Development status Active | Operating system | |
Developer(s) Mozilla Corporation, Mozilla Foundation Initial release December 21, 2007 (2007-12-21) Stable release N/A (part of Firefox) [±] Repository github.com/mozilla-services/syncserver | ||
Firefox Sync, originally branded Mozilla Weave, is a browser synchronization feature that allows users to partially synchronize bookmarks, browsing history, preferences, passwords, filled forms, add-ons, and the last 25 opened tabs across multiple computers.
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It keeps user data on Mozilla servers, but according to Mozilla the data is encrypted in such a way that no third party, not even Mozilla, can access user information. It is also possible for the user to host their own Firefox Sync servers, or indeed, for any entity to do so.
Firefox Sync was originally an add-on for Mozilla Firefox 3.x and SeaMonkey 2.0, but it has been a built-in feature since Firefox 4.0 and SeaMonkey 2.1.
Firefox Sync is built on top of Firefox Accounts as of Firefox 29, and therefore Firefox 29 and later cannot sync with Firefox 28 and earlier.
Firefox Home
Firefox Home was a companion application for the iPhone and iPod Touch based on the Firefox Sync technology. It allowed users of either device to access their Firefox browsing history, bookmarks, and recent tabs. It also included Firefox's "Awesomebar" location bar. Firefox Home is not a browser; the application launches pages in either a Webkit Web viewer or in Safari. Mozilla pulled Firefox Home from the App Store in September 2012, stating it would focus its resources on other projects. The company subsequently released the source code of Firefox Home's underlying synchronization software.
In December 2014, Mozilla announced it is designing a version of Firefox for iOS. Due to Apple's application review policies, Firefox will have to use the built-in iOS WebKit-based rendering framework instead of Gecko. This browser will be able to sync Firefox's browsing history, bookmarks, and recent tabs.
Sync Server
Mozilla also offers a synchronization server application for use with Firefox Sync, for users and businesses that prefer to host their own synchronization data.