2025134 - Sharing tabs from locations in the app aside from the menu are always shared as private

Status: VERIFIED FIXED

(Firefox for Android :: Share, defect)

Description

[Jonathan Almeida [:jonalmeida]]

Steps to reproduce

1. Have two devices with the same FxA account setup; both devices need to be on a recent version of Firefox that supports
2. Select a tab to send from the tabs tray, history, bookmarks, web share, or recently closed tabs.

Expected behaviour

• The tab on the other device is opened in regular mode.

Actual behaviour

• The tab is opened in private browsing mode.

Device information

• Firefox version: 149+
• Android device model: All devices.
• Android OS version: All versions.

Any additional information?

• n/a

Comment 1

[BugBot [:suhaib / :marco/ :calixte]]

:markh, since you are the author of the regressor, bug 2005407, could you take a look? Also, could you set the severity field?

For more information, please visit BugBot documentation.

Comment 2

[Jonathan Almeida [:jonalmeida]]

It looks like bug 2014026 was filed to plumb the flag properly through for all the features, in which case we should do that to fix this bug.

Comment 3

[Mark Hammond [:markh] [:mhammond]]

In https://phabricator.services.mozilla.com/D277741, I had an assumption that when the state wasn't known we'd assume private=false, but Roger suggested we make that default to true. Would changing that back be a suitable workaround before the followup is tackled?

(getting it wrong is obviously still bad, but before this patch they were always non-private, so erring in that direction seems ok?)

Roger, wdyt?

Comment 4

[Roger Yang [:royang]]

Sounds good to me, I'll put up the patch since it's EOD for you.

Comment 5

[Roger Yang [:royang]]

Attachment: Bug 2025134 - Default sharing as normal tabs if session ID is not provided.

Comment 6

[Jonathan Almeida [:jonalmeida]]

Roger and I spoke about the patch in comment 5 offline: landing this is a preferred solution for today because it turns back the behaviour to the original one. With the patches for bug 2014026 in its current state, that would be much larger to uplift and un-advisable; riding the trains would better.

I'd recommend uplifting this to 149 and 150 accordingly.

Comment 7

[Pulsebot]

Pushed by [e-mail]:
https://github.com/mozilla-firefox/firefox/commit/b453c35dc141
https://hg.mozilla.org/integration/autoland/rev/842cc3e11406
Default sharing as normal tabs if session ID is not provided. r=android-reviewers,jonalmeida

Comment 8

[Phabricator Automation]

firefox-beta Uplift Approval Request

• User impact if declined/Reason for urgency: Without this change, sharing tabs to desktop will mostly results in private tabs. This is a change of behaviour from the current state.
• Code covered by automated testing?: no
• Fix verified in Nightly?: yes
• Needs manual QE testing?: no
• Steps to reproduce for manual QE testing: -Select a tab to send from the tabs tray, history, bookmarks, web share, or recently closed tabs.
  -The tab on the other device is opened in regular mode.
• Risk associated with taking this patch: low
• Explanation of risk level: Only updating the default to match current behaviour on release.
• String changes made/needed?: None
• Is Android affected?: yes

Comment 9

[Roger Yang [:royang]]

Attachment: Bug 2025134 - Default sharing as normal tabs if session ID is not provided.

Original Revision: https://phabricator.services.mozilla.com/D289300

Comment 10

[Phabricator Automation]

firefox-release Uplift Approval Request

• User impact if declined/Reason for urgency: Without this change, sharing tabs to desktop will mostly results in private tabs. This is a change of behaviour from the current state.
• Code covered by automated testing?: no
• Fix verified in Nightly?: yes
• Needs manual QE testing?: no
• Steps to reproduce for manual QE testing: -Select a tab to send from the tabs tray, history, bookmarks, web share, or recently closed tabs.
  -The tab on the other device is opened in regular mode.
• Risk associated with taking this patch: low
• Explanation of risk level: Only updating the default to match current behaviour on release.
• String changes made/needed?: None
• Is Android affected?: yes

Comment 11

[Roger Yang [:royang]]

Attachment: Bug 2025134 - Default sharing as normal tabs if session ID is not provided.

Original Revision: https://phabricator.services.mozilla.com/D289300

Comment 12

[Serban Stanca [:SerbanS]]

https://hg.mozilla.org/mozilla-central/rev/842cc3e11406

Comment 13

[Pulsebot]

https://github.com/mozilla-firefox/firefox/commit/aff6c2d17072
https://hg.mozilla.org/releases/mozilla-beta/rev/cb276cb8ae93

Comment 14

[Adina Petridean QA [:apetridean]]

Verified as fixed on the latest Nightly 151.0a1 from 25.03.2026 and Fenix 150.0b1 - build 2 with Lenovo Yoga Tab 11 (Android 12) and Google Pixel 10 (Android 16)

Comment 15

[Adina Petridean QA [:apetridean]]

Attachment: screen-20260326-174251-1774539747835.mp4

Comment 17

[Pulsebot]

https://github.com/mozilla-firefox/firefox/commit/04c63f461fde
https://hg.mozilla.org/releases/mozilla-release/rev/3aae6e168663

Comment 18

[Vasilica Tamas (Android QA) [:vtamas]]

Attachment: Recording_20260331_134449.mp4

This issue is verified as fixed on Firefox 149.0.1 using Samsung Galaxy s24 Ultra (Android 16). The shared tabs are opened successfully in normal browsing when shared from either side.