Firefox Sync

★★★★☆

Firefox Sync works across all Firefox-based browsers I’ve tried so far, not just Firefox itself. OK, all except IceCat, which I think actually removes the code that connects to it.

Even the security-conscious LibreWolf and IronFox recommend using it, despite Mozilla’s AI shenanigans, because it’s encrypted end-to-end and it’s possible to host your own server. (I have not tried this.)

One nice consequence is that I can mix and match browsers, especially since there are some that are only built for the desktop and others that are only built for mobile. I can send a page from IronFox on my phone to Zen on my desktop. (I can also sync history between different browsers that I’m trying out.)

Downsides: It doesn’t work with Chromium-based or other browsers (at least not directly), and doesn’t have an online web view. That’s why I turn off bookmarks in the Firefox Sync settings and use Floccus for those. Plus if you use several different browsers with it, settings from one can leak over to another if you don’t turn that option off.

That said, I do know of at least one command-line client (amusingly named ffsclient), which has been used to create a bookmarks sync plugin for Dillo. Yes, Dillo!