Issue:
Some users are not able to login to Nextcloud mobile app with error “Encryption App is enabled, but your keys are not initialized.” during sign in process.
It seems like this is happening on different version of Nextcloud with server-side encryption enabled.
Personally I got this issue after one of the updates within v30. Some got it during v30 → v31 update.
*At the moment, while running Nextcloud v30.0.12 and using Nextcloud v7.0.7 on iOS - regular full login process still causes the error on my side.
Workaround / fix - use App Password:
- Log in to Nextcloud web UI.
- Go to Personal settings → Security.
- Scroll to Devices & sessions → Create new app password.
- Use that password in the mobile app’s “Alternative log in using app password” option, which appears below the “Log in” button, after Nextcloud server address is used.
Why apparently this works, without messing with encryption keys, deactivating server-side encryption or other manipulations with the Nextcloud instance.
The regular login flow in the iOS app:
- Opens a webview.
- Redirects to your Nextcloud login page.
- Performs password + 2FA authentication.
- Calls some additional API endpoints — including the encryption status check.
- If keys aren’t initialized correctly (or the check bugs out), the login fails.
The app password login:
• Skips the web-based flow entirely.
• Uses direct Basic Auth over HTTPS with a long, random, single-purpose token.
• Does not trigger the problematic encryption key handshake.
• Still respects server-side encryption, because the data access layer is the same after login.
Hope this helps somebody. This was driving me nuts for more than a month now 