Sync Open tabs across devices

[jtheletter]

My bookmarks sync from desktop browser to iOS browser. But I see no way to access open tabs from one device to the other. I'm not even sure where to look. Omnibar autocomplete? History?

macOS: Version 0.63.55 Chromium: 74.0.3729.131 (Official Build) (64-bit)

iOS: Version 1.9.1 (19.04.02.12)

[simonsan]

Besides syncing of open tabs in general I would also love to see some kind of folder structure where you can move open tabs between device folders.

The folder structure (derived from the “new page overview”) on any open client could be:

Open tabs on mobile devices

• Device 1
  • Open Tab 1
  • Open Tab 2
  • ...
• Device 2
  • Open Tab 1
  • Open Tab 2
  • ...

Open tabs on desktop devices

• Device 1
  • Open Tab 1
  • Open Tab 2
  • ...
• Device 2
  • Open Tab 1
  • Open Tab 2
  • ...

With this you could easily send tabs to the other devices "open tabs"-folder. All clients having the same tabs open would be nice from the workflow point of view. Each client having it's own synced "open tabs" folder on all of the clients would make it easy to move/copy open tabs between devices and you could easily "switch" to another working environment.

Could be also making sense to not really divide it by devices but by own created "working environments" like this:

Working Environment 1 (e.g. Project X)

• Open Tab 1
• Open Tab 2
• ...

Working Environment 1 (e.g. Android Phone at Work)

• Open Tab 1
• Open Tab 2
• ...

Working Environment 2 (e.g. Desktop Home)

• Open Tab 1
• Open Tab 2
• ...

The second idea would also make it possible to include the first idea manually but with extending possibilities to your own workflow. Another thing would be how to design it on the desktop. I could imagine that those "working environments" could start as a normal tab. Clicking on it gives an overview of the tabs inside this environment. Double clicking opens the working environment. Changing between the environments could be done by special static/solid tab left next to all the tabs in the tab bar where you could open different environments from a drop down menu either in a new window or in the same window, saving and closing the already opened environment. Moving tabs between environments could be done by right-clicking on a tab and a "send to environment --> list of possible environments" to send more then one tab you could shift-select more tabs and right-click one of them to send all via drop-down menu.

The folder structure could be easier to implement because of the already used structure for bookmark sync. Basically tab sync is a temporary bookmark sync with the possibility to automatically open a folder of bookmarks as a working environment.

edit: Could someone please add that ("Sync open tabs") possibly to Projects/Sync @bsclifton or @rossmoody ?

Thanks for all the great work, people!

[s-r-aman]

+1 Would love to see this feature.

[rebron]

cc: @anthonypkeane

[yechs]

The folder structure seems great, would love to see it implemented. But it might introduce duplicate bookmarks.

Since the users may open bookmarked websites, by treating opened tabs as a special bookmark folder, you are (re)adding the tabs to bookmarks.

[simonsan]

The folder structure seems great, would love to see it implemented. But it might introduce duplicate bookmarks.

Since the users may open bookmarked websites, by treating opened tabs as a special bookmark folder, you are (re)adding the tabs to bookmarks.

Basically using the word "bookmarks" was just an idea how to handle it internally to use the already in use sync engine for bookmarks.. The user itself should not see them as "bookmarks", but as "opened tabs". And there surely could be happening something like this. You will have opened tabs that are congruent to some of your bookmarks, but that's fine as long bookmarks <> opened tabs.

[jtheletter]

Cross-device tab syncing is already a feature on Chrome. To be sure, I didn't mean to suggest a re-invented wheel.

[kangarooo]

OMG. How then to export it all so i can continue working? How to save and export all tabs?

[Snuupy]

@kangarooo what I've been using personally is this: https://android.stackexchange.com/questions/56635/how-can-i-export-the-list-of-open-chrome-tabs

tl;dr Remote Devices feature in the Chrome debugger -> copy/paste -> your tabs are exported! :)

[simonsan]

@kangarooo what I've been using personally is this: https://android.stackexchange.com/questions/56635/how-can-i-export-the-list-of-open-chrome-tabs

tl;dr Remote Devices feature in the Chrome debugger -> copy/paste -> your tabs are exported! :)

I added an answer there to manually export opened tabs from mobile android devices:
https://android.stackexchange.com/a/214518

While I had 650 open tabs on my smartphone that needed to be manually "synchronized", I want to add a point to this issue:
Please don't implement something that automatically opens your tabs (and by this allocates memory) from another device. I think it makes sense to be able to chose what tab exactly you want to open. After doing all of this by hand, I'm even more convinced for a solution looking like my proposal in this issue.
Also it would be nice, if you really manage those tabs and not just synchronize them. So you are able to close tabs on you desktop AND on your mobile device if you are in the same working environment. You could make that optional.

[itstheandre]

Hello!

Is there any news on this? Firefox also has their send to device. Seeing that they are open source, couldnt this be something relatively easy to add?

[sabbir360]

Hello!

Is there any news on this? Firefox also has their send to device. Seeing that they are open source, couldnt this be something relatively easy to add?

I think Chromium already have sync (History, Tabs, Bookmarks) which can be converted though this sync. stuff struggling from a long time. Have to be something quick to make it usable.

[ruifung]

Seriously, this is still not in yet? Like, this is the ONE feature stopping me from switching completely to brave.

[simonsan]

Wild guess: It might be due to #5198 that it's still not implemented and if, it might be in brave-core then.

[kangarooo]

Ok, at least then new Feature would solve- an option of button click to bookmark all opened tabs.
#5711

[simonsan]

Any news on this one? @bsclifton @rebron

Seems like this feature holds off some people to switch to or makes them switch away from Brave.
https://community.brave.com/t/recent-open-tab-sync-across-devices/49305/

[bsclifton]

No news on this yet, unfortunately - I agree, this would definitely be a nice feature! 😄

[simonsan]

I thought a long time about this, because I liked Brave, but one reason for this was the lack of this pretty basic feature. But also the prioritisation of this feature in comparison to other features (Crypto wallets? brave rewards? Who needs this stuff if not even the basic functionality is working?). So I'm back to my beloved Firefox with tab sync across all devices and to Duck Duck Go privacy browser. Goodbye Brave, we had some good and bad times together - now I'm gone. :-)

To people who want to do the same, here is the instruction how to export your tabs to you computer. ;-)

[sabifa]

Any update on this? Really missing this helpful feature 😢

[bsclifton]

cc: @anthonypkeane @jsecretan

[insilications]

Any news about this?

[Zvezdin]

Is there any way to view the currently open tabs in the current beta, or there isn't yet a UI for that? Nothing can be seen in the history tab or anywhere else in the sync menu and settings, however opening the context menu in top right and hovering over the "History" option displays the last few tabs open by all devices, though no way to expand that list.

[btlechowski]

Verification passed on

Brave	1.12.102 Chromium: 84.0.4147.89 (Official Build) dev (64-bit)
Revision	19abfe7bcba9318a0b2a6bc6634a67fc834aa592-refs/branch-heads/4147@{#852}
OS	Ubuntu 18.04 LTS

Verified Open tabs are synced across devices.
The Open tabs can be found in Hamburger Menu -> History

brave://history/ does not show synced tabs. Encountered #10473
Favicons are not synced. Logged #10949

---

Verification PASSED on macOS 10.15.6 x64 using the following build:

Brave | 1.12.108 Chromium: 84.0.4147.105 (Official Build) (64-bit)
-- | --
Revision | a6b12dfad6663f13a7e16e9a42a6a4975374096b-refs/branch-heads/4147@{#943}
OS | macOS Version 10.15.6 (Build 19G73)

S10+ Android 10	macOS Catalina x64	Win 10 x64

macOS Catalina x64	S10+ Android 10	Win 10 x64

Win 10 x64	S10+ Android 10	macOS Catalina x64

---

Verification passed on

Brave | 1.12.108 Chromium: 84.0.4147.105 (Official Build) (64-bit)
-- | --
Revision | a6b12dfad6663f13a7e16e9a42a6a4975374096b-refs/branch-heads/4147@{#943}
OS | Windows 10 OS Version 1903 (Build 18362.959)

Windows 10	VM windows 10

Windows 10 (physical m/c)	VM windows 10	VM Linux mint

Windows 10 (physical m/c)	VM windows 10	VM Linux mint	Android 5.1.1

[srirambv]

This is blocked on Android due to #11077. However, opened tabs from desktop and other devices are sync'd and listed via recent tabs on Android

OnePlus	Samsung Tab A

[cauerego]

oh, i see... the name "sync open tabs" is quite misleading!

it's just keeping a list of open tabs, not each tab own history and not an actual tab being synced across devices... so when activating it in one device, the other devices on the chain can see the tabs list under "recent tabs" (yet another misnomer).

the more you know... 🤣

[tbremer]

I don't see a complete list of my tabs, for instance…

Device A:
Window 1: 7 Tabs
Window 2: 4 Tabs

Device B:
Window 1: 2 Tabs

On Device B if I try to open a tab from Device A on Device B I only see a subset of those Tabs.

[fredless]

@tbremer see #11183

[tbremer]

Thanks @fredless!

[rijnhard]

How do I do this on iOS?

[anthonypkeane]

How do I do this on iOS?

iOS doesn't have this ability yet. History is next on the Sync list for iOS and either passwords or Open Tabs will be after that.

[HeroHann]

So just to clarify: Sync between Mac and iOS / iPad OS does not work for tabs even after years of dev work?
Brave aims to be a a fully featured browser (now even with its own search engine) but does not have this simple feature??
Tried to get it to work for hours now...VERY disappointing! I guess I will have to stay with safari where this SIMPLE feature is working more or less.

Can someone explain WHY it is not working? I mean if there is a good explanation I might could find my peace with it...
SO why is it not working?

My wish would be:
Sync all open Tabs all the time (maybe with an option to do so...). I want to open brave on the Mac and have the same tabs open than on my iPad where I left of. Just the same windows...

[dpschen]

I found a way to export the open tabs from Brave iOS:

1. Download and install iMazing and create a backup of your device. Free version is fine for this.

2. Open File System in the iMazing sidebar and navigate to Brave/Library/ApplicationSupport/".

3. There you can find a file named Brave.sqlite. Copy this to your mac with the Copy to Mac button.
   

4. You can open the Brave.sqlite e.g. with a program like DB Browser for SQLite.
   The tabs are accessible via:

   • Browse Data
   • Select ZTABMO Table
   • Save the table as currently displayed (small icon next to print button)
   • Export to CSV. You can open the CSV with Numbers, Excel, etc.
     

   The url is in the ZURL column, the title in ZTITLE.

---

At last my iPhone feels snappy again and the battery lasts much longer.
Having no sync and also no way to export or bookmark all tabs implemented and then not even telling your users (e.g. a small note in the sync setting on iOS) is simply irresponsible. After solving this for me I am switching finally back to Firefox.

[GregTheHun]

Yeah, this is a killer feature I would love to have. This is the one feature missing that makes me consider from time to time going back to Firefox. As long as Firefox is acting the way it is, I really don't want to, but it is something I would use all the time. I know the devs would too if they have to eat their own dog food and use this browser.

[Germs2004]

This apparently added support for every device type except iOS (which is the one the OP requested). To vote for iOS to support syncing Open Tabs, go to brave/brave-ios#3229.

[thorinmesser]

How can this be closed when it didn't implement the feature requested?

[bsclifton]

@thorinmesser it works for Android <=> Desktop; as shared above, iOS is tracked with brave/brave-ios#3229

[DavNej]

Will tab sync be ever implemented between Mac OS and iOS ?

[jsecretan]

Yes, the team is working on this now for syncing between iOS and desktop.