IPHONE / LICENSE & SAVED DATA
CurveDrill on iPhone with DuckDuckGo: keeping your license saved
Quick answer
If DuckDuckGo keeps asking for your CurveDrill license key, it is erasing what CurveDrill saves on your phone. DuckDuckGo’s Fire Button and its automatic data clearing wipe a website’s saved data. CurveDrill keeps your license, and the wells and surveys you have entered, in that saved data.
You have two fixes:
- Install CurveDrill from Safari to your Home Screen. This is the most reliable fix and takes about a minute.
- Stay in DuckDuckGo and tell it to keep CurveDrill’s data: save the login, fireproof the site, and turn off clearing on restart.
Recommended: install CurveDrill from Safari
Installing from Safari gives CurveDrill its own icon and its own storage on your iPhone, separate from DuckDuckGo, so the Fire Button cannot erase your license or your wells.
- Open Safari, the blue compass icon, not DuckDuckGo.
- Go to app.curvedrill.com.
- Tap the Share button, the square with an arrow pointing up. Depending on your Safari layout, you may need to open the More menu first.
- Scroll down and tap Add to Home Screen.
- If you see an Open as Web App switch, leave it on. Tap Add.
- Open CurveDrill from the new icon on your Home Screen and enter your license key there.
Use that icon from now on. Enter your key only at the new icon, so you don’t use up a second device on your license.
If you prefer to stay in DuckDuckGo
These steps cut down how often you have to re-enter your key. They cannot protect CurveDrill if you clear data for a site that is not fireproofed.
- Save the login. When you enter your key, DuckDuckGo may offer to save it as a login. Tap Save. After a wipe, the key can then be filled in for you. Leave the Account box set to “CurveDrill”.
- Fireproof CurveDrill. DuckDuckGo may ask whether to fireproof the site after you sign in. Choose Fireproof. DuckDuckGo says fireproofing keeps a site’s first-party cookies and storage when you use the Fire Button, so CurveDrill keeps your license and your wells. If your version has a Fireproof option in the browser menu for the page you are on, you can use that instead.
- Check the automatic clearing setting. In the DuckDuckGo app, open Settings and look for the data clearing options and for Fireproof Sites. Either turn off automatic clearing on restart, or confirm CurveDrill is on the Fireproof Sites list. Menu names differ between versions.
- Don’t open CurveDrill in a Fire Tab. A Fire Tab deletes all of its data when you close it.
Troubleshooting: messages you may see
A license works on a limited number of devices. Each time DuckDuckGo wipes CurveDrill’s data, your phone looks like a new device, so a few wipes can use up your limit. If that happens, email support@curvedrill.com with the email address you used to buy, and we will free your devices.
| Message on screen | What it means | What to do |
|---|---|---|
| This key is already active on N devices. Contact support to move it. | Your device limit is used up. | Email support. Then install from Safari, or fireproof the site, so it doesn’t happen again. |
| That key is not valid. | The key was mistyped or cut short. | Paste the whole key from your email. Tap Show key to check it. |
| That key has expired. | Your license term has ended. | Email support to renew. |
| This license has been disabled. Please contact support. | The key was switched off, for example after a refund. | Email support. |
| Could not reach the license server. Check your connection and try again. | Your phone is offline or the connection dropped. | Connect to the internet and tap Activate again. |
| Connect to the internet to re-check your license (needed every 30 days). | CurveDrill has not checked your license online for 30 days. | Connect to the internet once and reopen the app. |
Why this happens
CurveDrill saves your license and your wells in the browser on your phone, so it can keep working without a connection. DuckDuckGo is built to clear exactly that kind of data. The Fire Button deletes it on demand, and a setting can delete it every time the app restarts.
When the data goes, so does the device ID that tells CurveDrill which phone is which. That is why a wipe can count as a new device, and why installing from Safari, where DuckDuckGo cannot clear the data, is the most reliable fix.
More from DuckDuckGo: The Fire Button, Fire Tabs, and Fireproofing.
Safari instructions: Apple’s guide to adding a web app to your Home Screen.