S3Drive - App quits after login on MacOS Sequoia 15.2

Steps: Installed latest version of rclone. Installed latest version of MacFuse Installed latest version of S3 Drive app Launch app, it asks for login. App quits after login.

flutter: App version: 1.10.4
flutter: App config initialized
flutter: preFutureInit()
flutter: Initializing auth
2
+[IMKClient subclass]: chose IMKClient_Modern
+[IMKInputSession subclass]: chose IMKInputSession_Modern
Enter configuration password:
password:

What password am I supposed to enter here? There are no encrypted drives added to the account or app. It's not the root password. It's not the account password. And more importantly, why isn't that prompt presented in the app? Okay, so it was asking for the rclone pass for local rclone encrypted conf. 1. The app should prompt for that 2. The app shouldn't use existing rclone conf on first launch without being specifically asked to do so. (edited)

Also, why do I need Apple Media Services account to use this?

4:39 AM

@Tom Thoughts on any of this?

4:40 AM

I'm trying to figure out if this is the service / app I'm going to start paying for. Kinda need to figure these things out before I make that call.

DuckFaceUSA

Steps: Installed latest version of rclone. Installed latest version of MacFuse Installed latest version of S3 Drive app Launch app, it asks for login. App quits after login.

flutter: App version: 1.10.4
flutter: App config initialized
flutter: preFutureInit()
flutter: Initializing auth
2
+[IMKClient subclass]: chose IMKClient_Modern
+[IMKInputSession subclass]: chose IMKInputSession_Modern
Enter configuration password:
password:

What password am I supposed to enter here? There are no encrypted drives added to the account or app. It's not the root password. It's not the account password. And more importantly, why isn't that prompt presented in the app? Okay, so it was asking for the rclone pass for local rclone encrypted conf. 1. The app should prompt for that 2. The app shouldn't use existing rclone conf on first launch without being specifically asked to do so. (edited)

Hi @DuckFaceUSA

The app shouldn't use existing rclone conf on first launch without being specifically asked to do so.

That's a good idea. We will think how to build such a prompt, having in mind different workflows. E.g. in some cases app creates: rclone.conf on its own (in order to use Rclone features for S3 endpoints configured in-app). Or we'll keep it simple, e.g. when navigating to Rclone tab, before we touch rclone.conf we will prompt user if they allow us to do so.

Okay, so it was asking for the rclone pass for local rclone encrypted conf.

We've never tried running app with encrypted Rclone config, this is on our feature list: https://s3drive.canny.io/feature-requests/p/rclone-encrypted-config Did it actually work for you in the end?

Also, why do I need Apple Media Services account to use this?

We haven't tested the app without the Apple account. We're not exactly sure why this prompt is needed, so we'll add a task for ourselves to check that out and identify which library/component that we use does that, as we're not requiring it explicitly. Three things that come to my mind is payment library: in_app_purchase_storekit, review prompt: in_app_review or library to store sensitive credentials in the macOS keychain, library: flutter_secure_storage_macos. We'll see what we can do regarding these. Thanks for your feedback! (edited)

Tom

Hi @DuckFaceUSA

The app shouldn't use existing rclone conf on first launch without being specifically asked to do so.

That's a good idea. We will think how to build such a prompt, having in mind different workflows. E.g. in some cases app creates: rclone.conf on its own (in order to use Rclone features for S3 endpoints configured in-app). Or we'll keep it simple, e.g. when navigating to Rclone tab, before we touch rclone.conf we will prompt user if they allow us to do so.

Okay, so it was asking for the rclone pass for local rclone encrypted conf.

We've never tried running app with encrypted Rclone config, this is on our feature list: https://s3drive.canny.io/feature-requests/p/rclone-encrypted-config Did it actually work for you in the end?

Also, why do I need Apple Media Services account to use this?

We haven't tested the app without the Apple account. We're not exactly sure why this prompt is needed, so we'll add a task for ourselves to check that out and identify which library/component that we use does that, as we're not requiring it explicitly. Three things that come to my mind is payment library: in_app_purchase_storekit, review prompt: in_app_review or library to store sensitive credentials in the macOS keychain, library: flutter_secure_storage_macos. We'll see what we can do regarding these. Thanks for your feedback! (edited)

Hi @Tom. Thanks for your reply. >Did it actually work for you in the end? Yes, once I entered the password in terminal, the S3 Drive App showed the existing encrypted rclone config correctly. I had previously used Rclone Browser to create this in MacOS. >Apple Media Services account As a privacy-focused service/app, I believe this is an important concern to address. My personal use case involves moving away from unencrypted cloud services that claim to keep your data private, but in reality, it remains accessible to employees of the cloud provider. While services like pCloud, Icedrive, and MEGA promise end-to-end encryption, it ultimately boils down to a case of “trust me, bro.” The added requirement for Apple Media Services to prompt for an account sign-in only heightens that sense of unease. It raises questions like: Why is this necessary? What data is being collected, and is it being shared with Apple? These are significant considerations for users prioritizing privacy. Ultimately, it would be incredible if the app could seamlessly sync photos and videos from Android to an rclone-encrypted pCloud account, while also allowing smooth playback and viewing directly within the app. In the past, I’ve used Round Sync to upload media to multiple cloud services for redundancy, but that only addresses half of the workflow. I truly appreciate and respect the work you’re doing here, but it feels like the app isn’t quite at a level that justifies its current price point. Right now, it comes across more as paying for the potential of an app that could eventually become outstanding. Which might be a justified investment if there is longevity in the project, and milestones are reached within a reasonable timeframe.

As a privacy-focused service/app, I believe this is an important concern to address. [...] The added requirement for Apple Media Services to prompt for an account sign-in only heightens that sense of unease.

Our primary development environment is Linux, hence we don't always capture these shenanigans on other platforms. You can be sure we will prioritise that.

it ultimately boils down to a case of “trust me, bro.”

Trust is a basic foundation in life. You can even refer to some open-source projects, but if they aren't available on Linux (not going to name them) or you won't build it yourself, ultimately you trust that Google Play, Apple iOS Store or whoever hasn't played with the binary. We hope that over time our project, team and business will be time tested.

Ultimately, it would be incredible if the app could seamlessly sync photos and videos from Android to an rclone-encrypted pCloud account,

S3Drive in a current form can do it. It's not probably seamless just yet (especially the configuration), but what we have now is a prototype that demonstrate it is possible, it just needs some improvements. Configuration: https://docs.s3drive.app/setup/providers/#pcloud Crypt + Pcloud: https://docs.s3drive.app/setup/providers/#manual-setup

while also allowing smooth playback and viewing directly within the app.

That's coming, we're building expertise with Rclone codebase, we've already a prototype of a streaming interface between Rclone <> S3Drive, but that needs more development resource to finalize. https://s3drive.canny.io/feature-requests/p/implement-file-preview-for-rclone-back-ends

I truly appreciate and respect the work you’re doing here,

Thank you, we're trying hard! (edited)

3:18 PM

but it feels like the app isn’t quite at a level that justifies its current price point.

It's all relative. App supports many different workflows, platforms and use cases and uses open, well documented communication and encryption protocols. Its scope and complexity is way bigger than any other app, yet we're a tiny team. Given that most of our users are lifetime members instead of subscribers, we think this is a fair price to pay once and take control of your cloud without significant running costs. I believe that most users that bought S3Drive would likely get it if the price was higher, whereas making it cheaper doesn't mean other users would like it. Lifetime model is the least sustainable for a business like us which is expected to provide updates, features, address Google/Apple platform requirements/policies.

Right now, it comes across more as paying for the potential of an app that could eventually become outstanding. Which might be a justified investment if there is longevity in the project, and milestones are reached within a reasonable timeframe.

That's somewhat true. I mean how could we finance development without selling our souls to VCs? Lifetime price has some promises priced-in, simply speaking because every project had its early days before becoming a mature, battle-tested. You're more than welcome to visit us in a next few months and reevaluate. We've started in mid-2022, as just a photo sync app, just on Android and Backblaze only. Half a year later S3Drive arised, supporting all platforms, and S3 protocol. Another half a year later we fully supported Rclone encryption. Another half a year later we've integrated with Rclone CLI and started provide minimal support for all supported back-ends. With plenty of features delivered in 2024, including advanced Sync, new encryption scheme, encrypted sharing, our custom S3 storage, we're not stopping. https://s3drive.app/changelog (edited)

Changelog - S3Drive

3:20 PM

Market is saturated with different cloud projects, many of them having even open-source client, but with mostly closed-source back-end. We've took a different path, lots of magic is enclosed within the software and we can talk to most back-ends. Vast majority of our functionality is free to use, and if you don't feel like paying for Ultimate you can spend some time with Rclone itself, do some automation, snippets and don't even need to rely on S3Drive. You pay for convenience layer, that's optional. Given that you considered Ultimate, is there any particular feature that you have in mind? Have you tried free version of the app? (edited)