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Ok guys, let's face it: Firefox Sync is FUBAR. Is Firefox the new Evernote?!?

  • 14 replies
  • 4 have this problem
  • 2 views
  • Last reply by John99

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Firefox Sync is just FUBAR. For many many many many many reasons. It is not just the "delete history" problem anymore ( https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=1310968 )

  • There is no way to understand what devices i have in sync. The Firefox Accounts page just shows useless info like "Firefox 45, Linux", which makes me wonder "oh, really??? i have 4 of those!!! which is which?!?"
      • Where is the "Last connected date"
      • You give the option to set a name on each device. What for since you don't show it anywhere?!?
  • Using the "About:Sync" addon i just realized some VERY sensitive informations are shared in Sync. I have NOWERE -EVER- allowed FFox to remember form history.
 Plus
 i ALLWAYS clean form history when exiting firefox.
 THERE IS NO WAY ON EARTH TO CLEAN THOSE INFORMATIONS, seems they are there forever!!!
  • Using the "About:Sync" addon i realized there are devices i don't use anymore but they are still there in the "Clients" part.
 THERE IS NO WAY ON EARTH TO CLEAN THOSE DEVICES, since they don't even appear in the Firefox Accounts page.

I really and sadly starting thinking you guys are following the Evernote disastrous path: you keep on putting new and useless funcionalities (Pocket anyone?!?), leaving stupid, annoying, boring and dangerous bugs behind. There is no quality in FFox anymore, it's just yet another Big Fat LotsItsWay Browser. Just like many others.

Firefox Sync is just FUBAR. For many many many many many reasons. It is not just the "delete history" problem anymore ( https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=1310968 ) * There is no way to understand what devices i have in sync. The Firefox Accounts page just shows useless info like "Firefox 45, Linux", which makes me wonder "oh, really??? i have 4 of those!!! which is which?!?" *** Where is the "Last connected date" *** You give the option to set a name on each device. What for since you don't show it anywhere?!? * Using the "About:Sync" addon i just realized some VERY sensitive informations are shared in Sync. I have NOWERE -EVER- allowed FFox to remember form history. Plus i ALLWAYS clean form history when exiting firefox. THERE IS NO WAY ON EARTH TO CLEAN THOSE INFORMATIONS, seems they are there forever!!! * Using the "About:Sync" addon i realized there are devices i don't use anymore but they are still there in the "Clients" part. THERE IS NO WAY ON EARTH TO CLEAN THOSE DEVICES, since they don't even appear in the Firefox Accounts page. I really and sadly starting thinking you guys are following the Evernote disastrous path: you keep on putting new and useless funcionalities (Pocket anyone?!?), leaving stupid, annoying, boring and dangerous bugs behind. There is no quality in FFox anymore, it's just yet another Big Fat LotsItsWay Browser. Just like many others.

All Replies (14)

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Sync works fine for most users, but there are some issues that need to be corrected. As far as the Bug you cited, my opinion is that using the History Deleter extension may have caused that users issue with Sync "history" items not being deleted. But we'll never know as that extension was "removed" from AMO by its developer. https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/history-deleter/

You can change your Firefox Account password to clear all your data from the Sync server, which will also get rid of the listing of old devices.

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No. The bug exzists even without using that extension (which i uninstalled).

And

I don't talk just about that problem.

Sync does not work. Not for me, not for anyone.

Install About:sync extension and you will realize.

Can you see which devices you have in sync? Can you see what their names are? Can you see when those last connected?

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> You can change your Firefox Account password to clear all your > data from the Sync server, which will also get rid of the listing > of old devices.

Oh, that is soooo UX friendly... "Have you tryed turning it off and on again? :-D

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Just realized... I'm using FFox ESR 45.5.1, the latest EST version to date.

This (attachment) is what support.mozilla.org tells me...

I understand FFox is a huge project, i really do understand. But being *this* broke?!? REALLY???

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Sorry, I can't really test Sync now as I currently have only one device. And when I was using Sync between multiple Profiles on this PC a few weeks ago I screwed up somehow and lost all 3 of the Sync Profiles I had. Haven't been in the mood to create any more Profiles just to play with Sync.

And a few months ago when I tried the About Sync extension, it seemed to be broken - the "date / time" was stuck in Jan 01, 1970 00:00:00 UTC which is Epoch for the file system date/time used by PC's. It did advance to Jan 17, 1970, but no further. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unix_time http://www.esqsoft.com/javascript_examples/date-to-epoch.htm

As far as not working for "anyone", if it didn't work at all we wouldn't get any support questions here, many that we have been able to solve.

If you think that you see a Bug with Sync, by all means file a Bugzilla report or add pertinent information to an existing report. https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/ https://developer.mozilla.org/en/Bug_writing_guidelines

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Just confirming I can reproduce that. On the forum I am told ESR is not up to date. When I check Firefox using

menu Button > Help > about Firefox

That confirms my Fx 45.5.1 esr is up to date.

Looks to me it is the forum that is broken, but we are migrating to new software any time soon and no point in filing bugs for the old software.

cosimo.simeone said

Just realized... I'm using FFox ESR 45.5.1, the latest EST version to date. This (attachment) is what support.mozilla.org tells me... I understand FFox is a huge project, i really do understand. But being *this* broke?!? REALLY???
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Yep, sure about:sync is somehow broke, but hard to imagine that his extension, in the forms part, just invented up by magic my Credit card number, expiry date, and security code...

about:sync is broke, but my ccard informations ended up in firefox sync with no device allowed to remember my forms history which by the way i always delete... well... that is FUBAR. Being unable to delete it, well, that is soooooooo very very FUBAR

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As far as I know Sync does not store forms and auto complete information. Of course it will store bookmarks and logins so I guess conceivably you could have a credit card in a bookmark or login. Otherwise I just do not see how Sync is getting hold of and storing your credit card numbers. Of course site you have bookmarked may themselves hold that information as sites often offer to store credit card information, in fact with some sites it is probably impossible to prevent them holding on to that information, and at least until payment comes through they have a valid reason to keep the information.

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Don't want to be rude. But. You can believe me or not, but my CCard details are there.

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Sorry, it is not that I do not believe you. It is just that I do not understand it, and can not see how Firefox Sync is involved in this.

  • So how and where are you seeing this information ?
  • What makes you think Sync is involved.
  • Please let us have screenshots to help us understand, but as this is a public forum please edit the screenshots to not actually display personal information.
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Hey there John! Again, don't want -AT ALL- to be rude, but if you cannot see how Sync in involved, you are of no help here :-)

Still, you are focusing on the Credit Card issue, which is huge problem, but there are many other issues i pointed which seem to be "estetic", but they are not.

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but there are many other issues i pointed

which seem to be "estetic", but they are not.

It is off topic in this forum to discuss development policy & design or feature requests, because there are no Developers here to take part in or see the discussion, however I am trying to be helpful so I will briefly comment further:

Sync

Sync did have a revamp a few years ago. To make it a lot better it would probably need a total rewrite and that is unlikely to happen in the near future.

To a certain extent Sync can be used as a backup, but it was not originally designed or able to do that, and still would not be reliable or intended as a backup.

Sync does not let you choose the direction of Syncing between individual devices or between the Devices and the server. It is additive so basically if you sync a particular category, say bookmarks Sync will try to ensure the server and every device Syncing bookmarks has the same set of bookmarks. Because of this it appears to have been decided there is no need to provide info about connected devices If it is connected and has Sync turned on it will sync information. If Sync is off on the device it will not Sync information.

Bookmarks have known and longstanding issues with Sync. Over slow connections, or when there are large numbers of changes, or especially with Android devices included large numbers of Bookmarks it can sometimes corrupt the bookmarks, often by adding additional duplicated bookmarks.

About Sync

I rarely use Sync, and then really only because I am trying to test ot troubleshoot a problem. I have or have had the About Sync add-on installed and it seemed to work last time I looked at it. if there arte problems with that report them on either the Add-ons forum or the add-ons own support site. If it is definitely broken consider adding a polite and informative short comment as a review on

CC & form Details

Still, you are focusing on the Credit Card issue, which is huge problem

I was concentrating on that because it sounded to potentially be a dangerous problem with potentially bad consequences for security, and leaking of confidential information. However I still do not understand how that could happen with Sync. So I was asking for further information.

If Firefox Sync is really leaking credit card issues a bug would need to be filed to get that fixed. That is something that would be taken seriously and given priority, but I doubt that is actually the case and just blandly stating that without any proper Steps To Reproduce is a waste of everyone's time.

Development & Features

We are just fellow Firefox users trying to help one another. You will almost never see Developers on this forum. We do not try to discuss development policy or feature requests. You may either make a brief comment on feedback

Or find a Mozilla forum where it is on topic to discuss feature requests such as

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Three new threads with questions about Sync, best addressed in this thread. /questions/1150762 /questions/1150763 /questions/1150764

I those are feature requests, please post that as Feedback here: https://input.mozilla.org/en-US/feedback

User feedback to Mozilla can be viewed here: https://input.mozilla.org/en-US/

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Cross linking another post I just made

Personally I would not rely on Firefox's Master Password for saving credentials I use for banking. The info is encrypted some of the time on the local computer, but If I Recall Correctly not to the highest standards maybe taking minutes to crack in a brute force attack. The Sync data is encrypted end to end to high standards. I am not too sure I would trust Sync too much because
  • I have seen mention of reliability issues
  • I think it is not specifically designed to backup information. The backup is the data on your computer. So that relies on the Master Password at best.
For more info on Sync