597495 - Some FF UI actions should delay the next sync.

Status: RESOLVED WONTFIX

(Firefox :: Sync, defect)

Description

[Richard A Milewski[:richard]]

If a user has a mobile device in the set of synced devices, sync happens every five minutes.  This equates to an average time of 2.5 minutes between an arbitrary event and the next sync. 

 If a user inadvertently hits the "remove all passwords" button in the password manager, it can be a bit of a scramble to recognize the error, leave the password manager, enter sync settings and reset sync before the passwords are wiped from all instances of Firefox.  (And there is no message that prompts the user that this is the correct action to take to recover the passwords).

Having a "remove all" operation impose a 15 minute delay before the next automatic sync would at least help lower the panic level a bit.

There are other sets of synced information, such as history, to which this should also apply.

The password manager could conceivably detect that sync is in use and put up a "Recover passwords from Sync" button.  (Although that might increase the confusion in the user base about Sync not being a backup service).

Comment 1

[Mike Connor [:mconnor]]

FWIW, clear all passwords has a confirmation.  If you accidentally click that button AND select the non-default button on the confirmation dialog... you're asserting we should implement to cover a rather unlikely case.

I actually believe the inverse of this bug.  If a user explicitly clears data, we should sync sooner, not later, because the assumption has to be that the user has chosen to remove data for a specific reason, and we shouldn't second-guess that.

Consider Clear Recent History as a prime example of a case where this period-to-undo would be considered harmful.  By having this delay, we actually compromise the user's privacy decisions.

The ultimate goal is to sync in real time, and this is a step back from that.