Way too many duplicate devices
There are simply way too many duplicate devices that are being created.
How many is too many? 15. Fifteen duplicate devices.
I have three 4 actual devices:
- iMac running 10.11 (El Capitan)
- iPhone running iOS 13
- iPad running iOS 13
- Surface Pro running Windows 10
Why are there so many devices being created? How can I stop this?
1) Sending bookmarks becomes a guessing game because I don't know which device is current 2) I have to go in an manually delete devices ON A REGULAR BASIS, so the "Send Tab to Device" feature is actually usable 3) Does it have anything to do with the incessant code verification emails I get every time I'm somehow logged out of my Firefox account even though I was using it not half an hour earlier?
PLEASE tell me how to stop all of this. I don't have this problem with Safari or Chrome.
All Replies (9)
These 'duplicate devices' ? Are you talking about sync?
If so, go to the sync options page and remove all listings. Type about:accounts<enter> in the address bar. [v57+] https://accounts.firefox.com/settings
Next, on each of your devices, open them to the sync options.
Under Device Name, enter and save something that
identifies that device.
iMac - iPhone - iPad - Surface or whatever.
AFTER you have given a device a name, then reconnect to sync.
Thanks for the response, but there's some issues....
about:accounts - Invalid URL. This doesn't work
These 'duplicate devices' ? Are you talking about sync?
No. I'm referring to FF auto-creating multiple devices. My devices are names as such:
- My Home iMac
- Allan's iPhone
- Personal iPad
In about 2 weeks I will have the following:
- My Home iMac
- My Home iMac
- My Home iMac
- My Home iMac
- Allan's iPhone
- Allan's iPhone
- Personal iPad
- Personal iPad
- Allan's iPhone
Syncing works fine. Bookmarks, passwords, address, even open tabs all sync properly. It's all these duplicate devices that gets auto-created that I have to manually remove.
Hi Allan R
Do you have any Firefox add-ons on your Surface Pro or iMac (doesn't look like there are any add-ons on your iMac assuming the info when you posted this question is correct but please double check) that might potentially be clearing your password and make you re-sign in to your Firefox account constantly? Having to constantly sign in duplicates the devices is what I've been told.
Cheers!
...Roland
Do you need to login again the Firefox Account or are you logged in automatically when you start Firefox (you may have to enter the master password when used) ?
You should be able to disconnect these devices via the Firefox Account Settings page to cleanup the list.
Then you can check whether multiple entries get added once again if you close and reopen a device.
In case of issues try to login to the Firefox Account via this website.
Modified by cor-el
Roland Tanglao said
Do you have any Firefox add-ons on your Surface Pro or iMac (doesn't look like there are any add-ons on your iMac assuming the info when you posted this question is correct but please double check) that might potentially be clearing your password and make you re-sign in to your Firefox account constantly?
I had four extensions installed, synced across all devices, but I’ve removed them all to test this problem. No device has any extension installed (not disabled, but removed completely)
Having to constantly sign in duplicates the devices is what I've been told.
That makes sense, but I don’t know what’s causing me to sign in so many times
cor-el said
Do you need to login again the Firefox Account or are you logged in automatically when you start Firefox (you may have to enter the master password when used) ?
I need to login to my Firefox account. I will see a yellow caution symbol on the “hamburger menu”. When I tell fire fox to sign in, I must enter a password and then enter a code that’s emailed to me. This is weird because....
- I browsed on the device only a few hours earlier
- I don’t have 2FA enabled
I have signed into both the web sites listed above in an attempt to solve this.
You should be able to disconnect these devices via the Firefox Account Settings page to cleanup the list.
I do. I remove all but the most current device(s).
In case of issues try to login to the Firefox Account via this website.
I do log in here and I’ve gone though every setting to ensure everything is correct. Since I’ve removed all entries, I’ll post a reply the moment I’m asked to sign in again
Needing to login again is likely because Firefox isn't able to store the Sync credentials in the Password Manager as Firefox will normally do automatically. If Firefox can't find the credentials in the logins.json file then you need to enter username and password and possibly confirm via a code send to this email account. This has nothing to do with 2FA, but might be required as a security measure if you sign in on a new device.
Are you using the Firefox Password Manager ?
Modified by cor-el
I did a test. Since our last exchange on Feb. 22nd, I decided to not enter my password to sync my devices. So, in short, absolutely nothing was synced all this time.
As expected, on each device, Firefox only lists the devices that I had as of Feb 22nd...
- Surface Pro
- iMac
- iPhone
- iPad
Obviously, no bookmarks are synced and I could not send a tab from one device to another.
So, as I am typing this update (not before, but literally during) , I decided to enter my password on my iPhone. I am immediately asked to enter a 6 digit code which is emailed to me. I enter it, it syncs and lo and behold, there's a new device (iPhone) added to the list of devices (on my iMac). If I replicate this action on my other devices, it will create a new device for each.
I've tried this with my standard compliment of add-ons both running or completely uninstalled (all of them). The symptoms still persist.
cor-el said
Needing to login again is likely because Firefox isn't able to store the Sync credentials in the Password Manager as Firefox will normally do automatically. If Firefox can't find the credentials in the logins.json file then you need to enter username and password and possibly confirm via a code send to this email account.
This is EXACTLY what's happening, but on my iPad and iPhone I don't have the ability to edit/modify the logins.json file. So, this can't help me. However, I've opened the logins.json file and can't find anything that would be causing this. What should I be looking for?
This has nothing to do with 2FA, but might be required as a security measure if you sign in on a new device.
I understand that, but none of these are new devices - they are all existing. I can not stay signed in for longer than a week and the moment I enter my password, I am required to enter a 6 digit code which then creates a new device.
Are you using the Firefox Password Manager ?
No. Technically I was until I went to Keeper. The problem exists whether I use Firefox's Password Manager or not.
Modified by Allan R.