Unable to join Brave sync due to exceeding active device limit and Cannot access device list to remove any devices

[trq]

Description
Unable to join Existing Brave Sync Chain due to the active devices in chain

Steps to Reproduce
Over the time I had to reinstall Windows and my Android system, thus reinstalling brave and rejoining the Brave Sync Chain using the ‘Sync Chain Code’. Today I reinstalled my Windows, and reinstalled brave, then proceeded to Join the sync chain, but after joining the device list wouldnt load. On further searching, I saw in ‘brave://sync-internals:’ the error code ‘“error_message”: “exceed limit of active devices in a chain”’

Version:
1.32.113 - 96.0.4664.45 Stable Release

Type of devices currently running on the Sync chain in question:
Phones and PC

Additional Information:
The issue now is none of my “other devices” are connected to my sync code. And since i reinstalled brave on my fresh windows, im unable to join the sync code due to the limit of active devices. I cannot remove any devices as I cant access the device list my pc.
My phone right now is not in the chain so using the code there just doesnt work.
I kindly ask you to remove some devices from my chain to allow one of my device (my PC) to connect to chain, thus allowing me sync my important data bookmarks.

[Mattches]

@trq,
Looking into this on my end – however, it seems unlikely that you will have hit the limit as far as number of devices. Can you go to your brave://sync-internals page and share a screenshot of the page here?

[trq]

@Mattches
Sure, Please find the attached.

And heres what the sync page looks like

[FlapPapa]

I’m having the same issue. I have a sync code with 14 devices (Android and Win10/11 mix). I just got a new gaming desktop (Win11) and I can’t join to my sync code due to the device limitation. Does anyone know the official max? I even removed two devices and I still can’t join the sync.

[Sphinxx]

I’m also having the same problem on Windows 11 and new computer. I’ve reinstalled Brave., but the sync just stays in the initializing state. I was able to add another client on a Windows 10 machine, so I think this might be a Windows 11 issue.

[dawidkowal]

Same for me, this device management function should be added in priority mode, we should do some vote on the order of implementation of the most desired functions.

[Tycho]

I ran into the same problem on a fresh Windows 10 (21H2, build 19044) install. Brave is just stuck in the initial state:

12/29/2021, 3:21:05 PM GetUpdates Response
Received error: SERVER_RETURN_THROTTLED
{
  "client_command": {
    "max_commit_batch_size": "90",
    "sessions_commit_delay_seconds": "11",
    "set_sync_poll_interval": "30"
  },
  "error_code": "THROTTLED",
  "error_message": "exceed limit of active devices in a chain",
  "get_updates": {},
  "store_birthday": "1"
}

Brave version info:

Brave	1.33.106 Chromium: 96.0.4664.110 (Official Build) (64-bit)
Revision	d5ef0e8214bc14c9b5bbf69a1515e431394c62a6-refs/branch-heads/4664@{#1283}
OS	Windows 10 Version 21H2 (Build 19044.1415)

[jaydorsey]

Also seeing this issue on a clean install. I can only see six devices on my chain at the moment, and the install in question is not among them. Checking sync-internals, I see the same error reported by others in the thread.

[112aug]

I have the same issue as trq. Could this be related?

Prevent clients from joining Sync chains with 20 devices or more

[Tycho]

That seems likely. I have a lot of devices. Though my sync chain currently only has 17 slots filled right now.

[jaydorsey]

Just as soon as I posted today’s reply, I noticed that my sync-internals showed successful responses. I guess this was resolved. I do have a lot of devices in my history. It would be nice if I could permanently delete the ones I no longer use, since the list is getting kind of long, LOL.

Thanks to whomever resolved this!

I currently have six devices that are “active” on my chain. I have had this chain for a couple of years, and have hopped devices a lot in that time. It seems the limit applies somehow to a cumulative total and not the actual count of active devices.

I should be able to delete a device and have it permanently removed from the sync server database and my chain’s device count reset to match what’s currently active. I guess my only option at this point is to start a new chain.

[Mattches]

Can anyone here experiencing this issue please submit a screenshot of their brave://sync-internals page so we can take a closer look?

[ajaxsoap]

Here’s my sync-internals screenshot

Brave version

System: M1 Mac Mini

[andrewpayne]

Having same issues on latest build Brave on a clean install of Linux Mint 20.3

[andrewpayne]

@Tycho

01/08/2022, 12:05:05 PM GetUpdates Response
Received error: SERVER_RETURN_THROTTLED
{
  "client_command": {
    "max_commit_batch_size": "90",
    "sessions_commit_delay_seconds": "11",
    "set_sync_poll_interval": "30"
  },
  "error_code": "THROTTLED",
  "error_message": "exceed limit of active devices in a chain",
  "get_updates": {},
  "store_birthday": "1"
}

I have reported this issue on GitHub - hopefully the devs will pick this up.

https://github.com/brave/go-sync/issues/95

[fmarier]

Thanks for bringing this to our attention.

Could anybody affected by this problem confirm how many devices they currently have in their Sync account and how many they would need so that Brave Sync covers all of their active devices?

[andrewpayne]

Hi - thank you. I can confirm that I have 23 active devices (having culled 10 inactive virtual machines and old laptops) and would think that 30 should be sufficient for my needs.

[112aug]

@fmarier Thank you for working on this issue and helping make Brave a great product. I am thankful Brave is my primary web browser. I will test this update on my laptop when I return home today.

I have a question/suggestion if you’re and the developers are up for implementing it:
Maybe you could add something to Brave which would allow us, as a user, to determine how many devices we could sync to? I use a lot of different machines for my job, and it would be nice to be able to sync without worrying about a cap. Perhaps there could be an option to do 2FA with a phone in Brave sync that we, as users, could turn on if we want added security?

Let me know if this idea interests you, and I would be happy to repost/send it to whomever to put it in the right channel of communication. I apologize if I do not know the right way to make these suggestions.

[112aug]

Thank you for reporting this.

[112aug]

Tested Brave on the computer with sync error. Problem has been resolved.