Decryption fails running iOS 14.2

Hey, alvileomatthew, welcome to our community. 

Sorry to hear about this. Can you tell me more about it? 

- How are you trying to open these files, exactly? 

- What types of files are you having trouble with? 

- What device and operating system are you using? 

Let me know, and we’ll go from there! 

I got a new iphone w/ the new operating system, and was having the same error msg.  I tried everything mentioned here, even linking the phone with the "Other Source":  Dropbox.  That didn't work either.  Until Apple fixes this, at least I can open it thru the Excel app.  

Marla

I'm posting this agsin because people seem to still be struggling with this.  The work around is not elegant, but it works:

"I diiscovered the work around to this.  After entering your password and getting the "Decryption failed (null)" message you will see a square with a line drawn from the upper right corner to the center of the square.  Tap that square icon, select "Microsoft Word" (I assume if you are attempting to open another type of file that application name will be listed).  Re-enter the password and the file opens."

I'm finding that the after clicking to open a password protected document in Dropbox, the above mentioned square appears routinely at the bottom of the page.  

Thank you - although opening thru the Excel app works, I'll use this way, as once Apple fixes the problem, opening from Dropbox  will work seamlessly.  

;)

If my boot lets in water, the boot is not up to the job. I shouldn’t have to cover my boot in a plastic bag, except in an emergency. Apple provides the environment, Dropbox is a service. IMO Dropbox needs to adapt its service to the environment, or at the very least, work to change the environment. Blaming the other guy for months is pointless and unhelpful. The workaround is a plastic bag. Dropbox is no use to me if it can’t sort this out.

---

JohnK2 wrote:
Read my lips! It is an Apple problem, not Dropbox! People need to read all the posts. There are workarounds for this issue if you just read!

---

John, sorry but just reading your lips doesn't make it true. Do you code for Dropbox and know it's not their problem - or are you being helpful, like everyone else here? Of course there's a clunky workaround, well described by many contributors, but it shouldn't have to be there for months. Yes, I'm asking Apple to sort it as well. I can't even access this forum from my phone now, I have to use my computer. Bottom line for me - Dropbox is a service provider in a changing environment - so I'm participating in this discussion in the hope that they will read and resolve the issue.

Kev19,

  Personal perspective: It would sure be nice if all the companies around the world would play nice with each other, keeping in mind that they exist only for us, their customer.  However, and as unfortunate as it is, that's just not reality.  Yes, Apple caused this issue and again while it would be nice if Dropbox, in this case, recognized that and somehow resolved it, I simply do not see it in their future.

The issue exists within the firmware of the Apple device, which of course no one else is privvy to but beyond that, I am starting to believe Apple did this deliberately.  Certainly they knew that all we had to to was to install the free Microsoft app on our devices, which they kindly allow via their App store even though Microsoft is in some ways a competitor, and the issue would go away.  However, its actually more than that, when we use to open within, say Apples Mail program, we would get a Preview version of the file, not the actual working file.  For me, this was enough as I didn't need to actually be in the opened file as the Preview allowed me to copy and paste from it.  

However, Preview had its viewing limitations that have now been elimiated by opening the file in its native app.  Even if Apple fixes this or changes back to the way it used to be, I will continue to open my password protected files in their native app and I can tell you that it only takes between one and two seconds to do it.  All I have really lost is the ability to Preview the file from within the Apple Mail app.  Now, I can actually work within the file when I want to so for me, I like the "work around" better now that I have gotten used to it.  So stock up on your plastic bags, there is a part of me that says this was a deliberate change and there isn't anything Dropbox, or One Note or Google Drive any other companies hosting server can do about it since it relies upon the Apple devices firmware.

Oh wow!  Dropbox doesn't support decryption??  Isn't that how hackers get through?