Description of the issue:
I have Syncing enabled between Desktop and Android phone for the following items:
1- Bookmarks
2- Settings
3- Open Tabs
4- Theme (Only on desktop since this option isn’t available on Android)
Only my Bookmarks are being Synced right now. I have tried to unsync on both devices then clearing cache and storage on my phone before uninstalling and reinstalling and syncing again, and still only bookmarks being synced.
Steps to Reproduce:
1- From Desktop Go to Settings > Sync > Add a new device > Pick Phone/Tablet
2- Scan the QR code with my Android phone
3- Enable the items I mentioned above to be synced on both my Desktop and Android
4- Change some options, or open new tabs to verify that they are not being synced.
Reproduces how often:
All the time
Brave Version:
Desktop: Version 1.76.74 Chromium: 134.0.6998.89 (Official Build) (64-bit)
Android: Version 1.76.73
Type of devices currently running on the Sync chain in question:
Desktop Acer V7 running an up to date Windows 10
Motorola Moto G75 running up to doate Android version 14
Current software version: U4UQS34.50-4 3-1
Security patch: January 1, 2025
Additional Information:
1- I have my Chrome browser disabled on my phone, but I tried to enable it for a brief moment to see if that can affect Brave in some way but nothing changed.
2- My Passwords & accounts section on Android with the option “automatically sync app date” enabled, but Brave doesn’t appear as an “Accounts for Owner” like some other apps.
3- Screenshots on Imgur, first two images are for the brave://sync-internals/ page on PC, 4th picture is on Android, the 3rd picture shows the section on my phone mentioned in the previous point.
@Kaled I’m guessing you have the wrong expectations for open tabs to sync? Are you thinking they should automatically open? If so, that’s wrong. The way open tabs sync is that you’ll have a small section that shows Open Tabs that you can access. For example, from Desktop, you have Tabs from other devices in your History
On Android you hit your hamburger menu and you should see a similar option there. I don’t feel like hunting for my old Android to look, but I can say it was in the hamburger menu (three dot menu) rather than History last I looked.
Not all settings are synced. In fact, quite a few aren’t. This is especially true between Mobile and Desktop as they are quite different from each other.
What types of things are you thinking would be synced?
Just to note, the primary things Sync is all about is just History, Passwords, and Bookmarks. Open Tabs falls along with History overall. Everything else gets iffy at best.
I see, thanks for the clarification about syncing open tabs, I had different expectations for that, I was thinking that any tab I open or close in one device is going to open or close on the other automatically, not just be shown in a menu. Anyways, that’s still good and useful and might be preferable for other users. That being said, I suggest for Brave to add a note next to the “Open tabs” checkbox briefly explaining what it does and where the tabs can be found.
When it comes to the Settings, I am still confused and can’t tell what is supposed to sync, settings that look identical between Android and Desktop aren’t syncing, for example:
1- Leo Settings
2- Wallet
3- Privacy and security settings, for example setting “Upgrade connections to HTTPSS” if I set it to strict on one device it remains set to default on the other.
4- Homepage
5- Brave password manager
6- Notifications
7- Appearance
8- New Tab page
9- Payment methods
Pretty much nothing is syncing, I honestly can’t tell for sure if there is even a single option in the settings that was synced, it would be easier if you can tell me which option is supposed to sync between Desktop and Android so I can test it specifically.
If settings isn’t expected to work between different platform then I suggest adding a note next to the Settings checkbox on the Sync page letting users know to reduce potential frustration
