Brave Beta/Nightly don't sync on macos (tested on sequoia)

Browser Support
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1

Hello all

I’ve been trying (albeit unsuccessfully) to get the brave sync going, on brave beta and nightly MacOS versions, using Sequoia 15.2.

It throws an “Internal sync setup error” message, when sync code is entered.
The same sync code works fine for adding new windows/android devices. Even the stable brave (non-beta/non-nightly) works great with sync.
This is being reproduced on a MacBook Pro running Sequoia 15.2. (Was earlier reproduced on a MacOS Sonoma machine aswell)

Steps to reproduce: -

  1. Install Brave Browser Beta/Nightly on Macos.
  2. Goto sync–> ‘I have a sync code’–>Enter sync code
  3. “Internal sync setup error”

Brave Version (Beta):
Brave 1.79.97 (Official Build) beta (arm64)
Chromium: 136.0.7103.60

Brave Version (Nightly):
Brave 1.80.51 (Official Build) nightly (arm64)
Chromium: 136.0.7103.93

Additional Information:
I was able to reproduce this on a MacOS Sonoma machine before, too.

2

Can anyone from the support team kindly take a look here?
I’d really love to get going with the brave beta and nightly versions on mac with sync enabled, that’d help me streamline my workflow greatly

Thank You

3

@Neo314 thank you for the detailed report.
Just tested on my end and not seeing any issues Syncing Beta or Nightly. Can you confirm which other devices you’re trying to Sync these browser settings to? Additionally, if you try to Sync them going the opposite direction (that is, going to one of the other devices, going to Settings --> Sync --> Managed Synced Devices --> Add new device and try adding the device/Beta/Nightly to the existing chain that way?

4

Hello, thank you so much for replying.

From what I can see on my end, that error is consistenly reproducible (I tried it out just yesterday, to make sure!). I can still get that ‘Internal Sync Set-up error’.

As per the second method you’d suggested, by going via other devices, I can just see the qr code / sync chain code being displayed when I try to add a new device, since that is usually how it is, I get the sync code from a device already in the chain, and then input that into the new device, to add it in the chain.

However, as illustrated above, on my Macbook pro M4 Pro with Sequoia 15.2, I end up getting an error message, is all.
On my windows devices, yes, the beta/nightly sync does work quite well!
Hopefully it is more clear, now

5

Hey @Mattches sorry to tag you in my reply, I have answered the questions you had posed to me, pl do let me know if there is anything more that I need to do / information that I need to provide for this to be resolved, I have my college starting in a few days, and given the workflow I have built up which relies extensively on brave nightly and beta versions, the sync not panning out correclty would impact it majorly :sweat_smile:

Hence, I would really really appreciate if you could please take a look, and hence please help move this towards a possible resolution

I’d be grateful for any help in this regard
Thank you so much

6

Sent you a DM requesting some additional information.

7

Hello @Mattches
really sorry i could not respond to your DM in time, I was travelling, hence.
I will send over the required details post-haste

1 Like
8

Hello @Neo314, there are two options to see Internal sync setup error:

The option 1 can be when it is impossible to start SyncService, which is managed by link3

The option 2 may happen if the sync code is wrong by itself, which is not an option as you was able to join the other browsers to the chain with that same code.

To confirm or deny the option 1, we must check the command line args, if it has disable-sync flag.

@Neo314, could you please open brave://version/ page and look for the disable-sync key at Command Line section?

1 Like
9

Hello @Alexey , upon looking at the command line section, I could not find any key which matches “disable-sync” key, the search result returns 0 matches (as shown below)

Screenshot 2025-05-30 at 1.52.48 PM
Screenshot 2025-05-30 at 1.52.48 PM2514×148 22.4 KB

10

Thanks, this means I wasn’t right about the command line key.

I still want to check if the issue happens because sync_service was null.
There is log of error at

  auto* sync_service = GetSyncService();
  if (!sync_service) {
    LOG(ERROR) << "Cannot get sync_service";
    RejectJavascriptCallback(
        args[0].Clone(),
        l10n_util::GetStringUTF8(IDS_BRAVE_SYNC_INTERNAL_SETUP_ERROR));
    return;
  }

@Neo314 could you please do these steps

  1. Quite Brave Beta Browser
  2. Open terminal
  3. Launch Brave Beta Browser with a command, double quotes must also be copied
    "/Applications/Brave Browser Beta.app/Contents/MacOS/Brave Browser Beta"
  4. Try to join the chain
  5. Search for Cannot get sync_service at the terminal output

If we will not see that error text - something is not right with the code words.