Firefox Sync actually works • Hacker News Board

Re: Firefox Sync actually works

#171

Post by hackernewds » Thu, Dec 28, 2023, 4:45 PM UTC

Forgeties79 wrote: post #115

GeekyBear wrote: post #93

One of the headline features for me is the Firefox recommended extensions program, where the extension code (and updated code) is manually vetted for malware and privacy violations. > Recommended extensions are expected to: Function extremely well. All Recommended extensions should not only perform as they promise, but do so at an exceptional level. For instance, there may be many ad blockers out there, but not all a…

It’s honestly things like this that make me respect (more than I already do) and stick with Firefox. They do not need to do that and in a lot of ways it’s just sticking their neck out for other developers/their users for very little gain on their part. Obviously, there are some benefits for them, but I think most people would agree that it’s mainly a risk at the end of the day.

with enough market share, if Google did this they would be cursed with numerous lawsuits for preferential selection and sued successfully

Re: Firefox Sync actually works

#172

Post by cvburgess » Thu, Dec 28, 2023, 4:46 PM UTC

jw_cook wrote: post #166

Since the main topic of this article is sync, does any browser or extension out there support syncing active tabs withing the browsing window, rather than putting them in a separate "recent tabs" menu? In other words, mirroring the entire browsing session across devices (ideally preserving tab order).

Arc[0] does this really well for me - across computers and even my phone.

Its chromium under the hood but the UX and sync story is impeccable.

[0] https://arc.net/

Re: Firefox Sync actually works

#173

Post by PaulDavisThe1st » Thu, Dec 28, 2023, 4:47 PM UTC

yjftsjthsd-h wrote: post #113

PaulDavisThe1st wrote: post #46

It does work very well, but personally I'd appreciate a mechanism that I could implement manually and without the cloud. Something like "copy files Foo, Bar and Baz on the source device to folder DooDad on the target device". I appreciate that this doesn't work for mobile devices with their filesystem-free presentation, but even there I'd rather explicitly import data from a file I downloaded than have it move throug…

You can copy around profiles, which are just directories, or if you only want bookmarks you can export/import them to HTML or JSON easily enough from in Firefox.

Generally, I only want passwords, and I want a workflow that can be scripted 100%.

Re: Firefox Sync actually works

#174

Post by scruple » Thu, Dec 28, 2023, 4:48 PM UTC

Personally I find mobile browser plugins to be the most compelling reason, it's certainly the reason that FF is my main browser in conjunction with working browser sync across devices.

Re: Firefox Sync actually works

#175

Post by loloquwowndueo » Thu, Dec 28, 2023, 4:49 PM UTC

Dunno, I’ve been using Firefox since before it was Firefox as my primary browser and I’ve never used sync. I don’t think that’s the most compelling feature.

Re: Firefox Sync actually works

#176

Post by lawn » Thu, Dec 28, 2023, 4:51 PM UTC

__MatrixMan__ wrote: post #143

Passwords belong in a dedicated password manager. Besides those, I don't understand what I'd want to sync. I've even disabled syncing tabs between sessions on the same machine. The last thing I need is for what I was doing yesterday to distract me from what I'm trying to do today. What I want in a browser is a dumb box that starts up as a blank slate every time, renders HTML and JavaScript, and is indistinguishable f…

- Sync installed extensions - Sync configuration and settings

Even with your quite unusual requirements, sync could still be beneficial if you use multiple machines.

Re: Firefox Sync actually works

#177

Post by marcosdumay » Thu, Dec 28, 2023, 4:52 PM UTC

nottorp wrote: post #132

marcosdumay wrote: post #92

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Don't use your personal account on your work browser. Or, actually, on anything in your work. (And the other way around too.) Nobody implements proper context switching and privacy from yourself. The only kind of privacy anybody even acknowledges the existence is from 3rd parties.

Personal account? Account? When I switch from my desktop to my laptop and back, I sometimes get an extra Firefox icon in my dock. I once hovered over it and I think it was the sync feature. I don't have a Firefox account and I'm not signed in into any browser on any account. Why does it try to sync things without my permission?

> Why does it try to sync things without my permission?

It doesn't. (The interface for enabling it is even a little anxiety-causing.) It doesn't add extra icons anywhere either.

You have some additional software doing that. Do you use a fork from the Mozilla code?

Re: Firefox Sync actually works

#178

Post by ta1243 » Thu, Dec 28, 2023, 4:52 PM UTC

neves wrote: post #157

wazoox wrote: post #128

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Weird, I'm using Firefox across 6 different devices, different OSes (Android, MacOS, various Linux distros) and different versions (current or LTS) and it just works .

Unfortunately my company blocks the sync password feature :-(

A reasonable policy given the lack of control. What do they provide you with as an approved password manager?

Re: Firefox Sync actually works

#179

Post by squidbeak » Thu, Dec 28, 2023, 4:52 PM UTC

yesimahuman wrote: post #50

It’s too bad that Firefox has such a great UX and privacy-focused cloud features like this, yet is being held back by its engine. As a heavy FF user for the last few years it’s become more and more clear that the world just doesn’t care about making sites work on FF and I’m more frequently having to switch to Chrome. My dream is that FF would switch to Chromium while keeping all the great features around the browser…

> As a heavy FF user for the last few years it’s become more and more clear that the world just doesn’t care about making sites work on FF

Wouldn't it be better to build according to standards - rather than browsers? Do that and any site will work in Firefox.

Re: Firefox Sync actually works

#180

Post by ReptileMan » Thu, Dec 28, 2023, 4:52 PM UTC

>On the surface, Firefox Sync seems to be basically the same as Chrome Sync. To set it up, you just need to sign into your devices with the same Mozilla account and choose what you'd like to sync.

And this is why I use brave - the sync there is accountless, you just get random id and create a random phrase - that's it.