# Sub Rosa — Browser & Email using CAC/PIV > Secure mobile browser and email client for CAC/PIV smart card authentication. (iPhone/iPad app by Thursby Software Systems, Inc..) - Source: https://appshunter.io/ios/app/sub-rosa/id505825393 (this page in markdown: same URL + `.md`) - Developer: [Thursby Software Systems, Inc.](https://appshunter.io/developer/476117470) - Category: Productivity, Utilities - Price: Free - Rating: 2.68/5 from 123 App Store ratings · 50 written reviews indexed - Age rating: 17+ - Requires: iOS 14.1 · 83 MB - Languages: English - Released: 2012-04-17 - Data updated: 2026-06-10 - Monetization: free with in-app purchases - User reviews in markdown: https://appshunter.io/ios/app/sub-rosa/id505825393/reviews.md ## What is Sub Rosa? Are you tired of having to take your heavy laptop, tangled charger, and clunky card reader with you on trips? Would you like to be able to quickly read and respond to encrypted emails from home or while on the road? The U.S. engineered Sub Rosa secure web browser supports web site access from an iPad or iPhone with strong, two-factor authentication using a CAC or PIV. Sub Rosa is the only mobile browser available that allows you to access Defense Travel Systems (DTS), and sign/encrypt/decrypt email through Outlook Web Access (OWA). Full access to calendaring makes managing and coordinating meetings easier than ever. Sub Rosa is FIPS 140-2 validated and approved under DISA's DoD Mobile App Store. Web, web email, portal, and collaboration site access are supported, including Microsoft Outlook Web Access (OWA), Defense Travel Systems (DTS), and SharePoint, for example, U.S. Military AKO, NKO, and AF Portals. Thursby is the market leader in secure Apple Department of Defense (DoD), government, and highly regulated enterprise integration, delivering the security features absent in native Apple and generic enterprise tools. Thursby is US owned, operated, and General Services Administration (GSA) listed, delivering innovative Apple products and services for three decades. You can find our User Guide here - http://download.thursby.com/ios/subrosa.pdf Thursby technical and commercial support is by real people, over the phone and by email from Arlington, Texas. Please contact us via support@thursby.com, sales@thursby.com, or +1 (817) 478-5070. The Sub Rosa app license is bundled at no additional cost with licensed card readers (Thursby or Identive). To use a Precise Biometrics Tactivo Reader please purchase Sub Rosa Pro. Sub Rosa supports industry and U.S. Government standards including ISO 7816, NIST IR 6887, HSPD-12, OMB-11-11, FIPS 140-2, and FIPS 201 (with an approved reader). Most popular smart card types are supported including CAC, Dual Persona CAC, PIV, and PIV-I. ** NOTES ** • Subscription based feature allowing PDF and XFA documents to be digitally signed using your smart card • Sub Rosa's Enhanced OWA Client only supports Microsofts Exchange OWA (2010, 2013, 2016, and Office 365) • Full support for HTML5 and JavaScript (not the same as Java) standards for cross platform secure web access • Perceived performance depends on Wi-Fi or cell bandwidth, internet “weather” and back-end data center or cloud infrastructure • Apple's iOS iPad and iPhone operating system DOES NOT support Adobe Flash, Microsoft ActiveX or Oracle Java (not the same as JavaScript) • Sub Rosa is an integral part of the Thursby PKard Toolkit secure app development and policy management ecosystem • The iTunes app is an individual/consumer distribution, custom builds are available for organizations ## Key features - CAC/PIV smart card authentication - Encrypted email access (OWA) - Secure web browsing - Defense Travel Systems (DTS) access - Calendaring integration - FIPS 140-2 validated ## Recent user reviews (10 of 50) All indexed reviews: https://appshunter.io/ios/app/sub-rosa/id505825393/reviews.md ### 1/5 — Not impressed with the performance and support *2023-01-21, version 5.1.7* Some of the Sub Rosa websites already saved in the browser do not work. Army email access is extremely buggy and unreliable. DTS does not work as advertised, at all. DTS access is extremely unreliable and unacceptable. Right off the bat, DTS states that the browser is not compatible with DTS. The Message Center is popped open and in the way of the top of the page blocking the view of some of the page. When I access DTS document, it goes straight to the review function at the bottom of the side bar, and I can’t do anything else. Nothing above Per Diem, works or can be accessed. I can only access other areas in the side bar by using the back button within DTS, and once it reaches Expenses, it crashes. So I can’t access anything from the beginning of the side bar to Per Diem. If I try to access anything by pointing at it, it doesn’t respond. A red bar shows as pressed by it doesn’t respond. Only the side bar works as described before. All these above, is in the iPad. On the iPhone, it is horrible and worst. I reached out support for both issues (email and DTS) via email with screenshots of the substandard performance, and they never replied. I agree with what I read somewhere else, this lure you to believe you can do a lot and in reality is not ready for sound at all. ### 2/5 — Used to love it, but need some love *2022-09-16, version 5.1.7* Paid for pdf signing, but the app keeps minimizing whenever I go to sign. Also the browser needs updated for DTS. The expenses tab isn’t loading right. ### 1/5 — As of 2022 - buggy and unusable *2022-06-16, version 5.1.7* I’m not sure what happened with the transition to Army 365, there are good days and bad days with this browser. This is supposed to be a DoD endorsed browser (hence ability to read encrypted emails, etc) but I feel the software developers are not up to date with the latest changes. A lot of “null” errors and issues on some days pulling up websites and Army 365 email. Other days it works with no issues. Bottom Line: Not reliable if traveling with iOS devices as a standalone solution. Credibility is probably one of the biggest things service members require. **Developer response:** Thank you for reaching out. I am sorry that you are not completely satisfied with our Sub Rosa solution. We would be happy to look into the issues you are facing. If reaching particular websites would add more value to your purchase, please reach out to our support team at support@thursby.com or (817) 478-5070 so that we can look into this for you. All of our support is done at no additional cost by our team in Arlington, TX. We can address most issues in under 15 minutes. At this time, not all government sites are optimized for iOS and Android and this would therefore be out of our control. Please keep in mind, mobile devices do not support Java or Flash. If a website requires either of those you will not be able to access these due to mobile restrictions on Apple & Android. Our newest feature, PDF signing/editing, required a significant amount of development, more so than the typically free updates that continue to expand support and maintain the application. Due to this new development, the decision was made to roll PDF signing/editing into Sub Rosa and not as a separate app purchase. This was done for the convenience of all Sub Rosa users across all Sub Rosa products. In the end, we really want you to enjoy the solution and get the most from it so please contact our support team so they can assist you in accomplishing more than you are today. Should you feel that our solution is not worth your one-time cost, please reach out to sales@thursby.com and we would be happy to process a refund for you. Thank you for being a Thursby customer. Best, Luke ### 2/5 — Good when it works!!!! *2022-06-10, version 5.1.7* App is really trash but I need it and it's convenient! What else can you do? Crashes every 5-10 minutes. Can't view pdf even though I have the subscription to see them. Hopefully they update it to make it more efficient to work properly with the device!!!! ### 3/5 — Convince with limits *2022-05-11, version 5.1.7* This app/device combo is continent but needs updated. There are new DOD websites, Flankspeed, that won’t fully work with the outdated web browser. For the money charged for the reader this should just work. Please fix! ### 3/5 — More Buggy than a govt computer *2022-04-04, version 5.1.6* I’ve been a beta user for a couple years now. Responses from the developers has been really fast and good. I can’t really blame them or the app from the ever-changing problems of trying to securely access govt systems. I do not rely on the app to get work done. It’s much too buggy to be reliable. Trying to reply to an email typically results in re-setting the app multiple times, and drafts are not saved. So best type the email in Notes, then copy and paste into the browser. For no reason whatsoever, any bookmark you add is quickly deleted the next time you open the app. Again, save them in Notes and then copy and paste into the browser. Do not rely on the “Google Search” box that is included in the browser, it will work sometimes, but again…use normal google in Safari or Chrome, and save the link in Notes. I just finished replying to an email. I “SECURE RESET” the browser before logging in, and still had to reset 2 more times in order to logon. It was an important email, so I had to go through the pain. The last issue I’ve had is the card reader. I had to modify the old lightning adapter and rig a USB-C data adapter. It’s held together with masking tape, but seems to work. Hopefully they’ve developed a regular USB-C version by now. **Developer response:** We apologize for the inconvenience. We rely on feedback from users like you to know when issues occur. We realize you’re experiencing issues that we’ve recently become aware of and our engineering team is working towards resolutions for all of them. They are all top priority and very important to us. Once we have a fix, support will individually notify each person affected. Please reach out to our support team at support@thursby.com if there is anything we can do for you in the meantime. Best, Luke ### 1/5 — Sub-Rosa, Sub Par *2022-03-31, version 5.1.6* I literally detest this browser at the moment. Every webpage. “can’t verify authenticity”. “Continue” browser shuts down webpage. I can’t seem to make it switch between email and the page I was on for multi factor authentication. “We’re sorry, network connection was lost.” I’ve spent over 40 minutes trying to log into a government website and this browser is not making the process any simpler or easier. Go buy a laptop and spend $20 on a CAC reader. Seriously. ### 4/5 — A365 *2022-02-17, version 5.1.6* I used Sub Rosa during my deployment many times it helped me a lot in many missions. Now that I’m back home and this whole new A365 migration thing going on it’s a bum that many A365 apps don’t work like TEAMS for example, if you can fix that issue it will be an excelent app and tool for the field to use. ### 4/5 — Works for me *2022-02-12, version 5.1.6* I’ve been using this app for years with no issues. Thought I was going to have a problem when I transitioned to FlankSpeed, but it works. There are some glitches that need to be worked out: 1. The app drops imported bookmarks every couple of weeks. This is a bit of a pain because some of the bookmarks are wrong so I have to fix them every time I have to do another import. 2. DTS is very hard to navigate. I think it’s more of a problem with the DTS website than Sub Rosa. If DTS would make their site mobile accessible, it would probably work better. 3. Can’t figure out how to download files outside of Sub Rosa, to the phone. 4. Can’t digitally sign PDFs. It pushes you to buy adobe access, but you shouldn’t need to since you can digitally sign on the free pc version of reader. If you’re USNR you can get the reader for free from Thursby. All in all, it’s better than having to lug a laptop everywhere or not having access at all. ### 1/5 — DTS doesn’t work *2021-12-17, version 5.1.6* Literally the whole reason I bought this was to do my vouchers away from home. I’m able to log on to DTS but nothing works. I paid way to much for this thing for it to not work as advertised. ## Frequently asked questions about Sub Rosa ### What does Sub Rosa do? Sub Rosa is a secure mobile browser and email client that allows users to access encrypted emails and websites using a CAC or PIV smart card. It provides secure access to services like Outlook Web Access (OWA) and Defense Travel Systems (DTS), along with calendaring features. ### What are the key features of Sub Rosa? Key features include strong two-factor authentication via CAC/PIV smart cards, access to Outlook Web Access for signing, encrypting, and decrypting emails, secure browsing of web portals, and full calendaring capabilities. It is also FIPS 140-2 validated. ### How much does Sub Rosa cost? The Sub Rosa app license is bundled at no additional cost with licensed card readers from Thursby or Identive. For users with a Precise Biometrics Tactivo Reader, Sub Rosa Pro must be purchased separately. Additional subscription-based features for digitally signing PDF and XFA documents are also available. ### What devices is Sub Rosa compatible with? Sub Rosa is designed for Apple's iOS devices, specifically iPads and iPhones. It supports industry and U.S. Government standards and works with most popular smart card types including CAC, Dual Persona CAC, PIV, and PIV-I when used with an approved reader. ### What are common use cases for Sub Rosa? Common use cases include securely reading and responding to encrypted emails while traveling, accessing government portals like Defense Travel Systems (DTS) and SharePoint sites, and managing calendars for meetings, all from a mobile device without needing a laptop. ## Version history (last 1 release) ### 5.1.7 — 2022-04-09 General updates and bug fixes. 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User reviews are verbatim App Store reviews. Ratings, prices and chart positions refresh continuously; this snapshot is from 2026-06-10.*