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Is it true you can't password protect Mail?

S

suzerain

macrumors regular
Original poster
Oct 5, 2000
197
0
Beijing, China
It occurs to me that the iPad is kind of designed to pass around the room, to share with friends and family...

...and yet, there is no way to password-protect Mail? Really? I can password-protect Safari, of all things, but not my personal email?

Just seems idiotic that, like, if I give this thing to my grandmother to play around with, that she can read my personal email. Or hell, to your child...
 
You cannot have multiple user accounts on the iPad like a traditional computer. It's meant to be a personal device. I think there are some apps that will give you more security. But bottomline, if you don't want people reading your email on your iPad only retrieve it from the Web and not via an app.
 
Sounds like someones doing things in life that they want to keep hidden from their friends and family... or thus thee be condemned and judged a fiend.
 
ukyo229 said:
Sounds like someones doing things in life that they want to keep hidden from their friends and family... or thus thee be condemned and judged a fiend.
Click to expand...
Since you have obviously nothing to keep private, please post your email address(es) with password(s) here. :D
 
ukyo229 said:
Sounds like someones doing things in life that they want to keep hidden from their friends and family... or thus thee be condemned and judged a fiend.
Click to expand...

My children use our Ipad and obviously there are things I want to keep hidden from them. Not everyone concerned with security is devious, you know. Just sayin' :D
 
TraceyS/FL said:
Just picture them deleting THE message, then wonder why you want to be able to lock out mail.
Click to expand...

I think you misunderstood me, I am totally for password protection of email accounts and was just replying to someone who cunningly suggested that doing something like this may indicate that you're up to no good. Hope it's more clear now ;)
 
Karnivore said:
I think you misunderstood me, I am totally for password protection of email accounts and was just replying to someone who cunningly suggested that doing something like this may indicate that you're up to no good. Hope it's more clear now ;)
Click to expand...

Oh no, i know what you meant - i was adding on for the sake of the person that thought you'd only be up to no good if you wanted to pw your mail.

May his 5yo delete THE EMAIL from his boss.

Then we can see how he feels!


Personally, i'm in the middle (end?) of a nasty divorce with the other party still in the house. I don't think he has any right to access to my email - but i'd still like the kids to be able to use the iPad. So they can't leave the room with it because I don't trust him. A password on it would take care of that....
 
If you Jail Break then there are two programs that will password protect Mail.

1) iProtect - Allows you to password protect the application, also on the iPhone it can password lock the SIM card and if a new SIM card is inserted it will SMS text the new phone phone number to a number you choose.

2) mAdvLock - This is my favorite. In addition to password protecting applications it also offers what it calls "Coffers" This encrypts any file you chose with 256 bit encryption and hides it from the system. mAdvLock also offers SIM lock and SMS notification.



edit: There is a free app that does this as well for jail broken devices, but I am not familiar with it: LockDown
iphone-app-lockdown-6.jpg
 
Karnivore said:
My children use our Ipad and obviously there are things I want to keep hidden from them. Not everyone concerned with security is devious, you know. Just sayin' :D
Click to expand...

haha, I love provocation :p Gainsbourg was my god!

Anyway, mail isn't currently included in the "restrictions" ruleset. I'd say that's because it's the iPhone OS, and therefore this feature wasn't really necessary before.
So I would stay with webmail, until Apple get around to adding more features which are now necessary because of the iPad.
 
TraceyS/FL said:
Oh no, i know what you meant - i was adding on for the sake of the person that thought you'd only be up to no good if you wanted to pw your mail.

May his 5yo delete THE EMAIL from his boss.

Then we can see how he feels!


Personally, i'm in the middle (end?) of a nasty divorce with the other party still in the house. I don't think he has any right to access to my email - but i'd still like the kids to be able to use the iPad. So they can't leave the room with it because I don't trust him. A password on it would take care of that....
Click to expand...

Except the email would still be on my mail server :p

Although I personally would never have to fear such a thing, unless of course a condom pops... so I get forced into family-hood/marriage
Wait, that's not funny... that's actually possible! :eek:
 
This is an obvious deficiency in the iPad. Unlike my iPhone, I'd really like to have the ability to lend this thing out to others at work/home/etc without them requiring access to my email account.
 
TraceyS/FL said:
Oh no, i know what you meant - i was adding on for the sake of the person that thought you'd only be up to no good if you wanted to pw your mail.

May his 5yo delete THE EMAIL from his boss.

Then we can see how he feels!


Personally, i'm in the middle (end?) of a nasty divorce with the other party still in the house. I don't think he has any right to access to my email - but i'd still like the kids to be able to use the iPad. So they can't leave the room with it because I don't trust him. A password on it would take care of that....
Click to expand...
Sorry to hear about your situation; been there - done that unfortunatly. Anyway, in your case I think the best thing would be to lock down whole device. You never know what your ex is doing with it while you're not around considering there's spyware available for iPhone OS.
 
ukyo229 said:
haha, I love provocation :p Gainsbourg was my god!

Anyway, mail isn't currently included in the "restrictions" ruleset. I'd say that's because it's the iPhone OS, and therefore this feature wasn't really necessary before.
So I would stay with webmail, until Apple get around to adding more features which are now necessary because of the iPad.
Click to expand...
I don't know who Gainsbourg is but the "or thus thee be condemned and judged a fiend" really should've tipped them off. Can you really call it a provocation when you're being that obvious?

Another vote here for email password protection. I don't see Apple going whole hog with user accounts, but they could at least make an option for the email app. That's possible.
 
Karnivore said:
Sorry to hear about your situation; been there - done that unfortunatly. Anyway, in your case I think the best thing would be to lock down whole device. You never know what your ex is doing with it while you're not around considering there's spyware available for iPhone OS.
Click to expand...

Oh it is locked down.... trust me!

But the kids still want to play with it - they just need their own! LOL!!
 
ukyo229 said:
Except the email would still be on my mail server :p

Although I personally would never have to fear such a thing, unless of course a condom pops... so I get forced into family-hood/marriage
Wait, that's not funny... that's actually possible! :eek:
Click to expand...

Well, when I delete a message from the iPad - me.com deletes it from my Mac and my Touch and the server (technically into the trash).

So it is going to depend on how you have it set up..... i can tell when my rules are running slow on my mac - i will see it on the iPad, and then BAM, it is gone and moved into a folder!

And ya, probably shouldn't rely on just a condom to avoid the kid issue.... maybe a monastery? :D
 
TraceyS/FL said:
Oh it is locked down.... trust me!

But the kids still want to play with it - they just need their own! LOL!!
Click to expand...

You're telling me! I just bought a used Touch for my 7 y/o daughter for being a straight A student all year. As soon as I gave it to her she says: "Oh, cool. Can I just have iPad instead?" :eek::eek::eek: Kids! :D
 
To the first poster, I don't want multiple accounts in Mail. I'm fine with the iPad being "my" device.

I was originally referring to something more like the parental controls, btw. Bizarrely, they let you password protect Safari, YouTube, iTunes, the localization function, and "New Apps". Why don't they just let us password protect any app we want?

I think this is a huge problem with the device, and this is also partly caused by them not allowing 3rd party apps that compete with their own. By now, a developer would have created an email app that does this (password protect, multiple accounts, probably other things).

Another example would be a stock tracking App. Many people wouldn't want anyone they lend their iPad to knowing the size of their stock portfolio. Luckily, there are apps for that that have their own password function.

Oh well, I'll hold out hope for 4.0.
 
Yeah, I think it operates similar to the desktop version of mail...well at least i don't think there is a password protection option on desktop Maill.app..just for the user account.

it'd be nice though regardless of friends or family using it..since even if it were them scoping out the iPad there are communications between clients and customers that are not meant for everyone.
Besides webmail com pad to using the mail app on the iPad is no comparison..such a dream work in.
 
AppleNewton said:
Yeah, I think it operates similar to the desktop version of mail...well at least i don't think there is a password protection option on desktop Maill.app..just for the user account.
Click to expand...

Yeah, it's probably something they just didn't think of, or ran out of time to implement because it's only priority #47 on the list or whatever.

The thing about my laptop, is that first of all, I'm less likely to lend it to anyone. There's something about the iPad, that people are like "ooh...can I use it?". On my laptop, in the rare event someone wants to use it, I log into a special user account I have for that, so that they can't see any of my personal files.

Fr me, it's not so much an issue of privacy as it is an issue of security; I'm always working on various projects, and much of the email correspondence has an expectation of privacy (i.e., my clients' secrets). Furthermore, I have sat and watched people use computers and do stuff like drag a file to the trash accidentally without knowing they did it....and this is another reason I don't want anyone in my Mail. Haha.

Anyway, yeah, IMO the solution isn't multiple user accounts (that seems ridiculous on the iPad); they should expand the parental controls.
 
ukyo229 said:
haha, I love provocation :p Gainsbourg was my god!

Anyway, mail isn't currently included in the "restrictions" ruleset. I'd say that's because it's the iPhone OS, and therefore this feature wasn't really necessary before.
So I would stay with webmail, until Apple get around to adding more features which are now necessary because of the iPad.
Click to expand...

Universal translation: I got owned and am now trying to backpedal.
 
sapporobaby said:
Universal translation: I got owned and am now trying to backpedal.
Click to expand...

I guess going to university or vocational college just isn't an option for you eh?

Don't feel bad, there are millions of people who have trouble understanding context.
 
suzerain said:
Anyway, yeah, IMO the solution isn't multiple user accounts (that seems ridiculous on the iPad); they should expand the parental controls.
Click to expand...

This wouldn't work. Parental controls removes access to the app totally, not just throws a pw on it.

It would be nice if you could at least add an unlock code to certain apps.

Guess it is time for more feedback submissions. Haven't done that this week, I'm slacking!
 
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