What Is Firefox Sync?
Firefox Sync is a user account set up with Mozilla (the company behind Firefox). It allows you to sync your Firefox browsing session online and with other devices. With Firefox sync, you can view your mobile browsing history on your PC, for instance. You can also use your saved password to sign in to online accounts without having to manually enter your login credentials each time. Synchronizing your Firefox bookmarks, tabs, history, and passwords allows you to share and access them across your connected devices.
What Information Can You Sync?
Before we explain how to sync Firefox across your devices, the data that you can sync is listed below:
How to Sync Firefox on Desktop
Open Firefox on your desktop and click the menu button to open the menu panel. Click the “Sign in” button next to Sync and save data. On the Firefox Accounts sign-in page, enter your email address and click Continue. If you need to create a new account, fill out the accompanying form and click “Create account.” When you receive the confirmation email for creating the account, click on the verification link or enter the six-digit code and click “Verify” to confirm your account. You will receive another email informing you that your account has been verified. Open the email on your mobile device and click “Set up next device” or sign in to the new account on the other device.
Connect Another Device to Sync
To connect another device to your synced account, tap the three-dots menu button on the open Firefox page, then tap “Sign in to synchronize.” On your desktop, open Firefox and go to firefox.com/pair. On your mobile app, tap “Ready to scan,” then click “Show code” on your desktop. Point your phone’s camera at your desktop screen and scan the code. Click “Approve device” on your desktop and tap “Confirm pairing” on your mobile device. If you don’t want to use the scan option, you can also tap “Use email instead,” then sign in to your Firefox account to synchronize.
How to Manage What You Sync on Firefox (Desktop)
On the “Device connected” page on your desktop, click “Manage devices.” You can tweak your Firefox Accounts settings from this page. Scroll down to view your Connected Services showing everything you’re using and signed into and when they were synced last. You can click “sign out” to exit any of the accounts. To manage other sync settings, click on the menu button, scroll down and click Settings. From the menu options, click Sync to open the sync settings panel. You can click “Change Device Name” to rename your device. Click “Sync Now” if you want to sync immediately. If your sync status shows Syncing: OFF, click “Turn on Syncing.” If it says Syncing: ON, click “Change … “ The “Choose What to Sync” dialog box will appear. Use the checkboxes to select which information you want to sync across your devices. Click “Save Changes” when done. To connect additional devices, click “Connect another device.”
How to Sync Firefox on Android
Here’s how to sync Firefox on your Android device through pairing via QR code and email. The process is similar to how you connect another device to sync.
Sync Firefox on Android by Pairing Using QR Code
Open Firefox and tap on the three-dots menu button. Tap “Settings,” then “Turn on Sync.” Open Firefox on your desktop and navigate to firefox.com/pair. On the Turn on Sync screen within the app, tap the “Ready to Scan” button. Point your device’s camera at the QR code on your desktop, then click “Show code.” This will pair and sync your account.
Sync Firefox on Android by Logging in to Your Account
Open Firefox and tap the three-dots menu button. Scroll down and tap Settings, then “Turn on Sync.” Tap the “Use email instead” button on the Turn on Sync screen within the app and enter your Firefox Account details. Click “Approve device” on your desktop, then “Confirm pairing” on your mobile device to sync.
How to Manage What You Sync on Firefox (Android)
Open Firefox and click on the three-dots menu button. Scroll down the menu options and tap Settings. Under Account, tap your email address. Your bookmarks, credit cards, history, logins, and open tabs are synced by default. Tap the checkboxes next to each to unselect what you don’t want to sync. Exit when you’re done.
What happens after you sync your Firefox account?
After syncing your Firefox account, you can access your browsing data, such as bookmarks, tabs, history, credit cards, logins and passwords across all your devices.
How to secure my Firefox sync account?
In the Sync settings page, there are options for you to add a secondary email and enable two-step authentication. It is strongly recommended that you do both to secure your Firefox sync account. In addition, you can also add a recovery key to restore your information when you forget the password.
Does it sync my add-on settings?
By default, Firefox will only sync add-ons that you have installed. For their settings, it depends on whether the add-on developers have added support for syncing settings.
Can I have different add-ons in an enabled state on different devices?
Yes, but you need to go to the about:config page and change the services.sync.addons.ignoreUserEnabledChanges flag to true. If the flag doesn’t exist, you will have to create it manually. With this flag enabled, Firefox Sync will not process changes to the add-ons of current device with the enabled state of add-on records from the Sync server. However, local changes on the device will be synced to the server and will propagate to other devices that don’t have this flag enabled. Check out this guide for more about:config tips. Lastly, note that Firefox Sync is not an online backup tool. You still need to do all you can to protect your online privacy.
