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Firefox Sync actually works

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Re: Firefox Sync actually works

#271

Post by caminante »

toyg wrote: post #247
caminante wrote: post #140

Earlier quoted context omitted.

OK. It sounds like E2EE encryption in effect because Mozilla encrypts your cloud data with a password hashing algorithm. [I edited my comment above to get into more nuance about password reset is possible, but wipes data.] If you lose your Mozilla account password, you can reset it, but > Any data you have on the server will be erased when you reset your password (unless you use recovery keys). Your other devices wil…

Erasing cloud data is not a biggie, because as soon as you log back in (with the new password) from a device with the old data, it will get reuploaded. FF does the safe thing when synchronising.

That makes sense to not delete the client-side data and gracefully continue.

Re: Firefox Sync actually works

#272

Post by [deleted] »

downWidOutaFite wrote: post #231
sp332 wrote: post #220

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Firefox has compromised on DRM before and there's no reason to expect they won't cave again next time.

They caved because they were afraid that without Netflix they would lose market share but then they lost market share anyways. In the alternate universe where they didn't cave users mounted a pressure campaign against Netflix for blocking Firefox and that got the FTC's attention and Netflix was the one that caved .

[deleted]

Re: Firefox Sync actually works

#273

Post by soundnote »

thecopy wrote: post #44

I love Firefox. It is a mystery to me why it is not more popular.

They lost a lot of their userbase back in the day when they started getting slower and Chrome was way faster. Now, Chrome is default on Android devices and people are used to it on desktop. Edge is default on Windows, Safari on Mac and iDevices. The only place Firefox is the default is desktop Linux.

Nowadays they've caught up on speed pretty well on desktop, but are still behind on security, and years behind on security on Android.

Personally, I just like features like tab groups, and hate the Foundation's politics, so it was easy to drop it back when they said we need more than deplatforming. The competition has better features, is actually developing new features, and is focused on toolmaking instead of activism. Funnily enough, it shows up in the products.

Re: Firefox Sync actually works

#274

Post by s1artibartfast »

munk-a wrote: post #241
s1artibartfast wrote: post #196

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Notepad

The notepad application or a pad of sticky notes with which to decorate your monitor with the halo of arcane sigils known to ward off security breaches?

Both. I like to keep a file in notepad updated with all my corporate passwords, which I then print and post on the wall by my monitor.

I also use a label maker to fix the login credentials for shared computers on the backside of their keyboards.

I suspect people like me are the reason my firm is trying so hard to migrate to single sign in instead of dozens of unique passwords which require updates

Re: Firefox Sync actually works

#275

Post by soundnote »

Firefox's actual, non-replicable killer feature is somewhat questionable, but: Chromium has a lower limit on how much RAM a page can consume. Now, YouTube comments sections get huge, and huge web pages are huge. Turns out, Firefox can give the page more RAM and keep it nice and functional for longer.

The questionable part is spending your limited lifetime on reading huge YouTube comment sections.

Re: Firefox Sync actually works

#276

Post by nottorp »

chuckadams wrote: post #264
nottorp wrote: post #193

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Nope, whatever they had me download. It's Macs so maybe they autoattached to handover or whatever Apple calls that feature. Which I like, but only for texts and phone calls. The devices I mention are all in the same local network so maybe they discover each other. Anyway, there's a post in this thread that explains perfectly why I (or that poster) don't need or want sync. Basically my different machines are used for…

It’s probably handoff. On chrome I get the extra icon as well, but it also has a phone mini-icon over it and a tooltip saying “from Safari”. You can disable handoff, just goo—er, duckduckgo it

I wonder if i can disable it for all apps but still keep it for calls and texts…

Call answering from my laptop is the only thing that ever made me rush out and buy a new iPhone that supported it :)

Re: Firefox Sync actually works

#277

Post by danShumway »

Minor trick, if you use separate Firefox profiles, Firefox sync can be enabled between separate profiles, which means you can use it to do things like sync addons between profiles when you're quickly setting things up.

It's not perfect, I do still wish there were better ways to fork profiles in Firefox, but it can cut down on a lot of repeat configuration. And you can set it up, sync your addons over, and then turn it off and diverge from there.

Re: Firefox Sync actually works

#278

Post by nonbirithm »

yjftsjthsd-h wrote: post #114
nonbirithm wrote: post #66

Last time I tried sync with Firefox it saved all the extensions I installed but not the customized layout I used, so every time I installed Firefox I had to redo my toolbar again so it didn't get swamped in dozens of addon icons. It was always a mild pain point that disincentivized me from using sync. (But I haven't used Firefox in a while, so it may have been fixed.) It was also pretty annoying how all the extension…

You could disable syncing extensions?

Yes, but I did want to sync my installed extensions, just in a way that the extension layout was preserved without further intervention, and not interrupting the initial flow with all the "extension installed" tabs. I will always want to install uBlock and my password manager in every Firefox instance, for example, so that seems like a perfect use case for sync. Plus, some extensions have a lot of config that would be a hassle to copy over every time (like Redirector).

Now that I think about it, I don't remember Sync handling syncing extension settings on top of install state.

Re: Firefox Sync actually works

#279

Post by deanishe »

zero0529 wrote: post #187

One of my biggest gripes with Firefox sync is the way they have divided the mobile bookmarks from the pc ones. It makes the ux kinda weird as a lot of the bookmarks I use on my desktop I also use on my phone and vice verca. But when I add a bookmark on my phone it ends in a separate mobile bookmark folder.

For the life of me, I don't understand why they do this.

It's not 2003. I don't have a separate bunch of WAP bookmarks for my phone.

Re: Firefox Sync actually works

#280

Post by deanishe »

unshavedyak wrote: post #40
amelius wrote: post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes, E2EE.

The parent raised a good point tho. If you can add devices without entering encryption info, how can it be properly E2E?

You do enter encryption info: your password.

FF sync "splits" your password into an encryption key and the service password on the client side. The service never sees the key (or real password).

Bitwarden works in a similar way.

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