Office file directly on their iPhone running 14.2.x without having MS Office installed but I firmly believe they were mistaken in that they did not understand how a file actually opens on their phone/tablet or they wrote in haste before having a chance to really test it.

Some have subsequently posted that all of a sudden it stopped working and they did nothing to their iPhone or iPad…this is ****** to understand but that is what they wrote. Some claimed Apple fixed it but said their iOS had not changed from when it did not work to when they said it did. Some people just don't put many details in their posts so you really have to guess at what they are saying and english may not be the mother tongue of others who post. When you hit upon a topic of interest in one of these support forums, you really have to read all the posts in it, not just the one marked Solved because many times that is not the real solution.

As of this writing, Apple has not released a fix that puts this feature back into iOS. However, there are still a couple ways of opening password protected MS Office files under iOS 14.2.X, none of them are as simple as they used to be before Apple released 14.2 so it entails an extra step now, it is what it is till they fix it, if in fact they see it as an issue in the first place, who knows, maybe it was intentional :-0

Yes, in looking at it from a different angle, we are talking about opening password protected Microsoft files on an Apple product where Apple software was doing all the work. Could it be Apple found out this was possible and decided to plug the ****** and make people download MS Office onto their device to be able to do it? Or could it be Microsoft discovered it was possible to open a password protected Microsoft file on an Apple device without first downloading or buying the Microsoft app and they complained to Apple? Well, at this point its anyones guess.

So once again, here is how it can be done.. ..

1- I installed the 'free' MS Office app (not 360), from the Apple App store and that takes care of Word, PowerPoint and Excel but I do not manually open that MS Office app when I need to open an MS password protected file. For me, I have my files (Excel, Word, etc) stored in Apple's "File" folder app which comes standard in iOS, all the files are there in one nice tidy place. I open the file I want from within the Files app and let the phone do the rest. I have not tried opening a file from within my Dropbox app as I just simply haven't used that app in a long time and I do not have the business edition of Dropbox but by explaining how I do it, I think those who do use Dropbox on their phones/tablets will find a work around as well.

When I touch the file I want to open, it looks at the file extension then looks at the apps on my phone, it finds the MS Office app and automatically opens that app and then that app opens my Excel file thereby prompting me for the password. Works great and since its opening it in the proper app instead of an Apple Preview, I get to use the app features if I want and I found it easier to zoom in and copy and paste in the actual app vs Preview. I'm actually starting to like it better than the way it was but would still like to see Apple put things back to the way they were because for me, a Preview of the file was good enough for my purposes.

2- Others just open their MS Office app first or if they don't have that app but only have the separate Excel or Word or Powerpoint app, they open that first, navigate to the file they want and open it by entering their password just like you would on a desktop.

In other words, you now need to have the app responsible for the file extension you want to open, on your device whereas before, Apple's embedded Preview opened it automatically. What was nice about using Preview was that you could "preview' the file directly from within Apple Mail and of course now you cannot. However, today’s devices are fast and it only takes two seconds for my iPhone to read the file extension, open the MS Office app and present me with the space to enter the password.

Here is one more workaround...that works! Take your password protected MS file and save it as a password protected pdf on your computer and email it to yourself and you will find that you can open it directly from within Apple Mail on an iOS 14.2.x device. This works for those who do not need to save the file but just need to open it to get the data within it and then will delete the email. Of course you can also keep it in your Files app if you want.

Hope this helps.. ..

MJKN

Thank you for looking into this as I have wasted a lot of time and concern on this decryption failed. (null) message.

My ticket is #11698965

MJKN

Symphonitron

Hi all,

I did a little investigating and here is my UX.

First of all, until recently, my process was like this:

1) I'd open the Boxcryptor app on my iPhone

2) I'd launch a Boxcryptor-encyrpted Excel file (which also happens to have password-to-open protection)

3) Excel would ask me for a password, and I'd enter it

4) My file would open (in read-only) and I could navigate around.

After the iOS update, the above process fails because, as everyone has indicated, the app renders a "Decryption failed. (null)" error in Step 4 (after I enter the password).

As a workaround, and perhaps it's a better process anyway, I don't launch the Boxcryptor app at all now. As long as it's installed, I just launch the Excel app.

But of course like on my computer I find my encrypted app in the Boxcryptor folder not directly in the Dropbox folder. (If you see ".bc" in the file name you can't open it unless you go through the Boxcryptor folder. This of course is by design.)

Within the Excel app, once I find my encrypted file in the Boxcryptor folder and launch it, it asks me for my password and then it opens up no problem. And it's actually better this way, because I can edit the file with the Excel app, and it has much stronger navigation features. (I'm not sure if I was always able to do that in the past, but I haven't checked in years. This issue has forced me to change to a better habit.)

So for MY experience, I just need to stop launching the Boxcryptor app - just leave it installed on my iPhone. To open my MS Office files I will use an MS Office app instead, and go in through the Boxcryptor folder. All is well.

--Chris

Deacon Art

This problem has been going on ever since 14.2 has broken into the ionosphere. Believe me, no one is listening. So, you can post the problem until the end of the earth and the same tepid relies will be posted.

Spinetta

Thanks for the explanation. have you checked it also with password protected Excel files in Dropbox?

JohnK2

Spinetta, I would highly suggest reading the whole thread. May take you maybe 10 minutes. And yes, your answer is there.

Franko82

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roba1702

With the new Iphone 12, the Excel type file (.xlsx) with access code is no longer available when you type the access code.

roba1702

I am also having this exact same issue/same error message after upgrading to iOS 14.2